Perfecting penalty-taking – Singapore footballers say ‘even the best can miss’

SINGAPORE – Kicking a ball into a 7.32m by 2.44m goal from 11m should be a simple task for a professional footballer, one would think.

Not if you are Germany’s Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah, or the Netherlands’ Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville.

All of them missed in the shoot-out on June 29, when their teams were sent packing from the World Cup by underdogs Paraguay and Morocco respectively.

Notably, the Germans were once the gold standard for penalty-taking as they won all of their previous four World Cup shoot-outs, scoring 17 out of 18 shots.

To be fair, Paraguay’s Antonio Sanabria and Fabian Balbuena – who was brought on just for the shoot-out – and Morocco’s Neil El Aynaoui and Achraf Hakimi also failed to score from the spot.

Once again, the art of penalty-taking is in the spotlight after a day of drama at the World Cup, when two out of four matches went down to the wire.

Former Singapore international Mustafic Fahrudin, 45, believes that while modern rules – goalkeepers must keep at least one foot on the goal line until the ball is kicked – give takers an advantage, they also face a lot more stress.

He was one of Singapore’s best penalty-takers during his heyday, with conversions in the 2007 and 2012 Asean Championship finals.

Now an assistant coach with the Lions, he said: “The biggest battle you need to win is against yourself. In my time, I never thought about missing. I kept telling myself I was going to score.

“But I think now, they worry too much. Nowadays, social media can be brutal, they can smash you, so it’s double the pressure.

“It’s easy to say, but the most important thing is to stay calm and decide whether you want to wait for the goalkeeper to move or go for a particular spot regardless.

“If the goalkeeper is moving around and looks nervous, I will delay my kick just a little and wait for him to move.

“If he stays still, I will go for my spot. I’m not a fan of the stop-start run-up or the hop like Bruno Fernandes.”

“To practise hitting my spot, mostly to my right and the goalkeeper’s left, I would take many penalties without a goalkeeper at the end of the training session before the match.”

Veteran Lions Hariss Harun and Safuwan Baharudin know well the pressure of taking penalties.

National captain Hariss remembers three of the shoot-outs he lost.

He scored in Johor Darul Takzim’s 2014 Malaysia Cup final against Pahang, missed in their 2016 AFC Champions League play-off with Thailand’s Muangthong United and converted for the Lions in a 2019 friendly against Oman.

The 35-year-old said: “Nothing really prepares you for actual shoot-outs, only experience counts.

“You can take lots in training, but you cannot replicate how you feel after 120 minutes, the heavy legs, the full stadium and the nerves.

“We lost 3-0 to Muangthong and I was the third taker. Both my teammates had already missed and that plays on your mind too. I’ve also seen players I expected to take penalties turn them down because they didn’t feel confident.

“The goal can appear smaller, the goalkeeper bigger. Controlled breathing helps me calm down. I keep my eyes on the ball, pick a spot and I find it important not to change sides at the last minute.”

Safuwan, 34, has scored three of his 14 international goals from the spot.

Referring to Lionel Messi’s three penalty misses at the 2018, 2022 and 2026 World Cups, he said: “People think it’s easy, but even the best can miss. And it also doesn’t mean forwards take better penalties than players from other positions.

“There are many factors – you can be tired, you can have a bad game or you may be injured – so going up to the penalty can be the longest walk.

“I love the process of taking the ball to the spot and having the assurance from my teammates in my ability, because it is a big responsibility. If I have a choice in a shoot-out, I would usually take the first or last penalty and prefer if our team go first, so that we can put some pressure on by scoring.”

For goalkeepers, they generally adopt a “nothing to lose” mentality.

Using Fahrudin as an example, former national goalkeeper Lionel Lewis, who made the winning save in the 2007 AFF Championship semi-final against Malaysia, said: “He usually takes them only one side, but it’s usually into the side netting or the top corner, making it almost impossible to save.

“So in a shoot-out, we have lesser pressure because the attacker is expected to score and if we save one, we can be the hero.”

Both ex-internationals picked each other as the best penalty-taker and stopper during their careers, and Fahrudin revealed Lewis would stop at nothing to put off his opponent, be it trash-talking or kicking the ball away.

Sometimes a staredown works, as Lewis added: “The Malaysian who missed was not even 20 then and he had to score to keep his team in the game.

“I kept looking at him and he tried to avoid eye contact so I knew he was under a lot of pressure. The rules were also not so strict then and goalkeepers could steal some distance forward to narrow the angle.”

FC Jurong custodian Hassan Sunny agreed that having to stay on his line while facing an opponent’s stuttering run-up makes it more difficult for goalkeepers to stop shots, but they will still do their homework to try and gain an edge.

For example, he managed to save a penalty in a 2-2 draw against China in a World Cup qualifier in 2024 after watching Wu Lei’s videos to study his preferences.

Adapting to new rules and trends may also help.

The 42-year-old said: “In training, the coaching staff will watch from the side and inform us if both our legs are off the line.

“Personally, I feel if they ban us from coming off our line, they should also stop penalty takers from their stop-start run-ups.

“But we also saw something unusual with Morocco’s Yassine Bounou shifting to his right and blocking Summerville’s shot with his left hand.

“I believe he studied his body and foot placement position because he read it well and didn’t even dive. Every goalkeeper has his own style, but any penalty save is a good save for us.”