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

Benjamin Noël, John van der Kamp, Stefanie Klatt

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungBegutachtung

Abstract

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.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer645312
ZeitschriftFrontiers in psychology
Jahrgang12
Seiten (von - bis)1-6
Seitenumfang6
ISSN1664-1078
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 09.03.2021

Zitation