Dolberg: “I don’t share my secret”
“Indeed, it’s the only missed penalty of my careersourit Dolberg. Recently, I talked about it again. But I didn’t remember the opponent.” His other eighteen penalties – including six for Anderlecht – he converted them all. “You could say it’s my specialty, yes.” Dolberg always hits the same way and – by waiting long enough – he ends up wrong-footing the goalkeeper. “Sorry, but I’m not going to share my secret with you.”
In the meantime, Anderlecht is 29 penalties converted out of 29 in an official match, not counting the missed shots on goal by Lissens (against Lierse in the Cup) and Sardella and Vertonghen (against AZ in the Conference League). The last purple miss dates from August 2021, when Lior Refaelov hit the bar in the Conference League preliminaries against Vitesse, a miss which ultimately cost qualification in the final count.
Given that Dreyer had scored in Tubize – Dolberg was on the bench – it would not have been surprising to see the left-footed Dane gain momentum against Kortrijk. And in fact, Anders held the ball in his hands for long seconds, before giving it to Dolberg. Did we almost witness a scene like the one in Tubize between Dreyer and Vazquez, who was angry at not being able to shoot? “Noncorrected Dolberg. Dreyer didn’t want to steal the ball from me. He kept it for me while waiting for the VAR to do its job.”
Yari disappointed by the staff’s decision
In the 77th minute and at 3-0, on the other hand, there were numerous candidates for a direct free kick at the edge of the large rectangle. There were Mats Rits, Anders Dreyer, Kasper Dolberg and Yari Verschaeren. Yari was the most determined to hit, he had the ball in his hands. Then, the staff intervened and designated Dolberg as the shooter. When Zanka told Verschaeren the news, the latter was visibly disappointed and waved his hand. Rits tried to calm him down.
Dolberg didn’t ask any questions and sent a mine into the right corner of goalkeeper Vandenberghe, which didn’t even touch the leather. Oddly, there was no curve in the trajectory of the ball, something you don’t see that often anymore. Hein Vanhaezebrouck, consultant on Eleven DAZN, was categorical. “I would have stopped that ball. I was a good goalie when I was young, but I don’t dive anymore at my age (60). It wouldn’t have been necessary: I would have stopped the ball with my foot. Given Dolberg’s full-speed momentum, he couldn’t brush the ball over the wall. He could only hit ‘into the goalkeeper’s corner’. Kudos to Dolberg, but what he did was predictable.”
“Who was this consultant? De Boeck?”
Confronted with the words of the DAZN consultant at the press conference, Kortrijk coach Freyr Alexandersson refused to kill his goalkeeper. “Who was the consultant? Glen De Boeck? (his predecessor in Kortrijk) Ah, it was Huh? (Laughs) Listen: when we lose 4-0, it wouldn’t be right to point the finger at just one player. And regarding Dolberg’s shot without a curve: we knew he could hit that way. This week, we analyzed this type of free kick with our goalkeeping coach Francky Vandendriessche.”
So: goalkeeper error or not? We gave the floor to Colin Coosemans, Anderlecht goalkeeper. “This goal is pure Dolberg. In training, there are sometimes balls that we, the goalkeepers, let pass so as not to injure our hands. The shot he has in the legs is incredible. -cro-ya-ble. The power he has in his legs is unheard of. I have to think for a long time to remember someone who has a shot like him. also some crazy Vanhaezebrouck (Laughs) I don’t think Vandenberghe is guilty. His view was also hampered by a small wall with Anderlecht players (made up of Zanka, Simic and Rits) which opened up. very last second, so it’s not easy for a goalkeeper.”
And what does the man who released the cannonball think of it, the speed of which we would have liked to know? Dolberg: “I tried to hit as hard as I could towards the corner. A goalkeeper coach will say that it’s a ball that a goalkeeper must push away, but I saw a hole and I didn’t question it. I think it’s my first free kick goal, but it’s also one of the first free kicks I hit. As you saw, there were many candidates. (Laughs) I hope I have convinced them for the next free kicks… In any case, I had fun. I love playing in our stadium. And since I have been at Anderlecht, we have never been so dominant as this Sunday against Kortrijk.”
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