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‘Safe Hands’ Takes Penalty Saving Skills on Tour
Paul Freelend | May 28, 2010

Former Arsenal and England keeper David Seaman showing he hasn’t lost his ability to save penalties during a promotional event at Kelapa Gading Mall, North Jakarta, on Friday. During his 20-year career, Seaman won 75 England caps and played in 731 league matches including 405 appearances for Arsenal. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
Former Arsenal and England keeper David Seaman showing he hasn’t lost his ability to save penalties during a promotional event at Kelapa Gading Mall, North Jakarta, on Friday. During his 20-year career, Seaman won 75 England caps and played in 731 league matches including 405 appearances for Arsenal. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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All Jakarta needs now is a visit from a former star midfielder and its collection is complete.

The capital was graced by its latest legendary footballer this week in the form of former Arsenal and England goalkeeper David Seaman. The visit was part of Yahoo’s effort to promote its new online Penalty Shootout game.

Seaman’s visit follows those of former AC Milan and Italy defender Franco Baresi and legendary Liverpool striker Ian Rush. Seaman and Yahoo Indonesia country manager Pontus Sonnerstedt held a news conference on Thursday, and the goalkeeper spent Friday afternoon facing penalty kicks from Indonesian football fans at Mall Kelapa Gading.

It was a fitting display for a player who built a reputation as a penalty kick-saving specialist, including two stops during the 1996 European Championship.

“With the good penalty takers, they always change sides. They don’t always go for one spot because you’d see it on TV and you would learn,” Seaman told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

“In a penalty shootout, that guy’s only going to take one. It’s hard to see the other four, and you don’t know the other four who are going to take the penalties.

“I would take it on the angle that they would run at the ball, but then I would leave it as late as possible. Even if they run in looking at you, at the last minute they look down at the ball to kick it and that’s when you move.”

In a happy coincidence, Seaman and Rush crossed paths at the Dubai airport in Dubai, with Rush en route to Bangkok and Seaman to Jakarta.

According to Seaman, the Liverpool legend had “nothing but good things to say” about his visit to Indonesia.

Jakarta was one of two promotional stops for Seaman and Yahoo, the other coming last week in London. He reportedly saved upwards of 400 penalties during a similar event on the bank of the River Thames.

While some fans may put their spot kicks past him, Seaman cautioned them not to start thinking they could do the same at the highest level, recounting the time he faced former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in a shootout during the 1993 FA Charity Shield.

“You can’t replicate the pressure of taking a penalty full stop, never mind in a World Cup, Premier League, Champions League, whatever,” he said. “In training, the lads put the ball in the corners all the time because there’s no pressure. As soon as you’re doing it live on TV in front of 60,000 people, then it gets a whole lot more difficult. That’s why people say you can’t really practice penalties because you can never recreate the pressure at that moment.

“People say to me, ‘You must get really nervous in a penalty shootout.’ I used to love it. It’s a chance for me to become a hero. We’re not expected to save it, but the strikers are expected to score. If we guess right one or two times, we can become a hero. I’ve done it. It was only in the Charity Shield, but when I put the ball down and stood back, I could feel the pressure in my body and I started shaking.”

Seaman also had a bit of advice for all football managers, regardless of club or country.

“Give goalkeepers a chance. They don’t become bad goalkeepers overnight,” he said. “If you bought that goalkeeper, you bought him for a damn good reason. Don’t throw away that talent just because he makes a few mistakes. All goalkeepers will make mistakes — all of them, no matter what.”