This winter has seen the 2020 World Cup take place, and as with any international football competition, one of the biggest topics involves the most troublesome topic for any English football fan, player or manager.
Part of the official Laws of the Game since after the 1970 World Cup as a replacement for the infamous drawing of lots to decide the winner of any knockout match that wasn’t the final, the penalty shootout is the simplest part of any football match.
All formations, tactics, progressions and opportunities are thrown to the wayside in favour of a duel between a player and a goalkeeper, with each team getting five attempts and whoever gets the most wins.
The English Men’s National Team have a bit of a history with penalty kicks, with an overall record until the 2022 World Cup of three wins and seven losses across their World Cup, European Championship and Nations League appearances.
Why is this record so bad? Part of it could be the result of psychology, and several England managers have suggested that they will use sports psychotherapy to help manage the weight of expectations.
One reason for this is that football is a team sport, and so most matches are won or lost on the strength of all eleven people on the pitch, as well as substitutes and coaches. Teams win together or they lose together, and so the intense pressure of the match is shared amongst everyone.
This is not the case with penalties, where a single player in a single moment can make or break a match in a moment that people will never let them forget. Ask Stuart Pearce, David Batty or current England manager Gareth Southgate.
This creates a psychological phenomenon often known as “the yips” where movements that are typically automatic and unconscious are instead consciously thought about, which often leads to overcompensation and tragic misses.