“A game of luck – games should be solved by playing, not by flipping a coin!” These similar throws can certainly be heard during the ongoing competitions, when the group stage has moved to the playoffs.
The first penalty shootout of this year’s World Cup was seen in the penalty shootout between Croatia and Japan. Croatia won the penalty shootout 3–1.
The penalty kick arouses emotions from one side to the other. Various alternatives have been developed for it over the years, but matches are still settled through them if necessary. We open the anatomy of penalty kicks in more detail in this article. What happens during the single greatest pressure performance in a football match? How has individual performance changed into the performance of the entire team?
Especially the importance of penalty kicks during matches has grown with VAR and their content is more and more precisely at the core of the entire team’s operations. Also in the penalty shootout, there are many individual and team-level activities that the teams can prepare for.
Let’s take a closer look at England, which has changed its preparation radically. The former perennial loser has turned into a pioneer in preparing for penalty shootouts during the previous games.
The collective nature of penalty kicks
Basically, penalty kicks are individual performances within a team sport, but everything that happens before the whistle and the penalty kick is really collective. After studies showed that delaying a spot kick increases the probability of a miss, defensive teams have begun to systematically delay penalty kick situations.
Against Ghana, Uruguay set a great example of this by organizing a long rally inside the penalty area. The most important goal for the defending team is to delay the situation so that the penalty kicks have to wait as long as possible before taking the shot.
Along with the referee, the players of Uruguay take the players of Ghana in tongs. In addition Darwin Nunez tends to kick the penalty spot to cause confusion and to break the turf at the spot. The goalkeeper is also far away from his goal and confused, so that it also takes time to direct him to his goal. Correspondingly, the referee has to work to get the field players out of the penalty area. In total, it took two minutes and five seconds from the verdict to the shooting of the comma.
As for the attacking team, the Ghanaian players managed to protect the comma so that it would not be used to kick the break. Giver of the penalty kick Andre Ayew is in the center of the situation with the ball in hand all the time. He will certainly be verbally harassed by the Uruguayan players, which will disrupt his concentration. Ayew was also with the ball already at the point when the referee checked the situation with VAR. All in all, a long wait inevitably has an effect in such a high-pressure situation.
Various examples have also been seen regarding this. Among other things, Chelsea has used different players to fool the defending team about who actually gives the penalty kick. The right player “hides” to the side when another player takes the ball and prepares to shoot. At the same time, he takes the opponent’s harassment into himself. When the referee has finally calmed down the situation, the right shot comes a little from the side, calmly prepared to shoot.
Different strategies for taking a penalty kick
The penalty kick itself can be done in very different ways. The strategies could be roughly divided into two: those dependent on the goalkeeper’s actions and those independent.
– The first is represented by all the slow-downs and jump spots, which are seen a lot these days. For example Bruno Fernandes a comma where jumping gives you the opportunity to watch the goalkeeper’s actions before deciding where to score. Such spots force the goalkeeper to stay longer in the center, which increases the target area of the spot in the goal, Miika Nuutinen says.
– Another way is to make a decision without looking at the goalkeeper. It allows the goalkeeper to anticipate, but the shooter to fully concentrate on delivering the ball to the chosen corner. If you choose this classic method, it is of course important to shoot the ball hard, preferably without twist, at a sufficient angle and manage to give the goalkeeper as much wrong information as possible, for example in the direction of speed.
The first penalty shootout of the World Cup in Qatar between Croatia and Japan was a clear example of different strategies.
– The Croatian players had such a spirit when they came to the spot that they are burning with self-confidence and are in it together. They had clear choices, they had already chosen in advance how to act in the shot, and they did not follow the goalkeeper as such, says Jonne Kunnas.
– Japanese players try more to see what the goalkeeper is doing. Here we saw two different strategies and now it clearly went to Croatia’s side.
The graphic shows where penalty kicks have been taken in the World Cup and World Cup qualifiers since 2018. Clearly, the majority of penalty kicks are scored in the lower corners of the goal. It is most effective to shoot near the posts, but above all up. Shots under the crossbar would seem to be a sure goal, but of course there is always the risk of going over.
Penalty shootout
There are a lot of different beliefs and claims about the penalty shootout. Miika Nuutinen presents five of these. Would you know the answers yourself?
⦁ The probability of the team that shoots first to win the rp competition is significantly higher (not true, 51%-49%) source: Geir Jordet
⦁ Transfer players succeed with a higher percentage (not true, -8%) source: Daniel Caliari (Berlin Social Science)
⦁ In the rp competitions of the World Cup, there are more failures than in game situation spots (true, 70%-80%) source: Opta
⦁ Forwards have scored slightly better than midfielders and defenders in the World Cup (correct, 76% – 69% – 68%) source: Opta
⦁ The probability of success has dropped in the World Championships as the rp competition progresses (true, e.g. the team’s 1st shot 75% and 5th 65%) source: Opta
The penalty kick is certainly the most pressured performance in the entire game. There is even a lot of fear associated with it. The effect of pressure is undeniable. In practice, the greater the importance of a penalty kick, the more of them are missed in light of the statistics. Today, players are coached a lot to handle this pressure.
Let’s go back to Ghana’s Ayew’s goal in the match against Uruguay. Ayew was preparing for the penalty kick for a total of about five minutes, when you take into account the time used for the VAR review. When the situation is mirrored in the history of the match pair from 2010 and By Asamoah Gyan to a missed penalty kick, you could hardly have imagined a bigger pressure situation for Ayew.
Roberto Baggiowho missed his famous decisive penalty kick in the 1994 World Cup final, reportedly hasn’t spent a day without thinking about the situation since.
Asamoah Gyan also has a similar idea to describe pressure. He has stated in the TV series “The Long Walk” that he betrayed the trust of his entire country and continent. On the other hand, it is Baggio who has stated well about his approach to penalty kicks.
– Only those who have the courage to take a penalty kick can fail, Baggio has said.
England’s historic penalty shootout victory, shown in the video above, is the result of long and deliberate work. For a long time, England has used sports psychologists and research data in preparing for penalty kicks. Let’s take a look at a few examples to watch out for in the World Cup playoffs if it ends up going to penalty kicks.
How does the team work when the game ends: is the team together or are the players on their own? Do the coaches have the shooters ready and the situation under control, leaving time for psyching up the players and creating the right emotional state?
With England’s head coach With Gareth Southgate the situation is under control all the time. The core message to the team is that in the situation we are together as a team.
Well before the match, England’s coaching team had gathered from the players their own thoughts on where they intended to shoot and what they thought would be the best turn to shoot. Based on this information, the coaching team had already built a precise plan for the penalty shootout. At this stage, the mood is set and possibly last-minute information from the scouting team is given.
Body language affects. How do players act after their own comma? For example, by fanning the goal, you can influence the opponent’s next shot. On the other hand, behavior at the time of failure is also important. Players who have completely sold out their country do not boost the confidence of others. Jordan Henderson is a good example of a player who took failure well.
You should also watch the goalkeepers. For example Jordan Pickford walks to give the ball to my own player and I don’t give the opponent’s goalkeeper a chance to interfere with the shots. In this way, the duration of the pressure situation can also be minimized. Goalkeepers also have other different ways to influence the opponent’s player. For example, is the goalkeeper in place at the moment of the shot or does he move along the line?
Pickford is relatively moderate in this, but is, for example, Australia’s second goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, who was substituted on the field in the play-off against Peru just before the penalty shootout, dances and moves around the goal line just to disrupt the shots. In addition, Redmayne, among other things, destroyed the Peru goalkeeper’s balloon tag, which contained information about Australia’s shooters.
In the end, taking a penalty kick is all about controlling your own thoughts. A typical reaction is to get the pressure situation out of the way quickly. Studies show that the players who react the fastest to the referee’s whistle miss the most. Nowadays, players are often seen taking a deep breath after the whistle and thereby taking control of the situation. Here the England players are role models.
In England’s World Cup history, there are many penalty shootouts that tear up the nation’s memories. David Beckham and other stars have been in the teeth of the media and the nation after the lost penalty shootout. For a long time, there was a belief on the island that England could not win in the penalty shootout.
A good example of this was the follow-up match of the 2006 World Cup between Portugal and England, where Portugal specifically wanted a penalty shootout, even though they actually played with superiority for a long time. This was because the Portuguese were sure that the English pressure tolerance would not be enough in the penalty shootout.
England coach at the time Sven-Göran Eriksson had also told his friend the Portuguese goalkeeper before his match For Ricardothat the England players were afraid of the penalty shootout.
Penalty kicks and situational penalty kicks have changed significantly over the years. It will be interesting to follow where the direction of development is going from here. The teams prepare a lot for these situations and we see different approaches in these games as well. For example, does allowing five substitutions affect the fact that we see more and more substitutions before penalty kicks, where penalty kick specialists are brought onto the pitch?