BOSTON — Germany’s dramatic World Cup elimination at the hands of Paraguay on Monday did more than end another disappointing campaign. It shattered one of international football’s longest-standing reputations, as the four-time champion lost a World Cup penalty shootout for the first time in its history.
Germany’s exit came after a tense 1-1 draw was settled from the penalty spot, where Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah all failed to convert. Paraguay also came under immense pressure after surrendering a two-goal advantage during the shootout, but Jose Canale ultimately held his nerve to score the decisive penalty and send the South Americans into the round of 16.
The result immediately reignited debate over one of football’s most scrutinized skills: performing from the penalty spot when the stakes are highest.
For Geir Jordet, professor of football and psychology at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and author of Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shoot-Out, success in a shootout depends on far more than technical ability.
“The best penalty takers are specialists, who have worked relentlessly for years to perfect their kicks,” Jordet said. “This skill always has a technical component — how to hit the ball to get it where you want it to go.”
As the World Cup knockout rounds continue, players and coaches are routinely questioned about how much they practice penalties before matches. Jordet believes that focus often overlooks the more important challenge.
“It is almost impossible to recreate the exact conditions of such a big occasion,” he said. “The better question is to what extent pressure can be recreated in training and whether that affects the outcome.”
Research into so-called pressure training suggests that practicing while experiencing elevated anxiety can improve performance when similar stress arises during competition, according to Jordet.
While researching his book, Jordet analyzed more than 100 penalty shootouts involving over 700 kicks. His work emphasizes techniques such as visualization, positive self-talk and consistent pre-shot routines as valuable tools for players preparing for moments of extreme pressure.
He also argues that players can regain control even when goalkeepers attempt psychological tactics before the kick.
“Players can do different things to take control of the situation and not allow the opponent to dictate the conditions,” Jordet said. “For example, restarting the routine if the goalkeeper becomes especially volatile or hostile, or taking a brief pause with a few breaths after the referee has given the signal.”
Despite the growing body of scientific research, Jordet believes penalty shootouts will always remain one of sport’s greatest psychological tests because they reduce an entire team’s ambitions to a series of one-on-one confrontations between kicker and goalkeeper.
Germany’s defeat demonstrated how quickly decades of success can disappear under that pressure. Long regarded as one of football’s most reliable teams from the penalty spot, the Germans became the latest reminder that even the strongest reputations offer no guarantees when a World Cup hangs in the balance.
For Jordet, however, the focus should not be on those who miss.
“Small players don’t miss penalties, because only big players take them,” he said.
“Those who took responsibility and missed deserve our utmost respect because they stepped into one of the most extreme pressure situations in sport. Not many people ever experience that kind of moment at a World Cup.”
