In addition, high over, too short run -up, slightly shot. In how many ways the missing of a penalty kick is possible, many national teams demonstrated in the quarterfinals at the European Football Championship in Switzerland, in recent days.
In those four games, a total of 33 penalties were taken, awarded in the regular playing time or part of the decisive series after the extension. Sixteen of them were not used. Both Germany, Saturday against France and England on Thursday against Sweden, only after a nerve -racking penalty shootout series were able to qualify for the semi -final. The English will find Italy on Tuesday, on Wednesday it is Spain Germany.
Spain received two penalties in the quarterfinals against Switzerland and both missed. Yet the world champion managed to win two ‘normal’ goals 2-0 against the host country. In the first quarter final, Wednesday evening, the Norwegian routinier Ada Hegerberg missed a penalty half an hour before the end. Norway lost that match against Italy 2-1.
Two players could have been the heroine of their country, but failed from eleven meters. The German Sjoeke Nüsken had the unique opportunity to decide the heroic and unequal struggle on Saturday evening late in the packed Sankt-Jakob Park in Basel. After thirteen minutes, the Germans were already standing by ten to eleven, after Kathrin Hendrich had received a red card for pulling on the hair of the Française Griedge Mbock. The penalty that followed Grace Geyoro by the hand of the German keeper Raak: 1-0.
Germany managed to stand up for a long time against the team that this tournament was so strong so far, and already made it right ten minutes later. But the winning goal was not forthcoming. This time Germany received a penalty kick in 69th minute, but Nüsken, who had already made the 1-1, now shot weakly. Goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin saved. In the penalty shootout series that followed, the Germans appeared to have more peace and power, in particular the entire goal-standing goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
Swedish keeper takes
Two days earlier, on Thursday in Zurich, there was a starring role for Jennifer Falk, keeper of Sweden. After she had put three bets in the penalty shootout against England, she then took the fourth penalty herself. It could have been the decision for a place in the semi -final, but Falk shot high. In the remaining penalties, the English turned out to be better to resisted the nerves.
“So incredibly sour for Jennifer,” says former Orange keeper Loes Geurts, who played with Falk for years at the Swedish club BK Häckken. “It was not even exceptional that she took. She is a regular penalty, even during a competition. Then she usually just hit.”
That the number of missed penalties is so high on this European Championship is exceptional. With 59 percent, the ‘conversion’ of striking penalties is above average low, according to figures from data agency Statspleform. In total, at the tournament in Switzerland, 41 penalties have been given so far, of which seventeen misunderstood: ten stopped by the keeper, two on the post and five next or over.
In women’s football is one Conversion rate Of 70 percent normal, says Norwegian sports psychologist Geir Jordet, who has been studying the phenomenon of penalties for years. The figures from Statspleform show that the percentage did indeed use penalties at previous final tournaments at that level or Hóger, with an outlier of 80 percent at the previous European Championship in England in 2022.
Does Jordet have an explanation for that? “It is already too early to draw conclusions because they were only two so far Penalty Shoot Outsbut I have studied all the penalties well. ” According to the professor of the Norwegian Institute for Sports Science in Oslo, the increased importance of women’s football must play a role in increased failure from 11 meters. The Noor wrote a handbook about it last year, High voltage – lessons from the psychology of the penalty kick.
Information stuck to water bottles
From a technical point of view, Jordet did not necessarily see much wrong with the penalties at the European Championship, although a few were painfully beside or over, and some were shot slightly – it will have been those nerves. He noticed that most goalkeepers seem to have prepared themselves better than ever: regular rituals when waiting, quickly studying their water bottle on which notes were stuck with information about the penaltyman towards them. They dived into the right angle much more often.
Bidon of the Swedish keeper Jennifer Falk with information about the penalty members of England.
“There are also much more data available in women’s football nowadays,” says Jordet. “Professional teams make good use of that. Keepers can delve into their opponents well.” Jordet saw them quieter and more concentrated waiting for the penalty to be taken. In his eyes, the interaction between keeper and penaltyman was “higher than ever.” “In that psychological jousting, the keeper turned out to be better than the Nemer.” Many players who missed their penalty went too rushed to the ball and did not wait in which corner the keeper dived. “
In addition, says former International Geurts (125 games in Oranje), which the pressure for a penalty bearer is higher than a keeper in this kind of large tournaments. “About a player who is missing is simply judged harder than about a goalkeeper who does not stop the ball.”