Volleyball coach Peter Murphy from Uden is flown in to help the Dutch national football team take penalty kicks. For the footballer who has to take it, as well as for the goalkeeper who wants to stop it, a penalty is primarily a mental game. And the volleyball coach is a master in that game, at least according to national coach Louis van Gaal. Murphy himself does not want to speak to the media until after the World Cup. But friends, acquaintances and (former) athletes understand the choice of the national coach. They give an insight into the working method of the volleyball coach.
Hockey coach Herman Kruis is a good acquaintance of Peter Murphy. They know each other from various courses. The former coach of Push and Tilburg, among others, is full of praise for his colleague. “He knows better than anyone how athletes react under stress and how to prevent failure. I’m sure he has the knowledge to make players better mentally.”
“The opponents’ coach became even more desperate.”
For example, Kruis remembers a volleyball game where Murphy was a coach. “The opponent asked for a time-out out of panic. But Murphy just left his team on the field,” he says. It turned out to be a ingenious move tactically, which got into the head of the opponent, said Kruis. “Because the opponent’s coach became even more desperate. Murphy is mentally a king.”
Water polo player Robin Lindhout has experience with taking penalties in the final. He knows that you can’t possibly really prepare for such a moment. “You can’t imitate that moment, but I do believe in good preparation,” he says. “If you are going to take a penalty and you know that you are mentally strong, then the ball is already half in. If Murphy can ensure that those football players walk to the spot with confidence, the chance of failure is small.”
The emphasis of Murphy in the Dutch national team will therefore be on the mental aspect. Trust in your own players and embarrass your opponents, Kruis thinks. “I expect that they will also analyze opponents. Someone under pressure often reverts to confidence, such as his fixed angle. You can then make that angle smaller and make the shooter doubt.”
“When we had to take penalties in the final, I started to have doubts.”
Lindhout agrees. “You have to get into the head of the opponent.” He has to think of the famous goalkeeper change by Van Gaal in 2014. Just before a penalty series, Cillessen was replaced by Tim Krul. “But Tim Krul was not a penalty killer at all based on the statistics. But that was in the minds of the opponents at the time.”
The Eindhoven water polo player speaks from experience. “I myself shot everything in the same angle during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2016. When we had to take penalties in the final, I started to doubt. You then get reversed psychology. You have to be prepared for that. I did score that penalty. “