Rashford should have been a go. I’ve never seen that approach from him. Overthought it.
Here’s the thing about PK selection (as a high school coach and nothing quite like this level, so take it with a grain of salt): you can practice these all day long. Only so much practice time and PKs aren’t all that common so throwing a chunk of a structured practice to penalties isn’t a top priority. You look for the players to stay after practice and work with the goalie(s). Now with that said, you can find a player that can hit 9/10 in practice. But you can’t replicate the stress of a late-game potential equalizer/GWG. That 9 out of 10 tries player may be fine in the first half or when the team is up a goal plus but crumbles under pressure… but there may be another player that is, say, 7/10 on average in practice but just feels nothing in a big spot and can place it no matter. It’s almost impossible to figure it out, at least at the high school level. I imagine the highest levels also find it difficult because PKs in a big spot aren’t all that common. For myself, by the time I can figure it out, the player is about to graduate. There just isn’t a lot of data to break down.
Anyway, I’m rambling. But that was a fun game and such a GREAT tournament. Sad that it is over.
