For Bart Verbruggen, the pressure is on: can Oranje’s penalty man deliver?

At the training ground in Zeist, Bart Verbruggen stood between the posts as the Oranje staff watched closely. The stakes could not be higher: in knockout football, penalty shoot-outs decide fate.

The Dutch national team is banking on Verbruggen’s composure under pressure. His record in March 2025 against Spain speaks for itself—five of six penalties directed into the correct corner. “There is a plan that I believe in,” said Verbruggen ahead of the World Cup.

Yet the approach of Andries Noppert, who discarded Oranje’s pre-agreed penalty strategy before facing Argentina, looms large. Noppert’s revelation in NRC underscored the unpredictability required in shoot-outs. Verbruggen acknowledged the team’s focus on penalties but insisted: “Ultimately, you have to do what you believe in as a keeper.”

Keeper trainers Patrick Lodewijks and Khalid Benlahsen have used Spain’s series in Valencia as a benchmark. Though Verbruggen only stopped Lamine Yamal, the session in Zeist revisited his Conference League heroics for Anderlecht in 2023, when he turned away three penalties. Five of six against Spain were correctly guessed.

Geir Jordet, the Norwegian professor specialising in penalty analysis, reviewed the six Spanish penalties at the request of this outlet. His verdict: Verbruggen could have done more. “He could have reacted earlier against players who had already decided their corner before the kick,” Jordet said. “And for those who change their mind at the last moment, he could have done more to mislead them.”

Verbruggen’s attempt to unsettle nemers by standing tall on the line was deemed insufficient. “That is not enough,” Jordet said. “Verbruggen could be more unpredictable. Against Spain, it was too easy to read.”

Robin Roefs of Sunderland may have mastered the art—stopping all Everton penalties in an FA Cup shoot-out in January—but Verbruggen remains Koeman’s first choice. “What you do as a keeper also depends on who is taking the penalty,” Verbruggen said.

The Oranje staff remain pragmatic. “We have prepared and trained as well as possible,” said Ronald Koeman this month. The stakes are clear: with Merino, García, Torres, Baena and Pedri all beating Verbruggen in Valencia, only Yamal faltered. Jordet noted Verbruggen’s late-game innovation against Yamal—jumping to the post and clapping—as a rare moment of unpredictability.

Verbruggen’s penalty record is impressive, but the scrutiny is intensifying. The question now is whether his method is sharp enough to withstand the highest pressure moments.