Anatomy of a penalty shoot-out

Photos (Top to Bottom): 1. Normal time ends between New Town Eagles and Olympia; 2. The 1-1 draw means a penalty shoot-out: 3. Olympia gather for the penalty shoot-out; 4. Eagles try and relax before the tension begins; 5. Both teams are ready to begin the penalty shoot-out; 6. Olympia's Dimitri Nester hits the post; 7. Eagles' Andrew Clark scores to make it 1-0; 8. Eagles' keeper Nathan Pitchford saves Ben Phillips's spot-kick; 9. Eagles' Shane Kent scores to make it 2-0; 10. Olympia's Emmanuel Tsakiris scores to make it 2-1; 11. Eagles' Alex Leszczynski nets his spot-kick to make it 3-1 for Eagles; 12. Olympia's Aaron Smith-Richardson makes it 3-2; 13. Eagles' Adam McKeown shoots over the bar and it's still 3-2; 14. Olympia's Dipemdar Kunway scores and suddenly it's 3-3; 15. Eagles' Josh Hadfield hits the winner to make it 4-3; 16. Hadfield walks back to join his celebrating Eagles team-mates: 17. The teams shake hands and it's all over, with Eagles collecting the bonus point. [PlessPix]

Many players dread a penalty shoot-out.

It’s amazing how many accomplished players fail when the pressure is on and they have to score from 12 yards (11 metres).

Remember John Terry’s miss in the European Champions’ League Final for Chelsea against Manchester United in Moscow?

How about Roberto Baggio’s miss in the World Cup Final for Italy against Brazil in 1994?

The game is littered with such glaring failures by big-name players.

But, there are players who never miss. They say a penalty is just a simple 12-yard pass.

During a game, players make 12-yard passes all the time in normal play, so why do they fail when they have to make ‘a 12-yard pass’ in a penalty shoot-out?

It’s probably because of the mental pressure.

Shown above are photos of what I have called: “Anatomy of a penalty shoot-out”.

It’s the shoot-out between Olympia Warriors and New Town Eagles last Sunday in their Summer Cup match at South Hobart.

I wonder how you would have fared if you had been one of the penalty takers, or one of the goalkeepers?