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France does research for penalty kicks
French goalkeeper coach watches opponents' tendencies
Posted: Monday July 06, 1998 10:43 AM
Special from L'Equipe, the French sports daily PARIS
(L'Equipe) -- Between the 1996 European Championships and the 1998 World
Cup, three of France's matches
have been decided by penalty shots. In England, Aimé
Jacquet's team was the lucky winner against the Netherlands
, in the quarterfinals, but lost to the Czech Republic in the semis. They
won what Italian coach Cesare Maldini calls "the lottery" again in the
World Cup's quarterfinals last Friday. But there is a secret to France's
success. Philippe Bergeroo, the goalkeepers' coach, who was also on
France's 1986 World Cup squad, has been getting ready for penalty shots for
a long time. "For two years, whenever I've watched a match or a recap, I've
taken notes. I put it all down." he said.
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Fabien Barthez had plenty of information on the Italian players he faced (AP) |
He's collected numerous little
pieces of information on foreign players' habits. "They're not files, just
remarks. I did this to give the goalies information by telling them, most
of all, where the shooters put the ball most often and in what situations
they miss," Bergeroo said. Two days before the match against Italy, for the
first and last time, Bergeroo and France's starting goalkeeper Fabien
Barthez talked about the possibility of the match being decided by penalty
shots. "After that, it was useless. Fabien prefers to get a feel for it. We
hardly spoke at all before they started shooting them Friday night. The
goalie doesn't need to be told anything anymore. He has to stay focused,
that's it," Bergeroo said. Bergeroo gave accurate information on four of
Italy's shooters, Christian Vieri and Roberto Baggio among others. And it's
not the first time the former goalkeeper had a part to play in this. He
was decisive in the 1986 World Cup's quarterfinal victory over Brazil. "I
remember the last time we practiced in Guadalajara. At the end of the
practice, Luis Fernandez asked me to go in the goals to practice on penalty
shots. We had noticed that a Brazilian cameraman was hiding in the
bleachers. So Luis voluntarily shot 20 penalty shots to my left. The day
after that, he was our last shooter, their goalie started way early to his
left, and Luis put the ball on the other side," Bergeroo said, laughing.
Copyright 1998, L'Equipe
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