Yassine Bounou is already shaping the Netherlands’ preparation before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match. Ronald Koeman said his side is wary of a possible penalty shootout, and the concern starts with what Morocco’s goalkeeper has done in recent major tournaments.
“Penalty shootouts against Morocco with Bono in goal? We knowwe lost our last two shootouts,” Koeman said before the knockout encounter. “If it comes to that stage, we’ll try to win it. We train for penalty shootouts regularly and give them special attention in practice.”
Netherlands penalty record
The Netherlands have lost their last two shootouts and seven shootouts in major tournaments. Their most recent exits came against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals and in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals. Brazil also eliminated them on penalties in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals, a run that leaves no room for comfort if the match turns into a spot-kick contest.
Those losses are why Koeman’s comments matter now. The Netherlands are not just facing a knockout match; they are facing a scenario in which their recent history has repeatedly gone wrong.
Bounou’s Morocco record
Bounou has given Morocco the opposite problem for opponents. He saved penalties from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets as Morocco beat Spain 3-0 on penalties in the 2022 World Cup Round of 16, then stopped attempts from Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi as Morocco beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Across those two major shootouts, he faced seven penalties and stopped four of them. That is the number Koeman is planning around, because it leaves the Netherlands needing a cleaner finish from the spot than the one that has failed them seven times before.
FIFA World Cup 2026 pressure
The match is set for 2 a.m. Moroccan time, and the shootout possibility now sits inside the game plan rather than outside it. If the contest stays level and reaches penalties, the Netherlands will be carrying a history of three devastating exits against a goalkeeper who has already turned two different tournaments in Morocco’s favor. Will the Netherlands and Morocco actually reach that stage in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 clash?
