He steps up to take the kick. Tension is rising, the sweat is streaming down his face. There are plenty of places the ball could go but he has already decided what part of the net he wants to put it in. He takes his run up and the ball strikes his foot with an unearthing force. The ball rockets of his foot but the keeper guesses the right way, and get fingertips to the ball. The balls path is changed and it is looking as if the ball is going to thunder back off the crossbar. To the shock of the crowd though the ball bounces back towards the goal from the bar and drops peacefully back to Earth past the white line.
This is the excitement of a penalty.
Above is a video of the top 5 penalties and I think it is only fair I tell you I have never been on the winning side of penalty shootout. My beloved Tottenham have lost 3 times, my no so beloved country England twice, Bayern Munich in the Champions League final once and my own personal football team more times then you've had hot dinners.
The point of this article though is to try and ignite some of those emotions people feel during a penalty shootout and to show you why it is such an important part of our game.
Not to long ago Mr. Popular, Sep Blatter said that he wanted to replace penalties in the modern game, as he found them unfair. Obviously barely anyone agrees with the madman but whilst he is still 'in charge', there is still a minute possibilty the penalty shootout may be taken from our game. I feel without penalties a big part of the hype a football match has is lost, as everyone loves the tension of a penalty, let alone 5 in a shootout!
Point of the matter is that penalties bring excitement into the game and without them I feel a big hole would be left. I hope you enjoy the video above just to emphasis the skill set needed to take the penalty and the nerve it takes too.
I hope you enjoyed reading and like the facebook page ASBP and FMCV for some true banter! Follow me on twitter @LawrenceBKR for your opinion to be shared! Comment below on your views too.
