Penalty specialist Petersen gains revenge on Norway

Petersen saved a spot-kick by Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen to help Denmark win 1-0 in their final Group A game and reach the quarter-finals while consigning Norway to a premature exit.

“It was a really good revenge to win against them,” chuckled the 31-year-old, currently playing for Kolding Q in the Danish league.

She had already proved herself as a penalty specialist in 2013, keeping out two Swedish attempts in the group phase and then Louisa Necib’s spot-kick in a shoot-out in the quarter-finals as Denmark stunned France.

But Norway had done their homework on Petersen, putting all four penalties past her on their way to a runner-up finish at the 2013 tournament.

“They basically knew what my strategy was back then so they just waited and I was a bit too quick,” she told AFP at Denmark’s training centre on Tuesday.

“I’ve learnt from that,” Petersen added.

“We have a tactic, our goalkeepers, so we’ve watched a lot of penalty kicks and we have an idea of what is going on, depending on what they do.”

Against Hansen, she could also rely on advice from Danish skipper Pernille Harder, who plays for Bundesliga side Wolfsburg with the Norwegian.

“She pointed a bit for me so I had a bit of an idea of where she’s going to shoot but I was also waiting because she is a good player,” said Petersen.

“If I go too fast to the side or make a quick move, she will just shoot to the other side.”

But she said she did not have a specific recipe for stopping penalties.

“It depends on when it is in the game or if it’s a penalty shoot-out at the end or what it is.”

“I have some ideas and we’re focusing on the player who’s shooting but also how I’m feeling.”

– Family and friends –

Denmark have conceded only once in three games at Euro 2017, against Group A winners and hosts Netherlands.

“I have a good defence in front of me, they’re really trying hard to close down so when there is a shot I have a good chance to get it,” Petersen said.

After a brief stint in a US college league in 2007, a few seasons in Germany with Duisburg and Cologne, and six months with Sweden’s Kristianstad, Petersen decided to return home at the start of 2017.

“Right now it’s the best opportunity for me because I’m close to my family and friends,” said Petersen, who is studying to become a physiotherapist, a job she would eventually like to combine with coaching young goalkeepers.

“I’m pretty happy in the club where I am, I have a really good goalkeeping coach there, he’s the reason why I’m also here, in this condition.”

And if an offer landed some day?

“Of course I’ll look at all the opportunities I get but it has to be a really, really good offer for me to go,” she said.

“I know what’s working for me and what’s not working for me, and it needs to be a good offer and I need to have the possibility to have my family and friends come over, because it’s a part of me and I play the best when I’m comfortable.”