Source : the age
Dallas: With expectations that the Socceroos’ knockout World Cup clash with Egypt will be the tightest of contests, it is no surprise Australia has spent time in training this week working on how best to execute the cruellest of deciders – the penalty shootout.
Helpfully, the players have also been able to tap into the mind of the ultimate penalty taker, Mile Jedinak, the former Socceroos captain who never missed from the penalty spot.
Two round of 32 matches have already been settled by shootouts, with Morocco beating the Netherlands and Paraguay eliminating Germany. Add to that, sports analytics company Opta is forecasting Australia and Egypt as the closest contest of this knockout stage (the Pharaohs given a 54 per cent chance of winning). So, there’s every reason to prepare.
The Socceroos have never contested a penalty shootout at a World Cup, but some of the team’s most iconic moments have come from them. Think John Aloisi’s winning penalty against Uruguay in 2005, goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne’s “Grey Wiggle” performance against Peru in a 2022 World Cup qualifier, and Mark Schwarzer’s two saves in a qualifier against Canada in 1993.
And then there is the legend of Jedinak, who took 16 penalties in a storied career that took him from the Central Coast Mariners to Turkey and the English Premier League, as well as three World Cups with the Socceroos.
He never missed once.
“For me, it was very simple; I always focused on what I had to do, what I had to do was put the ball in the back of the net,” Jedinak explains.
“It was as simple as taking the moment, controlling the situation with the ball, trying not to focus on anything else. Purely, ball, me and where I was going to put it, clean contact, strong enough if the goalkeeper goes the right way that it’s going to beat him.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to do it a few times for the country.”
Those few times include three goals from penalties at World Cups — against the Netherlands in 2014, and both France and Denmark in 2018, and now Jedinak is back at the tournament as an assistant to Socceroos coach Tony Popovic.
The Socceroos spent time training at their Oakland base camp for the possibility of a penalty shootout in the days after the draw against Paraguay, working out who might step up should the moment arise, before flying out to Dallas.
Jedinak said the coaching staff looked through the squad for those who have taken penalties in high-pressure situations before, but also had to factor in that after 120 minutes of football, there’s no certainty as to who will be on the pitch at the end of extra time.
“It’s also about who’s comfortable and who’s a willing taker,” he said. “I can only speak from experience as a player in those moments. Even preparing for previous games, not necessarily with the national team, you’re trying to get some familiarity of it, but it’s very hard to replicate that on the night because you have added bits… pressure, crowd, all of that stuff.”
And while he said he was more than willing to pass on any penalty-taking help, it was up to individuals to “figure their process”. “It’s not straightforward, but I don’t think it’s that complex either, to be honest.”
Maybe not complex to the ice-cold Jedinak, but sports scientists say the pressure on a player can reach “inhumane” levels. Geir Jordet, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and author of the book Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout, said in his research that “the only emotion everyone agrees is present is anxiety.”
Of the Socceroos players to front the media this week, all were publicly willing to step up and take a kick in a shootout should it come to that. Defender Alessandro Circati insisted he has total confidence in those situations, while striker Ajdin Hrustic – who converted his penalty in a shootout in the 2022 Europa League Final for his club side Eintracht Frankfurt – said “he’s calm”.
Fullback Jordan Bos has never taken one, but he says that could work in Australia’s favour. “Maybe that gives the keeper nothing to go off. A little secret.”
The Socceroos’ have an 80 per cent success rate in penalty shootouts – four wins in five for major international games – although their last shootout came four years ago. On that infamous night, Redmayne was substituted on in the 120th minute for Mat Ryan specifically for penalties. His bizarre, dancing technique worked, became a viral sensation, and punched Australia’s ticket to Qatar.
The International Football Association Board responded by changing the rules a year later, ordering that a goalkeeper “must not behave in a way that unfairly distracts the kick”.
That success rate puts the Socceroos as the second highest of the final 32 teams in the World Cup, behind Belgium, who won their only attempt.
Egypt has competed in 13 penalty shootouts with a 6-7 record. Their most recent one was in January this year, which they lost 4-2, having drawn 0-0 with Nigeria in the third-place game at the Africa Cup of Nations.
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Nick Ralston is the deputy editor and investigations editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, justice editor and world editor.Connect via X or email.
