Mastery of penalty shootouts behind England overcoming their greatest hoodoo and Argentina becoming world champions

Through the history of the England football team, no two words have struck more fear than penalty shootout.

Of the 11 shootouts the men’s team has been part of at major tournaments, they’ve won only four. From the 1990 World Cup semifinal to the last Euros Final at home, the scarring memories have added to the emotional baggage of some of the most star-studded England teams. In the aftermath of losses, words such as ‘hoodoo’ and ‘lottery’ have been used by pundits and players alike, terming the shootout as an uncontrollable aspect of the game. England manager Gareth Southgate however, recently emphasized that it is anything but.

Following his team’s shootout win against Switzerland in Euro 2024 quarter-finals, which saw all five England penalties bustle the net, Southgate – having had a dark past with the tie-breaker as a player and a manager – stated that his team have been working on controlling the outcome of shootouts as much as possible. Geir Jordet, author of the book ‘Pressure: Lessons from the psychology of the penalty shootout’, believes it’s possible, and that referring to penalty kicks as lottery isn’t an accurate depiction of the ‘most extreme pressure situation’ in the sport.

“There are many things that you can control and do to tip the odds in your favor, the big chunk of which is psychological,” Jordet tells The Indian Express. He points to two things that Southgate and Co did differently against Switzerland as opposed to their loss against Italy three years ago.

England’s Bukayo Saka was greeted by John Stones after his penalty as part of the trend that saw each of England’s penalty taker being greeted into the group by an assigned buddy after their penalty. (Pic: Geir Jordet)

“Against the Swiss, each English penalty taker had a buddy assigned, who would leave the mid circle and greet the penalty taker back into the group after each kick,” Jordet observes. “It sets a different atmosphere in the group. The players who are yet to take a penalty kick, they know regardless of how they do – whether they score or miss – their teammates will be there for them. That takes the pressure down a little bit.”

Jordet believes the lack of the aforementioned reassurance and ‘warmth’ between the team may have led to England missing three penalty kicks in the 2021 final. Marcus Rashford for instance, was the first player to miss from the spot and had to walk 50m back after his miss towards “a wall of teammates in an interlocked formation as if communicating US vs YOU. The current setting is much better than one player performing and the others just passively waiting. It sets a different type of group climate, where everyone is involved. This helps the players feel that they’re doing that little bit more, and that they have an edge over the opposition.”

Another contrast is the moment at which penalty takers were subbed on the field. Jordet points to the time at which Southgate brought on Rashford and Jadon Sancho in the final against Italy – two minutes left in the extra time. Add to it a lack of playing time during the competition. “What you get then is young, inexperienced players, who are substituted with very little warm-up, and they know that all they have is one kick. It’s up to them if the other players in their team will get the reward for what they have been fighting for in this game and the previous games, where they did not contribute. And that increases the pressure even more. It’s why as a coach you cannot just worry about what your starting eleven is, you need to think about your end eleven as well. Because it’s those players who will be in the shootout.”

Cut to 2024, against Switzerland, Cole Palmer and Ivan Toney – both of whom scored from the spot – were called off the bench earlier. The latter whose level of confidence and composure striking home a penalty while looking the goalkeeper dead in the eye had been the highlight of the win. A lack of pressure was down to more playing time. “Southgate subbed him in against Slovakia. And then Toney was involved in the equalizer. So when Toney now came on against Switzerland, he knew that he had made an important contribution to the team. So the pressure on him was lower than what it otherwise would’ve been,” Jordet says.

The real genius

It’s the level playing field that penalties provide which is often their biggest criticism. “If one team/player is much better than the other, they will win maybe 95 percent of the time in a 90-minute game, but they won’t have the same odds from the spot-kicks,” Jordet says.

It’s what is often the undoing of even the greatest, the immortals. Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had missed from the spot in the span of a week earlier this month.

Jordet believes that more than practice or skill for the one kick, composure governs whether they score or miss. “Of course they’ve practiced it over the years. But being composed is what makes it happen in pressure situations. It’s an undervalued part of the technique. That’s where the real genius is.”

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, left, scores on a penalty kick his side’s first goal against Slovenia during a round of sixteen match at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP/PTI)

It is no coincidence that after his miss against Slovenia, when Ronaldo did convert in the shootout, his heart rate was recorded as the lowest he had all game – less than 110 bpm.

Instilling fear

There’s a reason why the world champions haven’t lost a penalty shootout with Emiliano Martinez in goal.

“In the structured setting of a penalty shootout, there are endless possibilities to play mind games. To instill that little bit of doubt and fear in the opposition. Goalkeepers are typically the ones who take charge of this, because their presence in the event is for longer, and the onus is always on the scorer. Martinez is one of the handful goalkeepers, who have developed this part of the game into an art,” Jordet says.

Nicknamed after a cartoon character, ‘Dibu’ Martinez has garnered a reputation for being a daunting figure to get past for penalty takers. Whether it’s calling out Ronaldo for not taking a penalty against him or shouting to Colombia’s Yerry Mina in an empty stadium, “I’m eating you up brother”, Martinez has been a master of chaos while keeping penalties. He definitely goes beyond stealing glances at a water bottle on which are pasted instructions for opponent penalty takers’, like Jordan Pickford did, against Swiss Akanji.

Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez stops a penalty shot by Ecuador’s Angel Mena during a penalty shootout at Copa America quarterfinal soccer match in Houston, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP/PTI)

His antics may come across as ugly, unpleasant at times but one would be remiss to deem them as mere impulsive acts in a physical sport. “It’s skillful and clever. For Martinez, a big part of the strategy is getting away with it. If the referee is giving you a yellow card when you do it for the first time, then it doesn’t help your team. So he needs to feel out the referee. What he can get away with. He always starts out very quietly. Little gestures and then he slowly escalates. In the World Cup final against France, when he threw the ball away from Tchouameni, it was only towards the very end.”

But more than the in-your-face gestures, Martinez is also an expert at doing the little things right. Things that can have an even bigger impact in unsettling the penalty takers.

“Some studies show that when goalkeepers are trying to distract the penalty takers, the penalty takers’ performance goes down by 10 percent. I found in my studies that when goalkeepers are using a more subtle approach, it can be even more effective if you’re doing it well.”

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It’s what Martinez did against Ecuador in the quarter-final. Rewatch both his saves, from the moment Ecuador players place the ball at the centre spot till they kick it. Martinez is trying to move all around the goal line, and just before the kick, even fakes a dive the other way. It’s an honest confession Messi had made to him. “When you move all around the place like that [on the goal-line], players don’t like it.” It’s one of the many details that make Martinez a penalty specialist, and Argentina the world champions.

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