How to score a penalty

Our sport experts believe they have worked out the best way to score penalties at the 2014 World Cup.

The essential ingredient to scoring a World Cup penalty – play the fool.

Dr Nick Smeeton, Principal Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the School of Sport and Service Management, said: “It’s

harder for penalty takers these days because international goalkeepers are trained to such a high level and practise penalty saves so much – and they have analysts calculating takers’ favourite targets and trainers teaching them to watch the takers’ body language to read where the ball is going.

“Penalty takers need to re-gain their edge – and we believe the best way to fool keepers is with fake moves and tricks.”

Some sport scientists suggest penalty takers who wear red shirts stand a better chance of scoring while others recommend they stare at keepers after placing the ball to ‘psych’ them out.

Dr Smeeton said: “Some insist that aiming high will give shooters the best chance but our research suggests they should play the fool. Dr Nick Smeeton

“Most people remember the Pirlo chip for Italy against England in Euro 2012, and some will recall Italy’s Balotelli pausing just before his kick or his countryman Nocerino’s feint to England’s Joe Hart’s left before shooting the other way.

“It is these little moves that I believe are essential if kickers want to maximise their chances of scoring. Outstanding players like Bolatelli know and exploit this. I predict that any trained professional using this strategy will score and you will see far more penalties scored in the World Cup using this strategy than one based on power or placement.”

Dr Smeeton believes the reason for this strategy being so effective is not just because the keepers are tricked. “Deceptive penalty kicks cause goalkeepers to think in a different way. The goalkeeper notices something is amiss and switches off the autopilot that is normally in control of their brain and body. Meanwhile the kicker takes advantage.”

His view is based on his research into the psychology of how skilled and less skilled goalkeepers anticipate direction a ball will be kicked, research that has been published in the British Journal of Psychology.

“We measured how accurately these goalkeepers were in reading kickers’ shot direction and how confident they were in their decision. Confidence ratings are important because they can be used to give us an idea about how conscious a decision is – conscious decisions are often made slowly which is not desirable in a penalty shootout.

“We found evidence to suggest that goalkeepers’ decisions were, in fact, made more consciously when facing deceptive kicks compared to normal kicks; with this result also been found for easy to read kicks which suggested to us that exaggeration in both the deceptive and easy to read kicks was fooling the goalkeepers into making more conscious decisions. From the kickers’ perspective, this deception may increase their chances of scoring.”