Practise The Whole Thing
The best teams rehearse the walk, the breathing and the kick, not just the strike. The aim is that nothing feels new on the night, so the body can do what it has done a hundred times in training.
The penalty shootout is the cruellest stage in football, and the same names keep thriving on it. Germany rarely miss, Argentina turn their goalkeepers into folk heroes, and England spent decades haunted before learning to cope. This guide digs into the psychology of the spot kick, the research of Geir Jordet, the goalkeeper mind games of Goycochea and Emiliano Martinez, and why nerve and preparation could decide the 2026 knockout rounds.
The walk from the halfway line is the longest in sport. Decades of research show how the brain reacts, and why some players cope better than others.
The takeaway from the science is consistent. The shootout is a psychological test wearing a technical disguise. The kick itself is simple. Doing it with a continent watching, your tournament on the line and your legs heavy after 120 minutes, is anything but.
The history of the World Cup shootout splits sharply. Some nations carry an aura, others a curse.
England's story is the most telling. After years of shootout pain, they finally won one at a World Cup against Colombia in 2018, a breakthrough widely credited to treating penalties as a rehearsed, trainable skill rather than a lottery to be dreaded. Argentina, meanwhile, have turned the shootout into a stage for their goalkeepers, with Emiliano Martinez the latest to seize it on the way to the 2022 title.
Modern sides no longer leave the shootout to chance. They build an edge long before the whistle.
The best teams rehearse the walk, the breathing and the kick, not just the strike. The aim is that nothing feels new on the night, so the body can do what it has done a hundred times in training.
Coaches think hard about who takes the decisive kicks, often saving their most mentally robust takers for the later, highest-pressure penalties rather than the opening ones.
A goalkeeper who delays, talks and celebrates saves can tilt the balance. Argentina have made this an art form, turning the line into a stage and the taker into the one under pressure.
With every knockout tie in 2026 able to go the distance, this preparation matters. From the round of 32 through to the final at MetLife Stadium, the team that has trained its nerve, settled its takers and trusts its goalkeeper holds an advantage that does not show up in the rankings.
Where shootouts could decide the 2026 tournament:
The full 2026 knockout bracket and the route every contender must take to MetLife.
See the bracket ›How the new 48-team knockout stage works and when shootouts first come into play.
Read the format ›The contenders ranked, including the sides with the nerve to win a shootout.
Open the ranking ›The World Cup's greatest shocks, many of them sealed in the lottery of penalties.
Read the upsets ›This editorial draws on academic research and reporting on the psychology and history of the penalty shootout:
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