Pressure Penalties 

Taking penalties under pressure - by Daniel Ferguson

Would you step up?

In football, penalties can be a very crucial part of the game: they can decide a match, add a lot goals to a player or team's tally, win tournaments and a step even further, destroy or boost the morale of a single country within seconds. A particularly famous football tournament known as the Euros has recently been displayed across TVs globally, in this tournament, 36 penalties were taken: 11 in open play and 24 across three penalty shootouts. Now in a tournament like this one, these penalties can amount to a lot of pressure and they can determine whether a team remains in the competition. How can players handle this pressure?

               Georgian player Georges Mikautadze taking his penalty against Portugal in the group stages               (Getty images)

Many players have issues when it comes to penalty taking, for example: not having the best technique, a lack of confidence, or not having the right experience. As this blog is based on pressure, here are a few examples of where the pressure may come from: coaches, parents, the crowd, the event, friends, teammates and even from yourself: your own internal dialogue. 

Let's focus on event pressure due to the Euros recently being underway. A big event could be an international tournament, a champions league final or even pressure from wanting to beat your friends in a penalty shootout. I want to pivot your attention to a penalty Cristiano Ronaldo took as of late against Slovenia. In the 105th minute, during extra time, Ronaldo had the opportunity to give Portugal the lead, a lead which could easily win them the game. You would expect one of the worlds best to convert this penalty, especially after scoring his last 13, however he unfortunately missed. Was this due to tournament pressure?

Ronaldo after his penalty miss against Slovenia 

(The Independent)

An interpretation could be that he knew if he scored that penalty, Portugal would effectively be through to the quarter finals of the Euros. As a player who you could argue is the face of Portugal when it comes to the footballing world, he would have wanted to score this penalty for his country when they needed him most. This would amount to a significant amount of pressure. Physically he took his deep breaths but what did his internal dialogue include , was it self talk such as: "I have to score", "if I miss this, I will let my country down" and "I can't miss."

The only person who can answer this question is Ronaldo himself. But, that's not to say language like this wouldn't amount to pressure and as seen from this penalty, even greats like himself can miss. Despite the fact it was a great save from Oblak, how could he have spoke to himself positively to put him in the best position to score?

A key part to how this pressure could have formed weight on Ronaldo's shoulders is the significance of the penalty. An approach he could have took is taking the idea out of his mind that this is a crucial tournament penalty, understanding he has scored over 160 penalties in his career, simply just telling himself it's another for the tally:

• "I've scored my last 13, let's make this 14"
• "I've been here before, let's do this again"
• "I'm just adding another onto the tally"

Another approach could be adding an element of intrinsic motivation: personal enjoyment. He could step up to the spot with nothing but love for the game, embracing the moment, using mindfulness as he looks up to the sky for a few seconds to ease that pressure off his shoulders. This can involve internal dialogue such as;

• "I'm going to score for the love of my country"
• "I love these moments, I want to enjoy this penalty and score for my team"
• "Let's enjoy this one"

These two positive approaches can be taken onboard, yet they do say pressure makes diamonds, so on the flip side Ronaldo could have used the pressure. Honed in on the will to win for his country, some would say use that fear of missing to his advantage:

• "I am going to score for my country"
• "I must do this for my team"
• "This is another defining moment in my career, I will score"

There's various approaches that can be used to deal with the pressure of penalties, it all depends on the type of individual. Ronaldo could be seen as the type who would use the pressure to his advantage, as he's been there many times before, what would you say would be the best approach for him? What would you say to yourself in you were in his shoes? Would you step up?