Penalty Kick Research Articles

Exploring the Brain Activity Related to Missing Penalty Kicks: An fNIRS Study

At vital moments in professional soccer matches, penalties were often missed. Psychological factors, such as anxiety and pressure, are among the critical causes of the mistakes, commonly known aschoking under pressure. Nevertheless, the factors have not been fully explored. In this study, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the influence of the brain on this process. Anin-situstudy was set-up (N= 22), in which each participant took 15 penalties under three different pressure conditions: without a goalkeeper, with an amiable goalkeeper, and with a competitive goalkeeper. Both experienced and inexperienced soccer players were recruited, and the brain activation was compared across groups. Besides, fNIRS activation was compared between sessions that participants felt anxious against sessions without anxiety report, and between penalty-scoring and -missing sessions. The results show that the task-relevant brain region, the motor cortex, was more activated when players were not experiencing performance anxiety. The activation of task-irrelevant areas was shown to be related to players experiencing anxiety and missing penalties, especially the prefrontal cortex (PFC). More particularly, an overall higher activation of the PFC and an increase of PFC lateral asymmetry were related to anxious players and missed penalties, which can be caused by players' worries about the consequences of scoring or missing the penalty kicks. When experienced players were feeling anxious, their left temporal cortex activation increased, which could be an indication that experienced overthink the situation and neglect their automated skills. Besides, the left temporal cortex activation is higher when inexperienced players succeeded to score a penalty. Overall, the results of this study are in line with the neural efficiency theory and demonstrate the feasibility and ecological validity to detect neurological clues relevant to anxiety and performance from fNIRS recordingsin the field.

Who chokes on a penalty kick? Social environment and individual performance during Covid-19 times

We use hand-collected data on penalty kicks in the top-level football competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season to analyse how social environment affects the performance of individuals. We exploit the Covid-19 outbreak to induce a plausible source of variation in the supporters’ attendance. We find that for home teams the probability of missing a penalty increases when matches are forced to be played behind closed doors, while visiting teams are less likely to choke on a penalty kick, with these effects being more pronounced when the level of attendance (measured before the pandemic) was high. Taken together, these findings indicate that not only a supportive audience, but also the size of the support plays a key role for success of skill tasks.

The Interplay of Goalkeepers and Penalty Takers Affects Their Chances of Success.

Research in penalty kicking has primarily focused on spatial decision making, while temporal decision making has largely been neglected, even though it is as critical for success. Temporal decision making concerns goalkeepers choosing when to initiate their jump to the ball during the penalty taker's run-up (i.e., jump early or wait long), and penalty takers deciding where to kick the ball, either prior to the run-up or after the goalkeeper has committed to one side. We analyzed penalty takers' and goalkeepers' behavior during penalty shoot-outs at FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships to scrutinize if temporal aspects of decision making have an impact on penalty kick success. Results indicate that the likelihood of a penalty kick being scored depends on the combination of penalty takers' and goalkeepers' temporal decision-making strategies. Hence, moving early more often seems fruitful for goalkeepers, while penalty takers should consider varying penalty kick strategy between attempts.

Goalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick: The dive is coordinated to the kicker's non-kicking leg placement, irrespective of time constraints.

Traditionally, goalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick has been studied using video-based technology, in which goalkeepers watched video footage of penalty kicks and indicated perceived ball direction. By omitting the requirement to actually dive or jump to the ball, these studies overlooked how action capabilities constrain goalkeepers' actions. By contrast, we examined whether goalkeeping in the penalty kick is consistent with affordance-based control, that is, whether goalkeepers guide their dive by taking into account their action capabilities (i.e., the time they need to intercept the ball). To this end, high- and moderate-skilled goalkeepers faced in-situ penalty kicks. Time constraints were manipulated by varying the kicking distance and the kicker's run-up speed. The results showed that goalkeepers of both skills level scaled the lateral dive onset to their action capabilities, but high-skilled goalkeepers acted closer to their maximum action boundary. In doing so, goalkeepers did not take the varying time constraints into account. Instead, high-skilled goalkeepers acted consistent with a strategy in which they coordinated the onset of the dive with the landing of kicker's non-kicking leg next to the ball. Consequently, we only find partial support for affordance-based control. We propose that this is explained by reliable information becoming available (too) late within the spatiotemporal constraints of the penalty kick.

Coping with advantageous inequity—Field evidence from professional penalty kicking

This contribution examines the effect of advantageous inequity on performance using natural data from a high-stakes environment. We use data from top-level penalty kicking in soccer and thereby expand the empirical literature dominated by evidence from laboratory experiments to data from the field. Results indicate that, on average, professionals do not perform worse when they experience unfair advantages. However, we find suggestive evidence for a negative effect of advantageous inequity in situations where success is less important. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications and to adjustments for multiple testing.

Posture-reading by men’s football goalkeepers and other factors in saving penalty kicks

ABSTRACT Penalty kicks are often decisive in football matches. Therefore, any technique that yields an advantage either in scoring or saving them is of great importance. Here we show the influence of a training programme for goalkeepers on the probability of defending penalties in men's football. Virtual training was used through an app that shows the shooter at the moment of setting the support foot on the ground and requiring the answer of which side (right or left) the ball will be directed at. Complemented with physical training, four sub 21 professional goalkeepers from Santarém, Brazil, developed the ability to correctly choose the side (left or right) at which the ball will be aimed. Sets of 800 penalties were kicked before (acting as control group) and after the training programme and it was found that, after training, the chances of saving penalty kicks or, at least, choosing the correct side, increase dramatically. It is concluded that the training programme improved the goalkeeper’s ability to choose the correct side. Other factors (laterality and height) were not found to be statistically significant.

KINEMATICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ACCURATE PENALTY-KICKING FOR TURKISH FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN GOALKEEPER CONFRONTATION

This study aimed to analyze the kinematical characteristics values of accurate penalty-kicking for Turkish football players in goalkeeper confrontation. Fifteen male Turkish Regional Amateur League players (Age: 21.08± 1.56 years old) was scanned, by two video cameras synchronous in two-dimensional (2D), placed at optical axes X&Y. the best three tries of penalty kicking performance were analyzed by video analysis Dartfish 9.0 software. Standard statistical methods were used for the calculation of mean±sd, Pearson test for the correlations between all variables. A value of p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered a threshold of statistical significance. The results were shown in the ball contact phase that the distance pivot foot & ball factor has a statistically significant effect in producing accuracy (p-value=.001), and the interaction between two main factors namely the trunk and inclination body angles has a statistically significant effect with a p-value≤.05 in producing accuracy too. In addition, in the followthrough phase, we can see too the statistically significant effect in p-value≤.005 of the trunk angle, and in pvalue≤.05 of the thighs angle in producing accuracy. As a conclusion, it can be conveyed that the distance between the support leg and the ball is very decisive for the kinematic profile formed such as contraction of the abdominal muscles (trunk angle), the amortization process (the pivot leg angle), shot power (angle and length of the shot leg swing trajectory), where these aspects are significantly affected to the shot power, ball velocity and the level of accuracy.

Judging Under Public Pressure

Individuals who engage in “judging” – that is, rendering a determination in a dispute or contest between two parties – might be influenced by public pressure to favor one of the parties. Many rules and arrangements seek to insulate such individuals from public pressure or to address the effects of such pressure. We study this subject empirically, investigating the circumstances in which public pressure is more and less likely to affect judging. Using detailed data from the Bundesliga, Germany’s top soccer league, our analysis of how crowd pressure affects the decisions of referees yields two key insights. First, we show that crowd pressure biases referee’s decisions in favor of the home team for those decisions that cannot be unam-biguously identified as erroneous but not for those decisions that can. In particular, a referee exhibits a bias in favor of the home team with respect to more subjective decisions such as the showing of yellow cards (cautions), which is based on the referee’s judgment, but not with respect to more objective de-cisions such as validating goals and awarding penalty kicks, where live TV coverage often allows for objective identification of errors. Second, we show that the effect of crowd pressure on referee decisions depends on the extent to which such pressure is viewed by the referee as understandable or reasonable (or even justified). Specifically, a referee’s bias in favor of the home team in yellow card issuance is strengthened after the referee makes an objectively identifiable error against the home team and thus might view crowd heckling as understandable. This effect is stronger when the referee’s error is costlier to the home team because the game is more important or the error is more consequential due to the closeness of the game at the time of the error. The introduction of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology in 2017 and the restrictions im-posed due to Covid-19 pandemic, which caused games to be played without crowds for the second half of the 2019–20 season, allow us to test our results under three different regimes (pre-VAR, VAR, and VAR/no-crowd). Inspection of the results under these three different regimes serves to reinforce them. As expected, VAR reduces the number of referee errors, but the pattern of no bias with respect to errors is preserved. VAR has no effect on the number of yellow cards, or on the number of goals. Once the crowd disappears, so does the home advantage in goals. Referee errors are unaffected, but the home bias with respect to yellow cards disappears as well. This confirms the effect that the crowd has on referees’ more subjective decisions.

In-match penalty kick analysis of the 2009/10 to 2018/19 English Premier League competition

ABSTRACT The in match penalty kick may be a decisive event in a match, as well as an opportunity to progress in a knockout competition or ultimately the final standings of a competition. The aims of the current study were to conduct a video-based performance analysis of in-match penalty kicks in the English Premier League (EPL) between the 2009/10 and 2018/19 seasons to identify the relationship between selected situational (match location, match status and match period), technical (penalty taker’s footedness), and performance indicators (shot direction) and in-match penalty kick outcomes and directions. All the in-match penalty kicks (N = 952) that took place in the EPL were analysed using Nacsport video analysis software. In-match penalty kick direction, specifically vertical direction, significantly influenced in-match penalty kick outcomes (p < 0.01). Match period, score line, match location and footedness had no significant effect on in-match penalty kick outcomes or direction of the kick. The study revealed that in-match penalty kicks should be directed towards the top vertical zones of the goal area to optimise the opportunity for success of in-match penalty kicks. Importantly, the risk factor of aiming high and missing is lower than aiming low and being saved, as such; coaches and players should implement systematic penalty kick training programmes aimed at improving penalty kick placements and control into the top areas of the goal.

The Effect of Different Attentional Focus on the Penalty Kicking Performance of Adolescent Male Soccer Players in Different Levels

The Effect of Different Attentional Focus on the Penalty Kicking Performance of Adolescent Male Soccer Players in Different Levels

Covid-19 Has Turned Home Advantage Into Home Disadvantage in the German Soccer Bundesliga.

The main factors for home advantage (HA), quantified by the number of points won at home expressed as a percentage of all points, are believed to be crowd support, territoriality, familiarity, and travel fatigue. In 2020, the German Soccer Bundesliga interrupted its championship due to the Covid-19 pandemic after 25 rounds and the last nine rounds were played without audience. This unique situation allowed studying the effect of spectators on the team's performance and the referee's decisions. We hypothesized a decrease in HA and a more balanced distribution of fouls and disciplinary cards in the games without audience (GWOA) compared to the games with audience (GWA). We evaluated n = 223 GWA and n = 83 GWOA of the season 2019/20 and all games of the preceding season 2018/19 to analyze the distribution of game outcomes (wins, losses, and draws) and HA. We analyzed the number of fouls, disciplinary cards, and penalty kicks. We found significant differences in HA between GWA (HA = 54.35%) and GWOA (HA = 44.1%) as well as GWOA and games of 2018/19 (HA = 57.63%). The distribution of game outcomes in GWOA did not differ from GWA but differed significantly from 2018/19 (p = 0.031). The distribution of fouls showed a significant difference to equal distribution in GWA [home: 2,595 (48.56%); away: 2,749 (51.44%)] but not in GWOA [home: 1,067 (50.54%); away: 1,044 (49.46%)]. In the GWOA, we counted 178 (51.1%, home) and 170 (48.9%, away) cards, representing a significant difference in the distribution to GWA [home: 405 (44.85%); away: 498 (55.15%)]. The number of red cards differed significantly from an equal distribution for GWA (14 home and 28 away) but not for GWOA (eight home and seven away). In the last nine rounds without audience, we observed more home losses (36) than home wins (27). Hence, the Covid-19 lock-down led to a home disadvantage. One reason for this surprising result could be that the home team is missing an important familiar aspect when playing in their empty stadium without social support from their home audience. Furthermore, both teams know about the HA thus the away team could be more motivated in this unusual situation.

Motor Programs as Indicators of Penalty Direction in Soccer

Introduction: Many football games are decided on penalties and usually in championship final games. When seeking to anticipate movements, differences in amplitude can harm players because the informational movement appears to be spread "globally" throughout the action and should be coded at several levels. Thus, it would be interesting to analyze the entire period of the kick, since the player begins his run to approach the ball to recognize the motor patterns used in the kick that identify his direction. Objective: The objective of this study is to identify patterns of behavior in penalty kicks that may indicate the direction of their action / kick and in my moment they appear. Methodology: The sample consisted of 21 subjects hitting a penalty kick, 18 males and 3 females with an average age of 22.18 ± 2.44 years and two goalkeepers with college football experience. The tests consisted of a battery of two penalty kicks for each subject in order to score. The kicks were recorded by a video camera with a front view of the goal goal and the back of the batter. The kick phases were divided into the starting leg position; first step leg; angle of the elbow in relation to the body seen from behind; angle of the elbow in relation to the displacement line seen from above; direction of the tip of the supporting foot and position on the goal where the kick was. Each kick was preceded by a start signal. The data were analyzed from the registration of each variable and the position of the goal in which the ball was kicked, considering it in three sectors: left, right and central. Results: The main results indicated that the variable “Leg of the first step” had 81% of the kicks associated with the direction of the goal; 52.4% of second kicks had repeated the pattern of behavior and 84.6% had repeated the pattern of behavior regardless of the goal position. The variable “Elbow angle in relation to the body seen from behind” had 81.8% repeated behavior pattern regardless of the goal position and the variable “Elbow angle in relation to the displacement line seen from above” had 81% association with the sector of the goal in which the ball was kicked; 52.4% of second kicks had repeated the pattern of behavior and 91.7% had repeated the pattern of behavior regardless of the goal position. Conclusions: The main conclusions indicate that it is possible to relate the kick location with the batter's body information; the start of the race seems to indicate that there is a prior intention of movement programs; the decision of where to hit the penalty appears to be made before contact with the ball and more closely to the placement of the support foot and with this relationship, the size of the goal to be defended by the goalkeeper could be reduced, increasing the possibility of defense.

Investigating inter-league and inter-nation variations of key determinants for penalty success across European football

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the inter-league and inter-nation variations of key performance, situational and individual variables on penalty success across four elite European football leagues. A sample of 1,716 penalty kicks taken in four consecutive seasons (2015/16 – 2018/19) were analysed via a series of bootstrapped regressions. Results revealed that penalty success in each country depends upon; the length of the run up, the direction of the strike, the type of strike, which foot the penalty is struck with, match status, time periods and venue, but to varying extents in each league. Penalty takers in the English Premier League aimed centrally (p = 0.003) whereas penalty kicks were aimed towards the bottom corners in the Spanish La Liga (p = 0.009), German Bundesliga (p = 0.004) and Italian Serie A (p = 0.004). Inter-nation variations were also discovered between classes of variables associated with the length of the run-up, the type of strike, which foot the penalty is struck with, match status, time periods and venue. The authors conclude that penalty takers should pay special attention to the inter-league variations discovered in this study in order to further inform their penalty strategies and enhance their levels of unpredictability, ultimately increasing their penalty proficiency.

Organisation of instep kicking in young U11 to U20 soccer players

ABSTRACT Aim: The main purpose of the study was to investigate kicking kinematics and performance in young-trained soccer players according to age, playing status, and biological maturity.Methods: Youth male soccer players (N = 105) from five age groups (under-11, under-13, under-15, under-17, and under-20) were evaluated. Four digital video cameras (300 Hz) captured the participants’ lower extremity and ball kinematics during penalty kick trials using dominant limb.Results: It was possible to identify non-linear differences in angular joint kinematics (displacement and velocity) of hip, knee and ankle across age-groups. Kicked ball speed and lower extremity mechanical factors discriminated among under-15 players with distinct status (e.g., ball speed and foot-to-ball speed ratio: starters > non-starters and non-participating substitutes; effect size = 1.05 to 1.49 [large]). Estimated maturity offset was not correlated with performance outputs in any age-group (r = −0.28 to 0.39; P > 0.05).Conclusion: We conclude that from ages ~10 to 19 years, differences in kicking kinematics and performance vary across time in youth players. Transition phase between under-13 to under-15 appears the most sensible period for powerful instep kick performance development. Kicking speed in youth soccer is discriminated according to player status, but not estimated biological maturity.

Modelagem via árvore de decisão para previsão de jogos de futebol

Após avanço tecnológico a análise de dados voltada para fins esportivos se tornou de fundamental importância para evolução tática e obtenção de bons resultados. No futebol, a utilização dessas análises vem crescendo e trazendo inúmeros benefícios, tanto para o desenvolvimento tático, quanto na parte física dos atletas. Além da colaboração tática e técnica para o futebol, a estatística também é bastante utilizada em previsões, que abrange desde uma cobrança de pênalti até o resultado final do jogo. O Objetivo deste trabalho é encontrar um modelo para previsão de resultados de partidas de futebol. Mandante (Time Mandante sair vencedor) Empate ou Visitante (Time Visitante sair vencedor) usando o método de Árvore de decisão, onde, após modelagem dos dados e análise da precisão do modelo foi analisada qual casa seria mais rentável.

Understanding the underlying mechanisms of Quiet Eye: The role of microsaccades, small saccades and pupil-size before final movement initiation in a soccer penalty kick

Experts keep a steady final fixation at a specific location just before final movement initiation, the so-called “quiet eye” (QE). However, the eyes are rarely “quiet”, and small eye movements occur during visual fixation. The current research investigated the subtle eye movements and underlying mechanisms immediately prior to and during QE. The gaze behaviour of 8 intermediate-level goalkeepers was recorded as they moved (either left or right) in an attempt to predict the future direction of the ball during a soccer penalty kick. Goalkeepers were more likely to predict the direction of the penalty, which was coupled with delaying movement initiation. The temporal sequence of microsaccade rates dropped ∼1000 ms before goalkeepers’ final movement initiation. Saccade rates increased, reaching a peak ∼500 ms before final movement initiation, concomitant with microsaccades reduction. Microsaccades predicted the goalkeepers’ direction, oriented to the right when goalkeepers moved to the right, and conversely to the left when they moved to the left. Microsaccades may be modulated by attention and appear functionally related to saccadic intrusions. Pupil-size increased proportionally with the lead up to the instance of the penalty being kicked, reaching a plateau at final movement initiation. In conclusion, microsaccades and small saccades could improve the perception of the soccer penalty kick, helping athletes during the period that precedes the critical movement initiation, shifting from covert to overt attention for identifying the useful cues necessary to guide the action.

HUBUNGAN PANJANG TUNGKAI DAN POWER OTOT TUNGKAI DENGAN KEMAMPUAN TENDANGAN PENALTY

This reseach study is aimed to investigate leg length and leg power towards penalty kick result of Universitas Teknokrat Indonesia’s students majoring in Physical Education batch 2019. Moreover, this study is intended to figure out the impact of leg length and leg power towards penalty kick result. The method used in this study is a descriptive correlational method by having 20 students as a sample of the analysis. The result of this study shows that the correlation between leg length and the accuracy of penalty kick is 56,25% and the value of correlational coefficient between leg strength and penalty kick result is 67,24%. From these two variables, the biggest contribution of penalty kick result comes from the leg strength with the percentage of 67,24%.Keywords: limbs, power limbs, strength, penalty, football

Book reviews. Gheorghe Dumitru. Penalty kicks in football – from lottery to science

Book reviews. Gheorghe Dumitru. Penalty kicks in football – from lottery to science

Monitoring and Analyzing of the Attacks of the Football Team

The article describes a methodological approach to monitoring and analyzing attacks of a highly qualified football team.&#x0D; The aim of the research is to develop a methodology for monitoring and analyzing attacks of highly qualified football teams, taking into account various models of the game tactics.&#x0D; Material and methodology. The competitive activity of the national football teams at the 2018 World Cup was studied. Research methodology: analysis and generalization of the literature sources, lesson observation, video analysis of competitive activities, methods of mathematical statistics.&#x0D; Results. A protocol for registration attacks of the football team has been developed. The estimated scale of penetrating attacks and playing off of standard positions of the football team is identified. A different correlation of positional and fast attacks of national football teams, which used different tactical models of the game, has been established. In one half: for the tactical model "A", positional attacks were 32.3±4.35 (61.8%), fast attacks – 20.0±1.78 (38.2%); for the tactical model "B" – positional attacks – 25.2±4.32 (52.7%), fast attacks – 22.6±4.32 (47.3%); for the tactical model "C" – positional attacks – 32.5±3.49 (67.7%), fast attacks – 15.5±3.96 (32.3%); for the tactical model "D" – positional attacks – 19.2±2.87 (41.9%), fast attacks – 26.6±2.87 (58.1%). At the 2018 world Cup, out of 169 goals, 111 (65.4%) were scored as a result of completing positional attacks, 35 (20.7%) – after playing off of the standard positions, and 23 (13.9%) – after implementing penalty kicks.&#x0D; Conclusions. Monitoring and analyzing the attacks of a football team allows managing persistently the competitive activities of football players both at the operational level during a single game and at the current level during a competitive tournament.

The Right-Oriented Bias in Soccer Penalty Shootouts

Previous studies suggest that approach motivation (a focus on achieving positive outcomes) is related to relative left-hemispheric brain activation, which results in a variety of right-oriented behavioral biases. It has been argued that during FIFA World Cup penalty shootouts, soccer goalkeepers whose team was behind and therefore had approach motivation, dived right more often than left. The present study elaborates on the previous studies in several ways. First, we collected a larger dataset with more penalty kicks from penalty shootouts in top worldwide competitions. Second, we analyze several issues about the behavior of kickers and goalkeepers that were not analyzed before. Third, we use a different methodology to determine the direction of the kicks (right, middle or left), which does not rely on subjective perception of human judges for this classification. Our analysis shows no statistically significant relationship between the game situation (which team leads in the shootout) and the goalie's side choice. Kickers showed a small tendency to shoot to the right side of goalkeepers. Goalkeepers whose team was behind were much more likely to dive right than left, which makes sense given the kickers' behavior.