What is happening in the Eurocup of Switzerland with penalties? The maximum punishment, or advantage, outlined in football rules has altered in meaning during this tournament. Eleven times—sometimes with the help of VAR—referees have called fouls in the area and pointed to the penalty spot, yet only seven of those kicks resulted in goals. Even the effectiveness in the penalty shootouts hasn’t improved for England, where only three out of seven attempts found the net against Sweden. Remarkably, out of fourteen attempts in total, nine were misses without the goalkeepers needing to make any spectacular saves.
In total, there have been 25 penalties, with 12 finding the back of the net, resulting in an error percentage of 52%. This is something we haven’t observed in a Eurocup since the men’s tournament in France 2016, where, excluding shootouts, the success rate was slightly above 63%. Approaching the semi-finals, the same percentage in Switzerland stands at 11 penalties and seven successful shots.
This statistic is heavily influenced by four misses from Norway and Spain, which were entirely unexpected. The captain of the Norwegians, Ada Hegerberg, a forward for Olympique Lyon and the first woman to receive a Ballon d’Or, missed both penalty attempts she had this Euro despite her career effectiveness being near perfection. She netted her first penalty in the opening match against Switzerland but missed the second in the quarter-final against Italy, where her miss could have equalized the game. She later redeemed herself with a goal in the 66th minute, but it wasn’t enough as Italy’s Girelli scored to send Norway home.
Sweden’s Holmberg during the last penalty shot against England.AP
Equally surprising were the misses by Mariona and Alexia. Mariona, from Arsenal, is designated by coach Montse Tomé, boasting an effectiveness rate of over 85%. Her last penalty was in a friendly against France back in December. Alexia has an 80% success rate and sadly has not converted from the spot for Spain since the Paris Olympics, where she missed a crucial shot that could have sent Spain to extra time for the bronze medal against Germany.
Playing at Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, Mariona had exited the game when Alexia was given the responsibility, but Peng saved her shot. “Only those who take them miss. We practice, but we have great takers; it’s fine if they miss. We need to trust them,” said Vicky López. She is among the list confirmed by Montse Tomé. “Mariona is the designated shooter, followed by Alexia, Aitana, Vicky, or Athenea. All have practiced during training, especially those who specialize,” the coach revealed.
No Cue Cards or ‘Godmothers’
It’s rare to miss two penalties in a major tournament or, even more, two in the same match. What’s truly uncommon is a shootout where the penalty quality is lower than that exhibited by Sweden and England. “At least three times I thought we were eliminated,” confessed Sarina Wiegman. Although they scored three, only one kick was executed with perfection: Lucy Bronze’s shot traveling at 102 km/h. She had moments before reassured goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who was playing with a bleeding nose, saying, “I’ll score this one, you stop the next and we’ll win.” However, that didn’t occur; they had to wait until Holmberg sent the last shot into the stands.
This shootout didn’t resemble the meticulous strategy Southgate prepared to eliminate Switzerland from the semi-finals in the Eurocup held in Germany. There was no cue card à la Pickford placed before Hampton, nor did Wiegman manage substitutions to bring in the best specialists. She also didn’t copy her former colleague’s protocol of looking for ‘godmothers’ for the designated penalty takers. In the men’s context, this meant having a teammate to encourage each kicker—an intriguing strategy to avoid a dreadful shootout, although they still managed a happy ending.