The craft of a penalty shootout: the run-up, the wait and the choice

Two ways to take a penalty

There are broadly two methods, and the difference between them is whether the taker chooses his target before the run-up or reads the keeper during it. The pre-decided kick is technically simpler, since the player executes a rehearsed strike and ignores everything the keeper does. Its weakness is that a keeper who guesses correctly will save a shot placed anywhere except the very edges of the goal.

The reactive kick waits for the keeper to move and places the ball into the vacated side, which removes the guess entirely. Its weakness is that it requires the striking action to be delayed until very late, which is difficult to execute and produces poor contact under pressure.

Why the run-up matters

The approach determines how much time the taker has to observe the keeper and how much power the strike can carry without losing accuracy. A short run-up limits power and gives the keeper less information, while a longer one generates pace and reveals the body's alignment earlier. The stutter or pause is an attempt to force the keeper to commit first, and it is why the timing of the final step is governed by the laws.

A run-up that varies between penalties is harder to prepare for, but variation also disrupts the taker's own rehearsed rhythm. Most takers therefore keep one approach and accept the predictability, on the basis that a familiar action is more reliable under pressure.

The keeper's problem

A keeper cannot react to a well-struck penalty, so his task is to extract information before contact without committing so early that he is beaten. The cues available are the angle of the run-up, the position of the standing foot at the moment of planting and the alignment of the hips. The standing foot is the last and most reliable of these, which is why keepers who wait for it are beaten less often by disguise.

Waiting costs distance, since a keeper who commits earlier can reach further, so the choice is a trade between coverage and accuracy of the read. Keepers who move early and correctly look brilliant, and the same technique fails invisibly when the read is wrong.

The routine as a stabiliser

Under acute pressure the body shortens movements, tightens the swing and rushes the approach, which is why penalties struck poorly are usually struck early. A fixed routine before the kick, covering the placement of the ball, the number of steps and the breathing, standardises the inputs to the action. It does not remove the pressure; it removes the variability that pressure introduces, so the kick performed is the one that was practised.

The same principle explains why takers are encouraged not to look at the keeper during the placement, since it introduces a decision at the wrong time. Where the routine is abandoned, the visible symptoms are a hurried walk to the spot and a kick taken before the taker has settled.

What can and cannot be rehearsed

The strike itself can be practised extensively, and the technique of placing a ball into a corner is well within the ability of a professional player. What cannot be rehearsed easily is the state the player is in when he takes it, after a long match and a long walk with the outcome resting on him. Some preparation attempts to simulate this by adding fatigue and consequence to training, which narrows the gap without closing it.

The order of takers is another rehearsable element, and it is usually built around who is most reliable rather than who is most senior. Beyond that the event resists preparation, which is why a shootout is a genuine test of craft under conditions the craft was not built for.