Usually, penalty and shot to rhyme with (often) powerful strike on one side or the other of the cages. But sometimes players choose to do what is called a “panenka”. Explanations.
by Laura Pottier
It all starts in the 1976 Euro final between Western Germany and Czechoslovakia. Equal (2-2) After extensions, the two teams stop at penalties. Ninth shooter, Antonin Panenka advances to the cages of Sepp Maier. If he puts the ball at the bottom of the nets, he will offer victory to his country, Chechoslovakia. But what side will the German goalkeeper leave? This question, the Czechoslovakian striker does not arise: with a slight kick, he lifts the ball and sends it … In the center of the opposing goal, completely trapping the goalkeeper who had plunged on his left side And therefore found itself all sheep, kneeling on the lawn.
Thus was born the “panenka”, name given to this technical gesture which consists in gently pushing the ball in the middle of the opposing cage during a shot to the goal or a penalty. It is a sort of “anticipation of anticipation” of the guardian, who expects to receive the ball on the right or left, and will therefore go on one side. For the shooter, no need to torture your mind to try to guess the side that the goalkeeper will choose. Or even to make a perfect strike, in case it goes in the right direction.
A risk still exists: for there to be a goal, the goalkeeper must therefore plunge well on one side or the other. If he does not anticipate and remains in his initial position, in the center, he will stop the ball very easily and the shooter can only take the head in his hands. But if he leaves well on one side, provided you do not miss his gesture, it is an almost infallible technique to mark. It has also been taken up by several stars, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zidane or Karim Benzema.
This idea of genius, Antonin Panenka had it by dint of losing face-to-face with his teammate Ivo Viktor. “After each training session, I used to shoot some penalties with our goalkeeper – we played for a chocolate tablet or for a beer. And as it was very good, this arrangement ended up costing me dear, tells -i it the UEFA site . So I had the idea of delaying my strike and simply lifting the ball. said that a guard who dives on one side does not have time to change its trajectory in full flight. “Simple and efficient.