Shock! Research suggests England good at penalties

No English football fan heads into a penalty shootout with overbearing confidence. They may go into every major tournament with irrational hopes of success, but when the scores are level after 120 minutes you won't see many expressing such untamed bravado.

There's good reason for that.

Images of Chris Waddle smashing agonisingly over in 1990 and Gareth Southgate's tame effort in 1996 are burned into hardened England fans' memories.

For the younger generation, they have their own to choose from, including David Beckham's skied mishap (2004) and a trio of poor attempts from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and Jamie Carragher (all in 2006).

From eight penalty shootouts in the World Cup and European Championship, England have won just two. Until the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where they defeated Colombia 4-3, you had to go back to 1996 for their sole victory from the spot in major competitions.

Myth busting

Given Germany defeated England on two of those occasions (at the 1990 World Cup as West Germany and 1996 Euros) it's fitting that researchers from the German Sport University of Cologne have attempted to debunk the stereotype in a report published in the 'Scientific Reports' journal.

The group collected data from every World Cup and European Championship since 1976 (when penalty shootouts were introduced) as well as from Europe's top leagues between the 2006-07 and 2015-16 seasons.

That's a total of 5404 penalties, a reasonably hefty catchment.

And what did they find? Well, England actually have the highest success rate when it comes to in-game penalties in international tournaments, with 90% compared to the average of 79%.

And English players at club level have a 75% conversion rate compared to an average of 71%.

Michel Brinkschulte, who led the study, told The Times that those statistics were enough to banish the stereotype that "English football players are extremely bad at shooting penalties”.

"We've shown that this is just not true,” Mr Brinkschulte said. "English players are actually really good at scoring penalties. And if the players could get this in their heads, it could be beneficial.”

So the English have the ability to slot home from the spot, and boast the statistics to back up the claim. But, of course, that's not the whole story…

Penalty shootout hoodoo

According to the study, it's clear that nationality makes no difference to a player's ability to convert from the spot. But that changes when considering how a national team deals with a do-or-die penalty shootout.

Trauma can play a significant role, and England's high-profile losses in the past appear to have cursed the national team for close to 30 years.

The research paper shows that when it comes to comparing shootouts with in-game penalties at major tournaments, England's success rate plummets from 90% to 61%. A decrease is common across the board, but that conversion rate is some way below the international average of 72%.

England's overall success rate in shootouts, as mentioned, of 25% (two wins from eight) ranks alongside the worst in the world. In contrast, Germany leads the show with an 86% success rate (six wins, one loss).

The research paper mentions that "choking under pressure” or "not preparing adequately” are two factors often discussed by the media, but Mr Brinkshulte said the data doesn't neccessarily always support such theories.

Glimmer of hope

England's shootout win over Colombia in the 2018 World Cup certainly put to rest the hoodoo talk and they followed that up with victory from the spot over Switzerland in the European Nations League.

Perhaps current coach Southgate, who knows first-hand the pain of missing a high-pressure spot kick, has found a way to change the national team's psyche.

Mentality problem or not, German researchers have at least offered their rivals a silver lining - England's footballers lead the world when it comes to converting chances during open play.

England's Penalty Shootout Record

World Cup 1990 - lost 3-4 vs. West Germany

Euro 1996 - won 4-2 vs. Spain

Euro 1996 - lost 6-5 vs. Germany

World Cup 1998 - lost 3-4 vs. Argentina

Euro 2004 - lost 5-6 vs. Portugal

World Cup 2006 - lost 1-3 vs. Portugal

Euro 2012 - lost 2-4 vs. Italy

World Cup 2018 - won 4-3 vs. Colombia