Ice in the veins: Jedinak passes on penalty expertise

By Anna Harrington
Mile Jedinak.
Mile Jedinak was a man for pressure moments and is happy to assist the current crop of Socceroos. -AP

Should the Socceroos' World Cup fate come down to the agony of a penalty shootout against Egypt, the players know they have the perfect man in their corner.

Assistant coach and former Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak famously had ice in his veins from the spot and never missed a penalty from 16 attempts for club and country.

Jedinak scored three penalties at the World Cup - against the Netherlands in 2014 and France and Denmark in 2018 - and also buried seven decisive spot kicks in qualifying and one during Australia's 2015 Asian Cup triumph.

"For me it was very simple," Jedinak said.

"It was always focus on what I had to do and what I had to do was put the ball in the back of the net.

"It was as simple as taking the moment, controlling obviously the situation with the ball, trying not to focus on anything else, purely ball and me and where I was going to put it, clean contact - strong enough if the goalkeeper goes the right way, that it's going to beat him.

"I was fortunate enough to be able to do it a few times for the country. But that's gone now. You pass that knowledge on."

The round-of-32 clash at Dallas Stadium on Friday (4am Saturday AEST) will be the first time this tournament penalties are a factor for Australia.

While the Socceroos will train as normal, with Jedinak emphasising the "bigger picture", practicing penalties will be on the cards.

"You have to give it some attention," Jedinak said.

There is no doubt the incredibly detail-oriented Tony Popovic will have his plans.

But the tricky thing about going to 120 minutes is not everything is in a coach's control.

"On the day you don't know - you can't account for who's going to be on the pitch," Jedinak said.

"What you have to do is understand the makeup of your squad and who could potentially be there, have your list. It's also about who's comfortable and who's a willing taker on the night as well.

"I can only speak from experience as a player in those moments ... you try and get some familiarity with that, but it's very hard to replicate that on the night.

"Because you have everything, you've got added bits of whatever it is - pressure, crowd, all of that stuff ... on the night that you can't always accommodate for, but there are ways we can try and mitigate that."

Jedinak will happily give the players advice if they want or need it.

"You need to allow the individuals to figure their process out and you only do that by repetition," Jedinak said.

"It's hard to constantly do it in a game if you're not getting penalties.

"But it's the familiarity of it and understanding what makes you feel in that moment the right way - you have the right solution in that moment, you've got the tools to be able to deal with whatever's being thrown at you in that moment.

"So it's not straightforward, but I don't think it's that complex either to be honest."

Easygoing wing-back Jordan Bos was relaxed about the prospect.

"I haven't actually taken a penalty professionally, but maybe that gives the keeper nothing to go off - so a little secret," Bos said with a laugh.

Midfielder Ajdin Hrustic buried a spot kick in a Europa League final penalty shootout for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, and also converted in Australia's famous qualifying win over Peru that year.

"I'm ready, the boys look ready and we'll prepare for every scenario," he said.

"We'll hope it gets done by 90. If not, 120. If not, then we'll be ready for the penalties, right?

"That's the mindset the boys will have, and the staff and the boss decides it."