Penalties: The Glory of Conversion... The Agony of Defeat

I believe I have addressed this topic before. However, considering the excellent quality of Dr. Sérgio Nuno's opinion piece on the matter, published in our newspaper A BOLA on July 17th, allow me to draw attention to some additional notes. It has become clear in recent competitions that one fundamental action can determine the victor's song of glory or the vanquished's funeral dirge. There are many examples over time, especially in this 2026 World Cup cycle.

Opinions on this issue frequently arise, often framing success or failure as a matter of pure luck.

We now understand that the dynamics of football and the high demands for success must be anchored in principles that build the capacity to overcome adversity and achieve high levels of performance, ultimately leading to victory.

While football is not a science, several sciences offer extraordinary contributions to its success. These include Physiology, Psychology, Nutrition, Sport Training, Statistics, Sports Medicine, and Biomechanics, among others. When combined with careful planning and programming, they can lead to competitive success.

In the specific case of a penalty kick, studies by various authors such as Morris and Franks (1997) and Wisiak (2004), which I have personally adjusted and confirmed, show that a ball traveling at an average speed of 100 to 120 km/h (20.83 to 27.73 meters/second) takes between 600 to 400 milliseconds to cross the goal line.

If the goalkeeper waits for the shot to react, they face a deficit of 338ms, as their reaction time is approximately 700ms. This equates to a reaction speed of 4 meters/second, whereas a speed of 7.7 m/s would be needed to have time to make the save. Therefore, the goalkeeper must anticipate the shot, relying on intuition or prediction. The question is: can this be trained, and under what conditions?

We know that the key factors for good decision-making, which can influence the response, include sensory ability, perception, memory, attention and concentration, the ability to overcome pressure, intellectual capacity, self-confidence, motivation, and good physical condition, among others.

For the defending goalkeeper, accumulated experience with specific penalty takers is crucial. Reading the run-up, observing the player's visual focus (under high anxiety, takers tend to look at areas of concern), the position of the supporting leg, the hip's position just before contact, and the position of the arm opposite the kicking leg (which tends to have a slight or wide lateral extension) are all valuable indicators.

Both the penalty taker and the goalkeeper must maintain a high level of concentration. This involves using breathing techniques, imagination, and mental visualization, preemptively focusing on the conditions for success. This could mean picturing the ball hitting the back of the net or making the save, hearing teammates applaud, and reinforcing that state of grace with a keyword. It's about eliminating adverse factors, or 'noise'—such as crowd sounds, past negative results, bad experiences, weather conditions, or discouraging external information—and replacing them with positive, affectionate thoughts, perhaps drawing on family or other personal sources of emotional support. As we've said, positive thinking is extraordinarily helpful in focusing on what you want to achieve and destroying what you want to avoid.

In either case, as mentioned, one should call upon a keyword or phrase that acts as a living testament or an anchor for success. Furthermore, one can monitor their somatic anxiety by checking for sweaty palms, momentary restlessness, and heart rate (we know that in these situations, heart rate can reach 160 to 180 beats per minute, or even higher).

It is evident that achieving these levels of performance requires great quality and perseverance in training—a process we often call 'environmental engineering,' associated with another complex term, 'systematic desensitization.' The planning and application of this process, though still a work in progress, will last for less time than expected.

Therefore, I believe every effort must be made to ensure that these and other challenges posed by the game are resolved through training, and that the lessons from training are applied in the game—the ultimate arena that serves as the final arbiter of truth.