– I think it’s a blink of an eye that you can never fully train. It is so extreme, says Christian Borchgrevink to news. Last autumn, he missed Vålerenga’s last penalty in the penalty shootout against Kristiansund. At home, the big club moved down to the 1st division, after giving up a 2-0 lead from the first match. – You go up there and know you have to score. You actually try to remove the situation, try to isolate yourself with the ball and make it as simple as possible, but I probably think afterwards that I was taken a little bit by the pressure, he says. He explains the feelings afterwards as follows: – Then everything comes crashing down. It was some kind of low point that I haven’t come across so many times before. You just get tingling all over your body. It just felt empty, all together, says Borchgrevink. Bomma in the Norway Cup: – The summer I crushed my friends’ dreams Geir Jordet has twice taken a penalty kick in a football match. As a 15-year-old, he scored in a test match to make the circuit team. Nervously he aimed at the right corner. The ball went into the goal – but in the left corner. Two years later even his team in a penalty shootout in the Norway Cup. Grounded boom. The team lost, and since then he has never taken a penalty kick. – For me, it is still the summer when I crushed the dreams of my teammates and friends. Because that’s what it feels like to miss a penalty kick in a penalty shootout. PROFESSOR: Geir Jordet has been researching penalty kicks for several years. Photo: Norges idretthøgskole This is what Jordet wrote in the book “Pressure: Lessons from the psychology of the penalty shootout”, which was published at the end of May. Jordet, who is a professor of psychology and football at the Norwegian Sports Academy, has been researching penalty kicks for years and covers a lot of it in the book. In working on the book, he came to the following conclusion: – It is very, very clear to me that in football we have failed our players when it comes to penalty kick competitions. It is only in the last four-five-six years that we have systematically prepared our players for this from a psychological perspective, he says. – Has been a little painful to find out about The penalty shootout was first introduced in 1970. In 1976, for the first time, a major tournament was decided by a penalty shootout, when Antonín Panenka scored the decisive penalty in the EC final between Czechoslovakia and West Germany . Watch Panenka’s winning penalty in the 1976 football European Championship a minute into the clip. Germany’s Uli Hoeness missed the penalty ahead of Panenka, which saw Czechoslovakia win 5–3 in the penalty shootout. His technique with a small chip towards the center of the goal has been immortalized. And a number of finals have been decided on penalties since then. Like the World Cup final in 1994, Roberto Baggio shot high over and made Brazil win the World Cup gold. Or the EC final in 2021, when Italy won after Bukayo Saka missed the decisive penalty kick. – You have always trained on penalty kicks and talked about whether you should shoot to the left or right. But preparing the players for this extreme stress has not been done, says Jordet. BOM: Roberto Baggio misses in the penalty shootout in the World Cup final in 1994. In the background, his teammates despair. Photo: LUCA BRUNO / Ap He continues: – What I have done in practice is that I have sent the players into the lion’s den. Without training, without preparation, without support. Without techniques, without strategies. Without help to handle what is perhaps the biggest stressful situation that exists in sport, says the professor. – And it has hurt a bit to find out, he sums up. CONTRASTARS: While Italy cheered for European Championship gold, Bukayo Saka strolled away from the penalty mark. Photo: AP Characterized by conservative thoughts The ground is clear that action has been taken in recent years, as several teams have started to take action to prepare for penalties and penalty kick competitions. There are still many who are far behind, believes Jordet. According to the professor, there are still few who simulate a penalty shootout at the highest level. – We know that training with a little anxiety has a positive effect on performing with high anxiety. There is no excuse that a penalty shootout in its entirety cannot be simulated 100 per cent, because it is not necessary either, he says. The professor believes that part of the explanation lies in the fact that there are many conservative ideas about football. – We are quite concerned with the way we traditionally train. This means that it is still a little far behind for many people to take up new ways to prevent this, Jordet believes. – You must be a bit ugly towards the opponent For Borchgrevink there was a penalty revenge when he scored the decisive penalty kick at home against HamKam in the cup earlier this year. Vålerenga defender Borchgrevink says that as a team they train little on penalty kicks during the week, but that he has now learned that he must take a few extra penalty kicks before cup matches. As part of the age-specific national team, he has also taken part in talks with Jordet in the past, where they also had a training match with a penalty shootout to train for the championship. – Then it was about trying to win the small percentages all the way. You have to be a little nasty to your opponent and try it in a psychological game. Then you have to try to take ownership of the situation yourself, he says. HAPPIER TEAM: Borchgrevink led the celebration with the Vålerenga fans after he scored the decisive penalty against HamKam in the cup earlier this year. Photo: NTB – I think if it’s penalty kicks and actually all other parts of football, then one is fired up to have been through situations before. It’s clear that you can train more on it, sums up Borchgrevink. And even if Jordet believes that football has failed the players, he is clear that he does not want a football without penalty kick competitions. – The penalty kick competition is in a way the essence of the competition. It doesn’t get more intense than that. It is also a fantastically beautiful game. But you have to approach it on the game’s own terms. Those premises are not just about shot mechanics or shot stopping technique. It’s about managing stress. Until the EC final on 14 July, there are good chances for penalty shootouts. Published 01.07.2024, at 13.05
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– Football has failed the players – Football European Championship 2024
