Millwall goalkeeper discusses the importance of moving forward and embracing new opportunities, whatever the stage of career.
Header image: Millwall FC via Southwark News
Steven Benda has European roots, but knows all about the hard knocks of the English Leagues.
His August summed up the highs and lows of a goalkeeper’s life. His Millwall league debut came with its challenges after a rebounded clearance ended up in the German’s net. But Benda is used to the coping mechanisms that all goalkeepers need in their toolkit.
“Like it happens, and it happens to every goalie.”, he admitted, speaking exclusively to Goalkeeper.com. “It happened to me now, already this season. Can you just move on from it in the game? You have to let it go. Just focus on the next action. But, yeah, I think the main thing is just move on from it. Don’t dwell on it.”
He didn’t, and made some superb stops a fortnight later against Sheffield United. A clean sheet is the best medicine.
The No. 13 for Millwall is very capable of moving forward. After a youth career in his homeland with Stuttgarter Kickers, Heidenheim, and then 1860 Munich, he arrived at Swansea as a callow teenager. The former Swans goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel, now a recruitment scout for the club, had recommended his compatriot to the Welsh side.
It was clear that training methods were different from the European methodology. “I was 18, and I was not physically developed at all. In Germany, everything was technical. All the goalkeeper work you did was technique. Only when I came here did I start doing gym work.”
Times have clearly changed. Back in the days of his youth, you could ‘just’ be a goalkeeper. “Now, everyone just wants the goalie to be an outfielder, basically. So all the young ones that are coming through, they only make it to this level if they are decent with the ball at their feet.”
The 26-year-old has been through many steps on and off the pitch that have developed him both as a player and a person.
“I left home at 16 to go to another team, which was an hour away from my family. So I kind of got used to living by myself, you know, going to school and stuff, going back home, cooking dinner and so on. I moved to Munich, which was even further away, so I got to see them less and less. And then when I actually moved to Swansea, it was like, they’re gone!”
The route has been a winding road in the United Kingdom. Benda did his graduation everywhere, helping the Swansea U19s win the FAW Youth Cup and the Under-23s before eventually getting his chance with the first team just as they were resetting for Championship life. That physicality needs to be there for a 46-game marathon, an assault course on the senses for a young twentysomething outside his comfort zone.
“It’s obviously a different level to the Prem, but a harder league to play, because you just play so many games, and I think teams are a lot more physical. It’s one of those that you sometimes just have to think, okay, let’s make sure we defend well and get a point.”
That means much more time building up resistance. The goalkeeper’s body takes the weight in the school of hard knocks. Former England No. 1 Jack Robinson used to show the Europeans the way in the late 19th century when he said that the goalkeeper must be built like ‘a compound of steel and gutta percha.’
“I think most people just don’t understand how hard it is, mentally and physically. Even the players say, ‘Oh, you’re not doing the runs after training’ or stuff like that. Yeah, but I’m diving, getting up, diving again, and doing that 10 times. You wouldn’t be able to do that as an outfielder!”.
It’s a good thing that Benda started Independence Day as a young adult, given the different scenarios thrown his way. There has been the loan with Swindon, where he helped the team win promotion in a COVID- affected season. Swansea retained his services, despite the 6- foot 4-inch stopper being desperate for playing time.
“I was happy to go back to Swindon to play in League One, but then Swansea said no. I was sitting on a bench for a whole season, and then you lose that rhythm again.” Despite another loan to Championship rivals Peterborough under Darren Ferguson, a serious ACL injury set that time frame further back.
Sometimes that big break comes without warning. In 2020, Freddie Woodman was taken ill with a stomach bug and Benda stepped up against Millwall of all teams for a run in the Swans’ first eleven. Woodman is now at Anfield to provide cover for the likes of Alisson.
Things happen, as Benda realised when he was snapped up by Fulham in 2023. Ironically, Woodman and Benda were involved in the longest penalty shootout in League Cup history last September in the clash between Preston and the Cottagers.
“You come to a club like Fulham and there are about 18 international players. So, the culture is different and the quality is really high. You can tell in training, everything’s a lot quicker, a lot sharper. Players are better at finding the corner more. You have to raise your standards. Bernd Leno is a proper professional, never gets injured, and the quality and work ethic are just unbelievable.”
It must be a bittersweet living, training with the very best, but knowing that the opportunity to cross the white line on match days is relatively small. The Stuttgart-born stopper’s appearances for the West London club were limited to the early rounds of the EFL and FA Cups.
“I basically said, I’m in my mid-twenties, and I just want to play football. Some goalkeepers are happy to be number two or three through their whole career. I want to give being number one at least a shot to try and show what I can do.”
The one-year loan deal with the Lions was the best way to get back on the pitch. It does help when the new goalkeeper coach and ex-Swans man Dean Thornton knows the score.
Benda is clear there should be a definitive number one, but that the drive of the goalkeeping group must be one of equal commitment. The model will only work if the back-ups train as if they are playing.
“We brought in Joel Coleman as well, who’s been around a long time, and Max (Crocombe), obviously a New Zealand international player as well with loads of experience. So I think we’ve got a really good group, and you can tell in training the motivation is there. Everyone tries to push each other.”
Benda has done the tour bus that many young goalkeepers experience. Now he is back at the most traditional of English stadiums. What’s the advice when destinations are so diverse?
“Make sure you go on loan. Get games. That’s literally the only way you develop. You can do all that stuff on the training pitch, but once you’re actually in the game, that’s the only place where you can only judge distances, make decisions, and test yourself.”
That comes from a very reliable source.
