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A penalty kick is one of the most stressful situations a soccer player can be in. There is immense pressure to convert because the odds are stacked so thoroughly in the taker’s favor, and this pressure, unsurprisingly, leads to more than its fair share of misses.
But what if it was possible to guarantee a conversion every time a player steps up to the spot? Where would the pressure be then?
Case in point: Jeonbuk Motors of South Korea’s K-League
It just seems way too easy, right?
Granted, Jeonbuk Motors got away with encroaching on the penalty box before the penalty taker had struck the ball, but it is possible to do this legally. It has been done before, just ask Dutch legend Johan Cruyff:
The possibilities for improvising off this idea are pretty numerous: you could have multiple runners, for instance, on either side of the spot so the penalty taker could chose to pass either left or right every time.
While it is still possible for the keeper to save the shot, passing instead of shooting from the penalty spot seems like it would have a much higher conversion rate. Especially considering professional teams would be able to drill the scenario, and get its execution down to a science.
We don’t want to email Pep Guardiola - he doesn’t really need the help - but we feel like we should.
