A football legend’s son scored twice to save his side a draw as he followed in his father’s footsteps despite playing as a goalkeeper
A football legend’s son stepped up to score twice and rescue his top-flight side a draw despite being a goalkeeper.
Telstar came from behind to draw 2-2 against Cambuur in the Eredivisie on Sunday with goalkeeper Ronald Koeman Jr on the scoresheet twice from the spot, including the equaliser in the 11th minute of added time.
There’s no prize for guessing who the goalkeeper’s famous father is, but he certainly shares his dad’s knack of scoring vital goals despite playing in a position not famed for grabbing such headlines. Koeman, 63, scored 238 goals in 685 career games despite playing predominantly as a defender.
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The Dutch icon, who starred for Groningen, Ajax, PSV, Barcelona, Feyenoord and his national team across a 17-year playing career before stepping into management with the likes of Southampton, Everton, Barcelona and the Netherlands.
Aside from his defensive brilliance, Koeman was one of the best set-piece takers in the game with his powerful free kicks and penalty taking, as well as his finishing and heading from close range, made him exceptional at both ends of the pitch.
His best goalscoring season saw him score 21 goals in 32 games for PSV while he hit double figures in every one of his six seasons at Barcelona, with his best return of 19 in all competitions in two different campaigns.
And it appears that his nerve from 12 yards has inspired his son to seemingly become Telstar’s new penalty taker.
Koeman Jr, 31, joined Telstar in 2021 and played his first campaign in the Dutch top-flight last season, scoring once, but in the space of just over half an hour, the keeper took his career goal tally from one to three.
Despite not being backed from the spot by his managers before, Koeman Jr stepped up to halve the deficit in the 67th minute. The keeper then buried the equaliser in the 101st minute, sending his counterpart the wrong and taking his shirt off to celebrate.
Koeman Jr scored his first penalty in May in Telstar’s final game of the season and revealed he would be the club’s first-choice taker. He said: “Back in my youth, I used to take it sometimes and I missed. But now I’m shooting it well.
“In the first half of the season, we got two penalties and we missed both of them. Then at Sparta away, Anthony (Correia, then manager) came up to me at half-time and asked if I wanted to take it if we got one.
“So then I said: ‘Yes, of course, why not?’”