Jobs4Football meets Johann Noetzel
Over 8,000 miles from home, meet the goalkeeper coach making a name for himself in the Cambodian capital.
American born, Johann Noetzel is currently applying his trade in Phnom Penh for Visakha FC as the clubs head goalkeeper coach.
The German and American national has been a professional goalkeeper and coach for 20+ years and in this time he has built up experience in; The USA, Guam, The Philippines, The Northern Mariana Islands where he still plays and Cambodia where he currently coaches.
Noetzel said: “The main tips I try to pass on are three general ones. The first is focusing on technique making sure they are good with their hands and feet, the second is the mental side of being a goalkeeper, and the one thing that I think is underrated is positioning, so those for me are the main three things I like to stress to goalkeepers.”
“You learn from each experience, and I have been very fortunate to be put in some high level positions and you learn a lot being a student of the game, being around people with more knowledge than you and who have been doing what you do for a lot longer.”
“The goal is just to continue putting myself around much better people than myself and hopefully each club and each step moving forward I’m able to do that.”
The 44-year-old has had to adapt his coaching methods since being in Southeast Asia in order to get the best results out of his players. He said: “The culture is a little bit softer, so you have really got to build them up and I’d say you have to use a little bit more of a fine touch when you are in Southeast Asia in all levels because the culture is so different, it is very family orientated which isn’t bad it’s just different to back in the US.”
“If they [goalkeeper} make a mistake or they know the goal was their fault they can sometimes look like they have had their heart and soul ripped out so there is definitely a lot more emphasis on the psychological aspect and this plays more of an important role in your coaching methods, but the best coaches have to adapt to new situations.”
Despite being over 8,000 miles away from the place of his birth, Noetzel has found his new home in Asia and hopes to continue his coaching journey in the continent. He went on to say: “Ideally I would love to have the opportunity to continue coaching here because I love coaching in Asia, the lifestyle, the weather, the culture and Japan is my target in Asia, I would love to be able to coach in the J league in the future.”
Despite him loving life in the eastern part of the world, the former Guam national team goalkeeper coach has had to deal with trying to implement his ideas across despite language differences and whilst proposing ideas not accustomed to players in that area of the world.
“The typical challenges of Southeast Asia are the language barriers, different football philosophies, different histories in football from these countries, so their exposure to football is not necessarily limited but is funnelled and only exposed to certain regions and areas, so it takes a while to change mentalities. You have to prove that your methods are successful and prove results right from the get-go.”
“That’s one of the beautiful things about goalkeeping I think maybe a bit more than even outfield players, you can communicate physically through the use of demonstrating set positions and hard discipline movements rather than having to communicate it verbally.”
Whilst being at Visakha FC, Noetzel has helped the team win its first ever major trophy earlier this year, with the club this season having only lost one game and conceding the second fewest amount of goals in the entire league.
The number 1 under Noetzel’s guidance at Visakha, Keo Soksela, currently has the most clean sheets in the league and the second fewest amount of goals conceded whilst also starting every game for the Cambodian national team this year at just 24 years old.
It’s not just goalkeeping tips either, Noetzel is also providing the club with free goalkeeper gloves from his own website that he created back in 2015 when he went to play in the Philippines.
He admitted that the gloves he would regularly use and ‘loved’ changed from their original style and added unnecessary features which weren’t to his taste.
“I just wanted a simple glove I liked, so I said if I’m going to play again why would I wear their gloves if I don’t like it. I have got one chance and I trust my own decision, so I decided just to make my own glove.”
“There is no rest when you’re running your own business and brand, but it definitely works out for the club and the keepers because they get free gear, so it’s a win for them anyway. It’s also beneficial for me because I’m able to do testing on gloves at a professional level and therefore create the best product possible, so it’s a win-win situation.”
The 44-year-olds experience in goalkeeper coaching across the world, but especially in Asia coinciding with his success in Phnom Penh make it inevitable that the Northern Marianna Islands Men’s national team goalkeeper will achieve his goal of coaching in Japan in the near future.