Was Tony Popović right to replace goalkeepers for the penalty shootout against Egypt? Daryl Dao says yes

In 2014, Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal made an unusual substitution as his team were heading towards penalties against Costa Rica at the World Cup. He replaced Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul in the 120th minute and it was a success as Krul saved two penalties and the Oranje made it to the semi-finals. 12 years later and Tony Popović tried a similar tactic for Australia, replacing Patrick Beach for Aussie #1 Mat Ryan who had been benched for the match. Sadly it didn’t work out for Popović and Egypt won 4–2 on penalties. But was the substitution the right call? Daryl Dao of Talking Tactics reckons it was and he has data and experience to prove it. In an article titled “Tony Popović was right”, Dao argued that the stats made a more compelling case for Ryan to be the goalkeeper of choice for the shootout, even though Beach had good shot-stopping stats in normal time. He also mentioned the “human element” of the decision, and making a judgement call at the time regardless of Egypt’s…