World Cup penalty shootouts upend Germany and Netherlands

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been defined by historic penalty shootout upsets, as traditional powers Germany and the Netherlands were both eliminated in the round of 32, signaling a shift in the psychological and technical dynamics of football's most pressurized moment. Paraguay stunned four-time champion Germany 4-3 in a shootout on June 29, handing the Germans their first-ever World Cup penalty shootout defeat after a perfect 4-0 record dating back to 1982. Hours later, Morocco ousted the Netherlands in another shootout.

These dramatic exits have intensified focus on how teams prepare for penalties, with experts and coaches increasingly rejecting the notion that shootouts are a lottery. Geir Jordet, a professor of sport sciences and author of a book on penalty psychology, argues that not dedicating significant time to penalty preparation is a failure of coaching. His research, analyzing hundreds of shootout shots from major tournaments, examines the physical tells of stress, such as a hurried walk or a player treating the referee's whistle like a starting gun.

National teams are now treating penalties as a specialist discipline. England, with a historically traumatic record in...