Tag Archive for 'Svizzera'

An explanation of Jorginho penalty mistakes comes form the science

This research provide some useful insights to explain the Jorginho penalty mistakes of some days ago against Swiss team.  Science data help to learn about mental phenomena in these unique situations, such as penalty kicks, and provide guidance to coach players and certainly not to blame.

Geir Jordet (2009) Why do English players fail in soccer penalty shootouts? A study of team status, self-regulation, and choking under pressure, Journal of Sports Sciences, 27:2, 97-106,

“Generally, people react with anger or anxiety to all events that seriously challenge their mental image of themselves … When experiencing these emotions, systems for self-regulation sometimes break down and people search immediate escape from the emotional distress … Although this type of self-regulation may provide a break from unpleasant emotions, it may also harm performance, thus ultimately becoming self-defeating. This exact pattern was documented in two recent studies of choking under pressure in international penalty shootouts.

Jordet and Hartman (2008) found that participants in very high pressure situations (taking shots where a miss instantly would lead to a loss) displayed significantly faster preparation times (thought to reflect a desire to get the shot “over with”), more avoidance looking behaviours and fewer scored shots compared to players faced with lower pressure shots (no direct match- deciding implication or a goal would instantly lead to a win).

In another recent study, the most internationally esteemed players (defined as those who took a shot after they had received one or more prestigious international awards, such as “FIFA player of the year”) performed worse, and engaged more in certain escapist self-regulatory behaviours (lower response time) than players with lower levels of public status.

In both these studies, it was demonstrated that low preparation times were linked to poor performance, suggesting that this type of self-regulation strategy is potentially self- defeating at the penalty mark”.