Toronto FC coach John Herdman is thinking about giving Federico Bernardeschi a break from taking penalties after the Italian star’s third straight miss from the penalty spot in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to visiting Nashville SC. Bernardeschi has been Toronto’s best player this season. But after converting all six penalty attempts in league play for Toronto before this season, he has missed all three spot kicks in 2024.
He did score off the rebound against visiting FC Dallas on May 4 when his penalty was initially saved by Maarten Paes in a 3-1 Toronto win. New England goalkeeper Henrich Ravas saved Bernardeschi’s penalty in Toronto’s 1-0 victory April 20. Bernardeschi, who was suffering from a flu-like bug this week, lost his footing Wednesday as he was about to strike the ball, sending the shot above the bar.
“It’s up for discussion now, for sure,” Herdman said of the designated penalty-taker role. “That’s an internal discussion that will be had. “There’s five players that practise penalties after every training session .
.. Obviously, there are other players in there that are waiting for their opportunity (to take penalties).
” While fellow Italian Lorenzo Insigne is an obvious contender to take over, Herdman noted that Bernardeschi had retained his role by virtue of his success in penalty kicks in training. “We often say you’ve got to trust the process and then ultimately trust the player to deliver,” said Herdman. “I thought (Bernardeschi) was u.
