Taking a penalty kick is a noble skill and an exceptional pressure situation – especially in prestigious football competitions. In the ongoing women’s World Cup competitions, only three of the seven convicted fouls have found their way into the net.
– The stage on which the game is played definitely has an effect. In the World Cup, the level of emotion and pressure is different than in series games. It may have caused the fact that more bad spots have been seen, Urheilu’s expert estimates Maija Saari.
Saari, the former top scorer and captain of the Finnish national team, was a gifted punter during his playing career. He evaluates the technical performance and the impact of the mental side together with an expert Maiju Ruotsalainen and Finland’s all-time top scorer by Linda Sällström with.
They also analyzed three example rankers.
– The penalty kick is basically such a simple performance that every player of that level succeeds – without that pressure. A full stadium, really hard stakes and there is a single moment in front of you where you must not fail. Yes, there will be quite a lot of pressure, Sällström sums up.
He has remembered the previous Olympic final, where Sweden and Canada played. Swedish captain Caroline Seger lined up to take his team’s fourth penalty kick. He had a chance to cap off his career at the championship, but he missed and Canada took the win.
Out of the seven points in the games so far, four were awarded only after the call of the video referee (VAR).
Read also: Is the importance of penalty kicks in football too big?
Player observation creates pressure
According to Saari, there are two approaches to shooting a comma: either the shooter has one really sure shot, or he waits to see if the goalkeeper anticipates the direction of the shot, i.e. if he guesses. In his career, Saari has especially remembered the cup final, which went to a spot race.
– I looked at the goalkeeper and he got in my head. I kicked the ball to the fifth floor. It was a pretty gruesome performance. After that I practiced a few options and made a choice from them when I went to shoot.
Sällström, the goal-scorer of the Helmets, says that the national team’s goalkeeper coach taught him to shoot into the top corner, because goalkeepers often guess into the bottom corners.
– The goal was that I do the same performance every time. I knew I could always put the ball in the same spot and that would be the goal.
However, the nature of the sport has changed over the years. Sällström says that his tactic might no longer work because all matches are filmed and every penalty kick is recorded in the internet’s caches.
– It brings its own challenge, because the shooter knows that he has been scouted, that is, the opponent has analyzed every spot that he has shot in his career.
Sällström believes that scouting contributes to the weaker shots in this tournament. Goalkeepers can already judge from their body language where the shot will go.
– It creates additional pressure and the leader may overthink his own manners.
Expert Maiju Ruotsalainen believes that more work is being done within teams all the time in terms of preparing for performance and dealing with failure. He also emphasizes the importance of scouting.
– I don’t know if the comma is considered as sure a goal as before. Goalkeepers know the shooter and vice versa. I know players who absolutely do not like shooting commas, even if they are very good in other aspects of the game.
All three emphasize that self-confidence is important in a comma situation. Laukoja must believe that he will succeed.
Sällström says that when he was younger, he always wanted to finish with a comma – a free seam to make a goal. Nowadays, he finds the situation challenging and likes to give the pull responsibility to his teammates.
– Fortunately, there are better comma pullers in the teams. I’m so glad I don’t have to pull them.
Example 1: Canada’s Sinclair stares at the ball
The match between Canada and Nigeria was in a scoreless situation when the Canadians were awarded a penalty kick. The captain of his team set himself up as the kicker Christine Sinclair.
– Sinclair just looks at the ball. He has decided where to shoot and that is just a bad bet, the Swede estimates.
– In addition, his launch position is locked. The position of the supporting leg tells goalkeepers a lot about which corner the shot will take. If the body is clearly twisted in a certain direction, you can judge the direction from that, he continues.
Sällström says that the comma is not bad, but the goalkeeper just guesses correctly. Nigerian Treasurer Chiamaka Nnadozie is Sällström’s former teammate from the French Paris FC.
– It is not easy for him to draw dots. Sinclair’s shot doesn’t go far enough into the corner and the goalkeeper is so desperate that even if it had gone all the way to the bottom corner, Chiamaka would probably have blocked it from there as well.
Example 2: Spain’s Hermoso follows the goalkeeper
Spain was already leading 3–0 when the team received a penalty kick. An experienced person took over the pulling responsibility Jennifer Hermoso.
Before his shot, he watches the Costa Rican goalkeeper closely Daniela Vega. Does Vega get confused or guess the direction?
– This time, Vega didn’t make any kind of mistake. A surprisingly bad solution from Hermoso. The move doesn’t even have to be hard, as long as the direction is right, if the goalkeeper isn’t going anywhere, Ruotsalainen says.
He believes that the effect of scouting can be seen in the situation. The Costa Rican goalkeeper probably knew that the Spaniards were waiting for a goalkeeper’s decision. That’s why Vega calmed down on the shot until the end.
– When there was no idea, the panic attacks: “What the hell am I going to do now?” Of course, the goalkeeper’s performance is also scouted for shooters, i.e. the probability of a guess, for example. I think goalkeepers have an advantage in scouting spot situations, Sällström estimates.
Example 3: Australian Catley strikes a model performance
Australia claimed a 1–0 victory in their home match in front of more than 75,000 spectators. The penalty kick was taken by the Fullback Steph Catley.
Irish goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan guessed the direction of the shot wrong, but according to the experts it didn’t matter. Catley’s shot is a model performance from the penalty spot.
– A perfect comma. It doesn’t matter what the goalkeeper does, he won’t block the ball from that top corner anymore, Sällström praises.
Maija Saari reminds that there is always more risk in shooting up. He says that he always tried to get as close to the post as possible with a half-high shot.
– Then Laukaus has the reserve that if it accidentally got higher, it wouldn’t go over at least. Personally, I always shot towards the goal and would rather over than over.
– You could see from Catley’s look that she knows what she is going to do. He shot a great spot, Saari continues.