Orlando Pirates attacker Patrick Maswanganyi has revealed that coach Jose Riveiro challenged him to try to play a Panenka the next time he gets a penalty.
The South Africa international famously chipped the ball past Bruce Bvuma in the most recent Soweto Derby to win it for the Sea Robbers. It was an unexpected penalty, especially with the pressure coming from thousands of fans at the FNB Stadium.
The creative attacker concedes coach Jose Riveiro had asked him to try the technique when he failed to find the back of the net in the initial penalty against Cape Town City in the Premier Soccer League outing.
‘I broke my teammates hearts'
“When we played against Cape Town City we also got a penalty, and when I missed it, I felt bad, especially for my teammates and the hard work they’ve done,” Tito said in the club's Bucs Camp documentary.
“Because we had worked hard and it was a very difficult game. I remember crying heading to the change room because I knew that I broke my teammate’s hearts. A few days after missing that penalty coach came to talk to me, he said the next time we win a penalty I should chip it.
“I said ‘no problem, I’ll do exactly that,” he added.
How Bvuma made Maswanganyi take the Soweto Derby penalty
“I remember Makgopa was holding the ball, and then Bruce [Bvuma] said he wants me to take it. He kept taunting me to come and take the penalty,” Maswanganyi recalled.
“The chip, a lot of people call it a ‘panenka’. I don’t know where it comes from, but I feel like when you take a penalty like that, it sometimes shows that you believe in yourself or something like that. But it has its moments, it’s not a penalty you can take regularly because obviously if I take it that way and the goalkeeper doesn’t move, people will feel like I wasted the chance, so I feel like it has its moments.
“I think you have to choose the right moment, you also need to believe that you’re going to pull it off because sometimes if you lack belief, things don’t work out well,” Tito concluded.
