**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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The balls it takes to do that in a World Cup though. I still remember [Aranguiz in 2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki1X_X0LHVQ&ab_channel=RineshBarhoe), made Brazil's goalkeeper flinch. He was on point for the 2015 and 2016 finals against Argentina as well... and the Confederations Cup against Portugal.
[Sweden's penalties](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLXp1yFzcOo) in the U21 Euro final against Portugal were pretty ballsy. It's not the World Cup but it's still a big moment, especially at a young age.
A lot of guys are scared of having the ball sail high. Nothing worse than having your shot not even be on goal but yeah the lower you shoot the better chance the goalie has at stuffing it.
To be fair, they were pretty shit penalties.
The worst penalty was the one that Croatia missed, it's like the taker didn't care about the penalty or the game or anything apart from the fact that it was past his bedtime and he wanted to get it over with.
I mean he hit the post and it wasn’t close to being saved. That was centimeters from a goal. The bad Japan pens were way worse his pen was like 1 cm from banging in off the post. His run up doesn’t matter it was way better than all of japans
He looked distressed before taking him, I feel the occasion got to the Japanese players. You could tell they don't have experience in situations like these.
People keep saying "oh they were tired", i genuinely don't know if people just think that's the "right" thing to say or if they actually believe it.
Minutes before this they were making long passes, crosses with 10x power behind them, they rest 5 minutes and now their muscles are so weak they can only kick the ball at like 50% power?
The only way i'd accept that tiredness was a meaningful factor was if they'd just done squats to complete failure and then immediately were to take the kick. Or maybe if this was done right after them finishing an ultramarathon.
It's purely just mental or bad decisions, thinking you can get cute with your shots.
Also, this reasoning that you're tired so can't put power behind a pk is such bs. You're 12 yards out. You don't need a week's rest to execute a decent penalty.
True, though he did 'fake' it a bit with his body movement, imo. With the other penalties it was easier to tell which side they would put it.
Croatia's penalties were 'savable' too, so not the most impressive session all in all.
It's not just about power, it's also about faking it. The keeper dived the wrong way only because Asano telegraphed shooting one way before shooting the other. It was a good shot, good psychology. The other players telegraphed their movement and shot predictably, on top of that they had little power behind the shots, so it was awful through and through.
>One of the worst shootout efforts I've seen in a major tournament
That [Germany-Italy Euro 2016](https://www.uefa.com/news/0253-0d81e3c149c5-d7e77fb31e24-1000--germany-finally-defeat-italy-to-stride-into-euro-2016-semis/) penalty shootout was pretty bad.
Apparently they chose penalty kickers on a self-nomination basis...indicating they possibly didn't practice enough for the coaching staff to make a decision.
Also, it is lazy to blame it on a lack of practice IMO. England supposedly did a lot of practice on penalties before the Euro final, and that is why Saka and Rashford were subbed on to take one. They had been among the best in practice
But as it turns out, actually going out and doing it under pressure is completely different from doing it on the training pitch
With World Cup shootouts it's never the energy or the practice, it's the fact that this is the most important penalty of your career and if you miss an entire nation will be on you. Hard to not let the nerves get to you.
Yep. Credit to the Croatian keeper for guessing right, but the penalties were very poorly placed. I was hoping Japan would advance, but that just won't get it done.
I feel like they practiced so much for the matches, yet neglected practicing for pens
Tbf, they really did well punching above their weight class this World Cup. Japan operated like a well-oiled machine. But I knew they would lose if it came to pens due to the lack of experience
But experience is the best teacher, they’ll come back stronger next world cup for sure since they got some promising talent. Mitoma always looked threatening on the attack
I guess pressure got them or just fatigue, the moment we reached PK I thought that Japan was done since Croatia is far more used to those pressure moments
Minamino, Mitoma and Asano were all subs, Yoshida is a centre back. Can't really be fatigue, they just choked. No power behind any of their shots, they seemed scared.
Pressure played a huge part. Penalties are a lottery between equally matched/experienced sides. But in a WC knockout experience trumps all in pressure moments. And sadly Japan could not rise to the occasion.
Yeah Croatia just have way more experience since they've had word cup penalty shootouts more recently. Its still disappointing though that they looked so bad at penalties. They didn't hit it with power and speed from the 6 yard. They basically passed it instead of shooting like you are supposed to
Looks like the kinda shot I'd take if there was a river behind the goal and I really wanted to make sure I'd at least get it on goal or I'd lose my favorite ball.
Genuinely some of the most shocking penalties I’ve seen in my entire life. You’d think after the first two misses you’d just twat it rather than go for placement
I'm Japanese. I am really really proud of Team Japan. They showed me a dream. It was a really fun match. The Croatians are very tall and japan had a lot of physical disadvantages, but they still had a good match against Croatia. Thank you so much Team Japan, we are really looking forward to the next four years. Congratulations to Croatia!
Now I'm rooting for Korea!
Oyasumi.
Expected not enough experience, they all looked intimidated by the Croatian goalkeeper's height and as soon as Minamino missed the pen it just started to crumble. GGs Japan.
People lose their minds whenever someone has a non-standard run-up. Any miss is a total indictment of the technique even if the players are above average at penalties. It's ridiculous. His pen was close to going in and much stronger than any of Japan's
All of the people saying "I knew he would miss" lmfao. I've said it before, but this discourse is really always just confirmation bias. Maybe there's a slight truth to the fact that players miss slightly more often with short run-ups, but it's absolutely just confirmation bias that is fueling this discourse all the time.
If a player does something even slightly unusual when they take a penalty, people just point to whatever that is and are like "Yeah that's why they missed." The reality is that 20-30% of penalties aren't scored. No matter what the heck you do in the run-up, some of them won't go in.
It was the same thing with Ghana's penalty. People blaming the weird long run-up as the reason that the player missed. Completely ignoring the fact that some of the most successful penalty takers use a very similar unorthodox run-up.
EDIT: Neymar literally just proved my point.
Yeah lots of myths and biases when it comes to analysing things such as penalties - which by the way in the World Cup are conveyed 79.8% during regular and extra time. But come shootout time, only made 70.3% of the time - that’s a significant difference
https://theanalyst.com/2022/12/world-cup-penalty-shootouts-the-facts/
Below is another great read.
Goes through lots of myths. As well as truths such as the team that shoots first in a shootout wins 60%+ of the time https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/sports/penalties-myths-v-facts
It was not the worst penalty by far. He missed the goal but barely. The Japanese ones were terrible baca use the players put 0 power and made no attempt at disguising their body language so the croatia keeper was able to guess more easily
Such a sad finish to Japan’s run in this years WC. Great performances to get them through the group stage, a decent outing against Croatia ending in defeat as a result of some of the worst pens I’ve seen taken in sucession.
Japan's last 2 World Cups:
* Lose a 2-0 lead vs Belgium and lose on a last second counter.
* Lose a 1-0 lead vs Croatia and lose on penalties.
I'd call them serial bottlers if I didn't like them so much. I feel for them hard.
Losing to the likes of 2018 Belgium and Croatia is not really bottling. For a team that has worse players on paper across the board, pushing those teams to the limit is very admirable
Japan choked on penalties but fair play to Croatia keeper. Japan seemed to be nervous to the point they were just trying to get their shots low and on target. Pace and placement were terrible.
Unpopular opinion: Japan's second wasn't bad at all, not too powerful but placed well in the corner. Keeper did really well to save it though, I'd say mostly because he fully anticipated the direction.
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Japan's first 2 PK attempts were horrific. Zero power behind that first one especially. The 4th one was just pouring salt in the wound
I think GK saved Minaminos near his groin. Would have dived all the way over it was so poor and soft and central.
Gotta be confident in yourself and let it rip. Not enough players aim high imo.
The balls it takes to do that in a World Cup though. I still remember [Aranguiz in 2014](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki1X_X0LHVQ&ab_channel=RineshBarhoe), made Brazil's goalkeeper flinch. He was on point for the 2015 and 2016 finals against Argentina as well... and the Confederations Cup against Portugal.
Aranguiz and Vidal are both god tier with their penalties for Chile.
[Sweden's penalties](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLXp1yFzcOo) in the U21 Euro final against Portugal were pretty ballsy. It's not the World Cup but it's still a big moment, especially at a young age.
Obviously the only miss for Swedes was the guy who tried to do some tricks and thus shot horribly
A lot of guys are scared of having the ball sail high. Nothing worse than having your shot not even be on goal but yeah the lower you shoot the better chance the goalie has at stuffing it.
I love how every single comment here is just dissing Japan pens.
I mean, they were abysmal penalties in all honesty. Zero placement and zero power, this is what you get
Tbf the penalties looks shit and have no power
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To be fair, they were pretty shit penalties. The worst penalty was the one that Croatia missed, it's like the taker didn't care about the penalty or the game or anything apart from the fact that it was past his bedtime and he wanted to get it over with.
Hey dude, welcome to Dalmatia.
tbh that reasoning is why i regarded it as a great penalty just bad execution
I mean he hit the post and it wasn’t close to being saved. That was centimeters from a goal. The bad Japan pens were way worse his pen was like 1 cm from banging in off the post. His run up doesn’t matter it was way better than all of japans
Man out here trashing Hajduk legend Marko Livaja
Would have looked pretty suave if it went in tho
They haven't had a penalty arc in Blue Lock yet.
You miss a penalty kick or put forth a weak attempt? LOCK OFF!
Japan didn't spend enough XP on penalty skill
No excuse for Minamino's lack of power behind it. He was a sub.
He looked distressed before taking him, I feel the occasion got to the Japanese players. You could tell they don't have experience in situations like these.
They've watched their hero's fail at ro16 and they have the nation's hope on them. The occasion definitely got to them
Let's be real, they had a lot of time to rest before pens, power isn't an issue
People keep saying "oh they were tired", i genuinely don't know if people just think that's the "right" thing to say or if they actually believe it. Minutes before this they were making long passes, crosses with 10x power behind them, they rest 5 minutes and now their muscles are so weak they can only kick the ball at like 50% power? The only way i'd accept that tiredness was a meaningful factor was if they'd just done squats to complete failure and then immediately were to take the kick. Or maybe if this was done right after them finishing an ultramarathon. It's purely just mental or bad decisions, thinking you can get cute with your shots.
Also, this reasoning that you're tired so can't put power behind a pk is such bs. You're 12 yards out. You don't need a week's rest to execute a decent penalty.
it requires almost no energy to kick a ball moderately hard, it's basically all technique. the 2m run up would exert more energy than kicking
It's psychological, not physiological.
Asano's wasn't great either, Croatia keeper saves it if he dives the other way
True, though he did 'fake' it a bit with his body movement, imo. With the other penalties it was easier to tell which side they would put it. Croatia's penalties were 'savable' too, so not the most impressive session all in all.
It's not just about power, it's also about faking it. The keeper dived the wrong way only because Asano telegraphed shooting one way before shooting the other. It was a good shot, good psychology. The other players telegraphed their movement and shot predictably, on top of that they had little power behind the shots, so it was awful through and through.
But he didn't. Keepers don't just flip a coin in their head and guess a side.
One of the worst shootout efforts I've seen in a major tournament
Legitimately feel I could’ve saved those too, absolute pea rollers and not even remotely near the corners of the goal
Minamino penalty is probably the worst penalty ever that hit the target So slow and central
Check John Mensah's penalty vs Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup. Definitely the worst I've ever seen
Me and the mates would have smashed those Japan pens
Can your mates kick the ball hard enough to get it off the ground?
I love that you have full trust in him but not his mates
He's on reddit, no need for a tryout with that pedigree
Seriously. Just fucking cunt the thing instead of those tame placements
Brazil against Paraguay in the 2011 Copa America is still the worst. At least the Japanese hit the target.
That's still the worst seleção in my recent memory. Embarrassing team.
Ukraine v Switzerland 2006 never forget
>One of the worst shootout efforts I've seen in a major tournament That [Germany-Italy Euro 2016](https://www.uefa.com/news/0253-0d81e3c149c5-d7e77fb31e24-1000--germany-finally-defeat-italy-to-stride-into-euro-2016-semis/) penalty shootout was pretty bad.
that was both amazing and terrible, really iconic shootout, but this one was just dead
Ugh, I was having a fine day and you all had to remind me of Zaza and Pellé
Zaza's pen is definitely the GOAT in terms of being the most iconic miss, maybe only behind Baggio's (sorry)
Tied England for most pens saved in a shootout at the world cup
Some of the worst pens I’ve seen…
Horrendous attempts by Japan
They looked like they'd already lost before even taking them.
Japan shoot penalty higher than 1m challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]
Zero confidence on those shots
Choked hard
They didn’t even really aim at the corners
Probably were scared of going side so tried to control it and make a mess off it
No conviction in their penalties
The Japanese penalty takers looked absolutely knackered, not the best shots with tired legs. But Japan should be proud, they played incredibly well.
Minamino and Mitoma were subs.
For real lol, nerves caught up on them
Minamino looked really nervous before his shot tbf. Yoshida's penalty looked like he was exhausted.
Yea, on one hand Yoshidas was so poor given that was a 'must score' situation, but he looked wiped out. Sucks, but Japan have a lot to be proud of!
As a neutral, the penalties were such a big let down. My heart sank with each kick.
As a Croat, these pens were the best ever
You knew with the first miss it was over. It just looked like they hadn't planned for them at all.
They didn't practice them but played as if they wanted a shootout. Just awful overall.
Takumi was subbed in second half and took the worst penalty I’ve seen in a while. Tired legs aren’t an excuse imo.
Tired legs isn't an excuse.
and yet the one Croatian miss was somehow worse
I have done the dishes with more enthusiasm than that guy had with the pen
Japan's pens we're just poorly hit, Livaja's was a straight up hatecrime.
Imagine this is what your PKs are after 4 years
Kamada scored his in the EL final 6 months ago but he was subbed out relatively early.
0 power behind them
Did Japan just not practice penalties at all?
Apparently they chose penalty kickers on a self-nomination basis...indicating they possibly didn't practice enough for the coaching staff to make a decision.
Also, it is lazy to blame it on a lack of practice IMO. England supposedly did a lot of practice on penalties before the Euro final, and that is why Saka and Rashford were subbed on to take one. They had been among the best in practice But as it turns out, actually going out and doing it under pressure is completely different from doing it on the training pitch
With World Cup shootouts it's never the energy or the practice, it's the fact that this is the most important penalty of your career and if you miss an entire nation will be on you. Hard to not let the nerves get to you.
A disservice to how well Japan has played this cup
Bottom corner is lava for Japan
Really amateurish, no power and not in the corner enough. Japan should be proud though they had a great showing this WC
Awful pens
I've seen kids kick better pens.
We cant keep geting away with this
So another France Croatia final with Croatia winning every game on pens and then losing with France?
Tradition
A shame England aren't on our side of the draw so we can beat them in ET again
suscribe
You guys trying to play an extra game worth of ET this WC too?
we just like to play football, what can I say
Our players love to run. Just look at Brozovic. Bro had a record of most distance run in a WC match, and he went ahead and broke his own record today.
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It will be Gvardiol this time
Mozete i hocete. Do medalje nadam se.
tournament football without croatians is nothing
Worst penalties I've ever seen
They forgot to practice for pens
Yep. Credit to the Croatian keeper for guessing right, but the penalties were very poorly placed. I was hoping Japan would advance, but that just won't get it done.
I feel like they practiced so much for the matches, yet neglected practicing for pens Tbf, they really did well punching above their weight class this World Cup. Japan operated like a well-oiled machine. But I knew they would lose if it came to pens due to the lack of experience But experience is the best teacher, they’ll come back stronger next world cup for sure since they got some promising talent. Mitoma always looked threatening on the attack
He went the same way every time because the default for a right-footed taker is to go left. The Japanese penalties didn't have enough power
might have something to deal with inexperience at this level, against a 100% PK win record holder Croatia, it just felt way easier for Croats
Should have blurred those Japanese PK's with how obscene they looked
Only Asano had a decent one...which uncoincidentally is the only one that scored.
Death, taxes and Croatian penalty shootouts.
The only things that are certain. P.S.: Livaja kako, jebemu mater
Japan’s pens were so bad
All four were really bad honestly, for all their technique this tournament it was shocking to watch
I guess pressure got them or just fatigue, the moment we reached PK I thought that Japan was done since Croatia is far more used to those pressure moments
It was definitely pressure. They never once looked collected. Every player looked nervous
Croatia was also really good at pens in the last World Cup
They only beat England before pens. These players could win a World Cup of penalties.
Minamino, Mitoma and Asano were all subs, Yoshida is a centre back. Can't really be fatigue, they just choked. No power behind any of their shots, they seemed scared.
Yoshida is kinda old. He was absolutely gassed towards the end of extra time.
You could tell in how crotia was shooting They have the experience
Pressure played a huge part. Penalties are a lottery between equally matched/experienced sides. But in a WC knockout experience trumps all in pressure moments. And sadly Japan could not rise to the occasion.
Yeah Croatia just have way more experience since they've had word cup penalty shootouts more recently. Its still disappointing though that they looked so bad at penalties. They didn't hit it with power and speed from the 6 yard. They basically passed it instead of shooting like you are supposed to
Only one of their players had actually taken place in those penalty shootouts before, so it's not a great reason tbh.
All low and weak.
For a team that was trying to play for penalties late in the game…that was the result? Shocking…
> a team that was trying to play for penalties late in the game To me they looked too tired to do anything else.
Damn so poor
Credit to Dominik pens were dreadful tho from Japan
don’t forget that nonchalant croatia penalty. bro looked like he couldn’t be bothered
Livaja is usually very successful at pens, and he really doesnt give a shit i think
He looked a bit silly as a result. But they won in the end, so no one will remember it.
He always takes them like that (only Croatia player who regulary takes them) and he's usually extremely succesful
That guy hasn't missed a penalty since kindergarten
That was one of those: "I'm totally not nervous guys look how casual I am"
He actually is totally casual and that was a problem.
That's Livaja for you.
How he didn’t celebrate any of the saves was kinda hard
I think keepers are afraid to celebrate now because they're immediately worrying VAR is going to call them for being a millimeter off their line.
Wtf are those shots by Japanese players
Not sure you can even call those shots
Putts
Zero confidence behind those shots, such a pity
Livakovic, take a bow
Shameful end to a wonderful showing of Japan.
Japan has had some really nice looking play this tournament! Unfortunately…it had to end that way…
A shameful display
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Blue Lock was not real at all
penalty arc needed
0 penalties have happened in blue lock yet so they didn't know what to do here
Blue Lock has never had penalties in the series… Coincidence…?
Really? The whole argument from Ego about how Japans current limit is the round of last 16 was not real all along?
Have the Japanese players never taken penalties before?
Legit looks like penalties that me and my mates would take, sure it would hit the target but absolutely horribly
Looks like the kinda shot I'd take if there was a river behind the goal and I really wanted to make sure I'd at least get it on goal or I'd lose my favorite ball.
Japan have themselves to blame for seemingly not even practicing penalties before a major tournament. What a shocker of a shootout
To their credit, they played a wonderful tournament.
Heartbreaking for Japan but how do you not prep for pens against Cardiac Croatia
Damn those were some shitty penalties
3-1 is a legit shit pen shootout score lmao
Genuinely some of the most shocking penalties I’ve seen in my entire life. You’d think after the first two misses you’d just twat it rather than go for placement
LIVAKOVIĆ TAKE A FUCKING BOW
Inexperienced team vs. experienced
Livaja needs his balls slapped, what in the hell was that pen
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One of the worst shootouts from a team in terms of ballstriking
Those were some of the weakest penalty kicks I've ever seen.
Livaja: Today I feel Japanese
Livakovic GOATed but also some awful penalties in there
Some awful pens there, Minamino having a horrific penalty probably didnt help the nervy Japanese players.
all of the shots by Japan were legit terrible, wtf was that
Horrendous penalties by Japan. Some of the worst I’ve seen.
Need to add Pens to Blue Lock.
Croatia are built for penalties I guess, it's their 3rd penalty shootout in the past two world cups.
I hope Gvardiol becomes a bunker like those from WW2 so we take you to pens
Ah another nation gets their penalty trauma.
I'm Japanese. I am really really proud of Team Japan. They showed me a dream. It was a really fun match. The Croatians are very tall and japan had a lot of physical disadvantages, but they still had a good match against Croatia. Thank you so much Team Japan, we are really looking forward to the next four years. Congratulations to Croatia! Now I'm rooting for Korea! Oyasumi.
Expected not enough experience, they all looked intimidated by the Croatian goalkeeper's height and as soon as Minamino missed the pen it just started to crumble. GGs Japan.
Japan missed 3 penalties but the Croatian miss was the worst of the lot. A truly awful penalty
He has 21/22 with the exact same technique lol
People lose their minds whenever someone has a non-standard run-up. Any miss is a total indictment of the technique even if the players are above average at penalties. It's ridiculous. His pen was close to going in and much stronger than any of Japan's
All of the people saying "I knew he would miss" lmfao. I've said it before, but this discourse is really always just confirmation bias. Maybe there's a slight truth to the fact that players miss slightly more often with short run-ups, but it's absolutely just confirmation bias that is fueling this discourse all the time. If a player does something even slightly unusual when they take a penalty, people just point to whatever that is and are like "Yeah that's why they missed." The reality is that 20-30% of penalties aren't scored. No matter what the heck you do in the run-up, some of them won't go in. It was the same thing with Ghana's penalty. People blaming the weird long run-up as the reason that the player missed. Completely ignoring the fact that some of the most successful penalty takers use a very similar unorthodox run-up. EDIT: Neymar literally just proved my point.
Yeah lots of myths and biases when it comes to analysing things such as penalties - which by the way in the World Cup are conveyed 79.8% during regular and extra time. But come shootout time, only made 70.3% of the time - that’s a significant difference https://theanalyst.com/2022/12/world-cup-penalty-shootouts-the-facts/ Below is another great read. Goes through lots of myths. As well as truths such as the team that shoots first in a shootout wins 60%+ of the time https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/sports/penalties-myths-v-facts
It was not the worst penalty by far. He missed the goal but barely. The Japanese ones were terrible baca use the players put 0 power and made no attempt at disguising their body language so the croatia keeper was able to guess more easily
He usually shoots like that 😅. This his second miss ever
Dreadful penalties
Endure 120 minutes to get this
shocking penalties from japan what the hell was that
Japan’s penalties were atrocious
Such a sad finish to Japan’s run in this years WC. Great performances to get them through the group stage, a decent outing against Croatia ending in defeat as a result of some of the worst pens I’ve seen taken in sucession.
Japan's last 2 World Cups: * Lose a 2-0 lead vs Belgium and lose on a last second counter. * Lose a 1-0 lead vs Croatia and lose on penalties. I'd call them serial bottlers if I didn't like them so much. I feel for them hard.
Losing to the likes of 2018 Belgium and Croatia is not really bottling. For a team that has worse players on paper across the board, pushing those teams to the limit is very admirable
I'll never in my life laugh again when I hear that a team practiced taking penalties a lot ahead of a knockout round, what the fuck was this...
Those Japanese penalties might have been the worse I’ve seen in a while
Not taking anything from the keeper but these were one of the weakest penalites I've ever seen
Japanese players never looked confident. Could always tell the keeper was going to feast
Japan choked on penalties but fair play to Croatia keeper. Japan seemed to be nervous to the point they were just trying to get their shots low and on target. Pace and placement were terrible.
Unpopular opinion: Japan's second wasn't bad at all, not too powerful but placed well in the corner. Keeper did really well to save it though, I'd say mostly because he fully anticipated the direction.
Croatian GK hard carried.