The Science of the Penalty Shoot-Out | FourFourTwo Films
A World Cup penalty shoot-out: for the players it's the ultimate test of nerve and skill, for fans it's time to watch between your fingers and pray for divine intervention. But why is it so hard for an elite footballer to score a free shot from 12 yards? Through interviews with journalists, psychologists, players and goalkeepers, FourFourTwo delves deep into the science of the spot-kick.
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00:00 (crowd chanting)
00:02 (dramatic music)
00:10 - I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy
00:20 to go out there and have to take a penalty
00:23 and a penalty shootout.
00:24 - Please don't miss.
00:27 Please don't miss.
00:29 Please don't miss.
00:30 It's not a nice place to be.
00:32 - Yeah, I've never been under so much pressure
00:36 mentally, physically.
00:38 - I think the number one rule of penalties
00:43 is do not change what you're comfortable with.
00:45 Make a decision and stick to it.
00:46 - When the moment arrives,
00:50 you define it or it defines you.
00:53 (dramatic music)
01:22 - Well, a penalty shootout is different
01:23 from taking a penalty in the match
01:26 because you get the thing where your teams
01:28 are in the center circle or on the halfway line.
01:30 You have to walk all the way to the penalty spot,
01:33 which is unique 'cause that doesn't happen
01:36 in a football match 'cause normally you're surrounded,
01:37 you're in the box and then you pick it up
01:39 and you put it on the spot and you go and take it.
01:41 A penalty shootout's a little bit different.
01:42 So you've got more time to think
01:45 than on any other penalty
01:46 you'll probably ever take in your career.
01:48 And obviously, it's also in a World Cup.
01:50 It means more.
01:51 Us players are brought up in an environment
01:53 where it is 22 players on the pitch, 11 on your side.
01:58 So there are moments in a game for long periods
02:01 where you aren't the focal point for most of the game.
02:04 You aren't the focal point of the team.
02:06 So that's what you're used to.
02:07 That's where you're comfortable.
02:08 When you go out for a penalty,
02:10 it's you against the keeper.
02:12 One v. one, you're the focal point.
02:14 It's a big difference.
02:16 (dramatic music)
02:20 (upbeat music)
02:22 A free shot from 12 yards can be hard
02:28 because the temptation for distraction
02:31 can enter into an athlete's mind.
02:34 Neuroscience and psychology has proved
02:36 that the brain behaves differently
02:40 under conditions of anxiety.
02:41 When athletes are first learning movements for real,
02:46 they use a very conscious area of their brain
02:50 called the ventral stream.
02:52 When they become expert at their field
02:56 in their chosen task,
02:58 a different area of the brain is activated,
03:01 and that's called the dorsal stream.
03:03 So when an athlete performs
03:05 under conditions of potential pressure,
03:07 anxiety literally switches a different area
03:12 of the brain into action.
03:14 And it turns what should be an effortless,
03:18 fluent, expert, natural movement
03:21 into something that can feel very awkward,
03:25 very difficult, and very complex.
03:27 Normally that happens
03:28 because athletes overthink the situation.
03:32 In psychology, there's a term called
03:34 paralysis through analysis.
03:37 And that means that I can overthink,
03:39 overcomplicate the moment in its simplicity.
03:43 (upbeat music)
03:46 So the first shootout in a World Cup was in 1982,
04:01 and it couldn't have been more dramatic.
04:03 It was West Germany against France in the semifinal.
04:07 This was the first World Cup
04:08 that was shown all around the world in color TV.
04:11 So the images really much more impactful now as well.
04:16 What we saw is that the first four penalties were scored.
04:18 West Germany's Uli Stilleke stepped up
04:20 to take the penalty for the Germans, and he missed.
04:24 And as soon as he missed, he fell to the ground
04:27 and put his hands over his head,
04:29 and he curled into a ball like a little baby.
04:33 And what we were seeing was the power
04:35 of the penalty was incredible.
04:38 It could turn an athlete, an elite athlete
04:42 who was playing for his country,
04:44 into an infant who was crying.
04:47 And the pictures showed that Stilleke
04:49 was walking back to the center circle.
04:51 He had tears streaming down his face
04:53 because he thought he'd lost the match for the Germans.
04:56 And in fact, the next player to take the kick for France,
04:59 we almost missed him taking his kick
05:01 because the camera was so focused on the tears of Stilleke.
05:05 But that was Didier Cisse.
05:06 He didn't want to take a penalty
05:07 because he felt he was injured.
05:09 But he took it, and he also missed.
05:11 So it's back to Even Stevens.
05:14 And the next player to take for France was Maxime Bossise.
05:16 Again, another player who didn't really want to take one.
05:19 And he was asking around, "Who wants it? Who wants it?"
05:21 And Jean Tigana, the France midfielder, said no.
05:23 There were a couple of other players that said no.
05:25 So Bossise went up to take it, and he missed.
05:27 And he also, as soon as he missed, crouched down.
05:30 So we were seeing the impact that missing a penalty had
05:34 on these powerful individuals.
05:36 Germany went on to win the shootout.
05:38 But the overriding sense from that shootout
05:41 was that penalties are traumatic, and they're dangerous.
05:45 And they can turn an athlete into something
05:47 that he doesn't want to be.
05:48 They can reduce an athlete to tears,
05:50 and to shame, and to an infantile state.
05:54 And that penalty shootout really had an impact
05:56 that has lasted a very, very long time.
05:58 It was so dramatic.
05:59 [Music]
06:07 [Music]
06:11 [Music]
06:16 Well, we're playing for England in the 1990 World Cup
06:19 against Germany in the semi-finals.
06:21 Germany took the lead with a fluke.
06:23 Deflected goal from a free kick, hit Paul Parker,
06:26 and it just looped up over Pete Shilton.
06:28 I managed to equalise with 10 minutes to go.
06:31 So it went to extra time.
06:33 Then it went to penalties, which was the first penalty shootout
06:36 that England had been involved with at that stage.
06:40 And it was 3-3.
06:43 Both teams had scored their first three penalties.
06:45 I took the first one.
06:48 And then Clanton Beardsley scored as well.
06:50 And then, sadly for us, Stuart Pearce smashed one,
06:54 hit the goalkeeper's legs or hip or something.
06:57 And then Chris Waddle blazed one high and wide.
07:00 And we were out, and it was desolation.
07:04 [Music]
07:23 I took two penalties in my whole life.
07:26 I scored one, I missed one.
07:29 But it's not a nice place to be.
07:31 Even in the Champions League final, I was next.
07:34 If Anelka hadn't missed that penalty, I was actually next.
07:38 And I was thinking, "Oh, my legs."
07:40 I was actually holding up.
07:41 I was being held up because my legs were that shaky.
07:44 [Music]
07:55 The initial reaction to penalty shootouts by players and teams
07:58 would be as you would expect.
08:00 The winners thought it was a great idea,
08:02 and the losers would say, "This is really unfair."
08:04 But that really reached its peak in 1994,
08:07 when it was the World Cup final that was to be decided on a penalty shootout.
08:11 And this was the first time a final had been decided on penalties.
08:15 And we all know what happened.
08:17 Roberto Baggio kicked his penalty over the top of the crossbar.
08:21 Brazil won the World Cup.
08:23 The Italians, some of whom actually felt that it was an unfair way
08:28 to decide such a big game.
08:29 Baggio was one of them.
08:30 He didn't want to be in that position
08:32 and obviously be remembered for such a tragic moment.
08:35 But not all of Baggio's teammates agreed.
08:37 In fact, Daniele Massaro, who also missed a penalty in the shootout,
08:41 said, "I'm still a fan of the shootout.
08:43 I can't think of anything fairer to decide a match between 11 players
08:48 who cannot be decided unless you use a penalty shootout,
08:53 which is the ultimate test of nerve, skill and ability."
08:58 We go to penalties, and we sort the five guys who are about to take the penalties.
09:13 And I always like to go up first to try and get off to a good start.
09:19 But of course, I'd taken a penalty in the 90 minutes against them.
09:23 So I was thinking, "What is the goalkeeper thinking?
09:27 Is he thinking I'm a goalie the same way, or am I going to change my mind
09:29 and go to the opposite side?"
09:31 I went to his right-hand side, high with the first penalty,
09:36 and I stuck to that.
09:38 And I thought, "You know what?
09:39 If I hit it hard enough and put it to where I want to go,
09:43 then the keeper shouldn't stop it anyway, irrespective of whether he guesses right."
09:48 Fortunately, it was the right decision.
09:50 But that walk from the halfway line to the penalty spot is such a long walk.
09:56 And if you're not experienced, then there's all sorts going through your mind.
10:00 Other players can change their mind at the last minute,
10:03 which we've seen is fatal at times.
10:06 You can't do that. It's the one thing you shouldn't do.
10:08 You should always stick to what you've practiced.
10:10 And if you catch it right, it should be in the back of the net.
10:13 My penalty kick against Portugal in 2006,
10:27 the difference for me in not being successful,
10:29 and generally I was pretty successful with penalties,
10:31 was that I had worked so hard on practice, which is one thing.
10:36 I always did that.
10:37 But what I did do was I had studied the Portuguese goalkeeper,
10:40 studied his previous saves in his last games,
10:43 and decided to change my usual technique.
10:46 And I think the number one rule of penalties is do not change what you're comfortable with.
10:50 Make the decision and stick to it.
10:51 I changed and he saved it.
10:53 Those who are successful in the moment, to perform under pressure when it matters,
10:58 have the capacity to stay centred, composed and focused in the moment.
11:04 It's the famous case of Perlo in the European Championships against England.
11:09 When such an amount of pressure was on that moment,
11:13 he chose to embrace the moment, to be completely composed,
11:17 to watch, to see where the goalkeeper went,
11:20 and then place the penalty straight down the middle with a little chip.
11:24 Supreme composure.
11:27 Steps into the moment, fully ready, prepared.
11:30 So, responding to those moments is about how well an athlete can stay in control of their emotions,
11:39 stay in control of their thoughts,
11:41 and bring the energy back to themselves,
11:44 instead of focusing on the potential distraction around the moment.
11:48 Having been involved in penalty shootouts, having taken penalties,
11:56 and of course having watched penalty shootouts as a pundit,
12:00 I can tell looking at someone with the walk, with the body language,
12:05 with the look in their eyes when they're walking to take that penalty,
12:10 when they place it on the spot, when they take their 4 or 5 yards walk back,
12:14 and then they turn around, you can tell whether they're feeling confident,
12:17 whether they're going to score or not.
12:19 The important thing is, for me, I had a technique that I used to practice 30, 40, 50 penalties every single day,
12:25 and I would only practice the penalty that I was going to hit in a match.
12:28 So, by doing that, people always say, "Yeah, but you practice, but it's not the same under pressure."
12:34 Of course, it's not the same under pressure, but if you've got repetition and repetition,
12:39 and you can trust your technique, that will help you, even if it's a small percentage, come that moment.
12:45 If golfers never practice their putting, because it's different come the tournament,
12:51 well, that makes no sense at all.
12:53 In the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, quarter-final, Holland, I guess, Costa Rica,
13:03 and Van Gaal decided to put me on for the penalties.
13:09 It was extra time at the time, and he decided to change me for Jasper Sillese,
13:15 because he had a lot of faith in me, and he trusted me,
13:20 and he trained me, saving a few penalties, and he made a big gamble,
13:24 and he put me on, playing against Costa Rica.
13:27 It was planned before the game. We've had a lot of meetings about penalties.
13:32 Before every game, we analyze all the penalty takers,
13:37 and before the game in the hotel, the goalie coach pulled us and said,
13:42 "There's a big chance if it goes to penalties, you're going to come on."
13:46 Initially, I thought he wasn't really serious.
13:50 I thought it was more like, "You're doing well in training, keep it up,
13:53 and your chance will come."
13:55 But ten minutes later, he pulled me again, he said, "Make sure you keep it quiet,
13:59 but there's a massive chance, so we've got a lot of faith in you."
14:15 When it got to extra time, the nerves really started kicking in,
14:18 and the realization that it actually could happen,
14:22 it was weird, it was really weird, but really exciting.
14:25 Then I started my warm-up with ten minutes to go,
14:30 and I got the call to get changed and come on.
14:35 Then you realize how big the stage is to come on into the World Cup,
14:40 playing for your country.
14:41 We analyzed it, because Costa Rica had a penalty shootout in the game before,
14:48 but in the shootout against us, they all went a different way.
14:52 For me personally, I could see it in their eyes.
14:55 The two I saved were really nervous, you could see the pressure was getting to them,
15:00 and the other two looked at me with a smile,
15:04 so they were quite more confident in their qualities.
15:10 The World Cup
15:13 If you're the kick-taker, you are in control of that movement,
15:25 you're in control of that kick.
15:27 So if your perspective is, "I am in control,"
15:30 you're much more likely to be successful.
15:33 If you believe that the goalkeeper, on the other hand, stands a better chance than you,
15:37 you're likely to be anxious.
15:39 The truth is, the ball is the same size, the goal is the same size,
15:43 and athletes that are confident taking penalties in that moment
15:46 are normally the ones that have practiced and rehearsed,
15:48 and have a routine to stay anchored in the moment,
15:52 to avoid distraction, to avoid anxiety.
15:55 Hazard in the FA Cup Final versus Manchester United at Wembley.
16:00 Almost for an instant, just a nanosecond, looks up, looks to the left-hand side,
16:04 tricks the goalkeeper, the hair, goes to the right-hand side.
16:08 It's a very subtle art of saying that, "I'm in control,
16:13 and I'm going to force you to go the wrong way.
16:16 Stay completely composed and pick my moment."
16:20 That's elite performance, that's elite mindset.
16:22 I've never seen that before in my whole career, when I first faced,
16:26 I think it was Hazard first, and I was still in the middle,
16:30 waiting for him to put his head down, to react,
16:32 and it was already in the back of the net.
16:34 So, yeah, it's definitely experience.
16:38 It's definitely the experience where you see moments happen again and patterns.
16:59 I was expecting my favourite anecdotes in the book
17:02 to come from players who had missed penalties,
17:04 because that's where the stories are of tragedy, of loss,
17:08 almost of trauma as well.
17:10 Stories like Miroslav Dukic, who missed a penalty for Deportivo La Coruña
17:15 in the last minute of the 1994 La Liga season
17:18 that would have won Depor the league title.
17:21 Or Martin Palermo, who missed three penalties for Argentina
17:24 in one game against Colombia.
17:27 Diego Maradona said about him afterwards that he was the bravest player on the pitch
17:31 because he'd already missed two penalties,
17:33 and you need serious balls if you've missed two penalties
17:36 and you're still taking a third.
17:38 Those stories are amazing, but for me, the memorable stories
17:41 are of the players who scored against the odds almost
17:44 and became heroes as a result.
17:46 Like Antonin Panenka in 1976,
17:49 whose penalty, chipped penalty, down the middle of the goal, very slow,
17:54 won Czechoslovakia the 1976 European Championship.
17:59 Panenka had been practising that penalty for two years before he took it,
18:03 and he told me that had he missed that penalty,
18:06 he would have been punished.
18:08 He thinks he would have spent the rest of his life down the mines.
18:12 Enormous courage, spontaneity, but also hard work and effort
18:16 went into that one penalty.
18:18 I also like the penalty that Brandi Chastain took
18:22 to win the 1999 Women's World Cup for the USA.
18:26 It was a pivotal moment in the development of women's football
18:30 in that country and around the world,
18:32 so the impact of that was enormous.
18:35 Those two penalties really had an impact beyond just that penalty itself.
18:51 Taking the penalty in a World Cup shootout is the ultimate test of nerve
18:56 and dealing with pressure in football.
18:58 It's our moment of glory.
19:00 Progress to the next round in such a big tournament
19:04 is the pinnacle, obviously, for a goalkeeper.
19:08 In terms of nerves and dealing with nerves and pressure,
19:11 it is the big moment in a footballer's life.
19:13 But if you practise and you stick to what you've worked at and practise
19:18 the belief, and that is a huge thing when you're taking penalties,
19:21 belief and confidence.
19:22 If you've done your homework, you should know where the goalkeeper
19:25 you're facing has died for his last five or ten penalties.
19:28 Have you taken a penalty against him before?
19:30 If so, where did you put it? Did you score? Where did he go?
19:33 You should know all of that, you should be prepared,
19:35 but being prepared is one thing, knowing where he's going to go
19:38 and what you want to do.
19:40 The execution, obviously, is the big thing,
19:43 and that is where your practice comes in.
19:45 You've got to relish that moment, that's the most important thing for me.
19:49 This is a chance to show the world that you've got a massive amount of bottle.
19:55 And the chance to show off is something that mere mortals
19:58 never get the chance to do in that sort of position.
20:01 So just get it done.
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