Dallas: With expectations that the Socceroos’ World Cup play-off clash against Egypt will be a tight one, it’s no wonder Australia have spent time in training this week working out how best to execute the most brutal of decisions – penalties.
Helpfully, the players have also been able to get into the mind of the ultimate penalty taker, Mile Jedinak, the former Socceroos captain who never missed a penalty.
Two matches of the round of 32 have already been decided by penalty kicks, and Morocco beat the Netherlands and Paraguay eliminated Germany. In addition, sports analytics company Opta predicts Australia and Egypt to be the closest contest for this knockout stage (Pharaohs are given a 54 percent chance to win). So, there is every reason to prepare.
The Socceroos have never contested a penalty shootout at the World Cup, but some of the team’s most important moments have come from them. Consider John Aloisi’s winning penalty against Uruguay in 2005, by goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne. The “Grey Wiggle” game against Peru in a 2022 World Cup qualifierand Mark Schwarzer’s two saves in the qualifier against Canada in 1993.
And then there is the story of Jedinak, who kicked 16 penalties in a storied career that took him from the Central Coast Mariners to Turkey and the Premier League, as well as three World Cups with the Socceroos.
He didn’t miss even once.
“For me, it was very easy; I always focused on what I had to do, all I had to do was put the ball in the back of the net,” Jedinak explains.
“It was as simple as taking the time, controlling the situation with the ball, trying not to focus on anything else. Really, the ball, me and where I would put it, clean contact, strong enough if the goalkeeper goes the right way that will beat him.
“I was lucky to be able to do it a few times for the country.”
Those few times include three penalty goals at the World Cup – against the Netherlands in 2014, and France and Denmark in 2018, and now Jedinak is back in action as an assistant to Socceroos coach Tony Popovic.
The Socceroos spent time training at their Oakland camp for a possible penalty shoot-out in the days after the draw with Paraguay, looking to see who could step up should the opportunity arise, before flying to Dallas.
Jedinak said the coaches looked at the squad for those who have taken penalties in high pressure situations before, but they also had to consider that after 120 minutes of football., It is uncertain who will be on the field at the end of extra time.
“It’s also about who is comfortable and who accepts,” he said. “I can only speak from experience as a player in those times. Even preparing for the previous games, you don’t have to be with the national team, you try to understand it, but it’s very difficult to replicate that at night because you’ve added a little bit… the pressure, the crowd, all those things.”
And while he said he was more than willing to provide any punitive aid, it was up to individuals to “calculate their process”.. “It’s not straightforward, but I don’t think it’s that hard, to be honest.”
Perhaps it is not difficult for Jedinak on the ice, but sports scientists say that the pressure on the player can reach “monstrous” levels. Geir Jordet, professor at the Norwegian School of Sports Science and author of the book Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of Penalty Shootoutshe said in his survey that “the only emotion that everyone agrees on is anxiety.”
Of the Socceroos players in front of the media this week, they were all publicly ready to come forward and kick a shootout if it came to that. Defender Alessandro Circati insisted he was confident in the conditions, while striker Ajdin Hrustic – who scored his penalty in the 2022 Europa League Final penalty shoot-out for his club Eintracht Frankfurt – said he was “calm”.
Full-back Jordan Bos has never taken one, but says that could work in Australia’s favour. “Maybe that doesn’t give the keeper anything to shut down. Little secret.”
The Socceroos’ have an 80 per cent success rate in penalty kicks – they have won four out of five in major international matches – although their last penalty shootout came four years ago. On that fateful night, Redmayne was sent off in the 120th minute to take on Mat Ryan specifically for the penalty shootout. His incredible dance technique worked, became a viral sensation, and scored an Australian ticket to Qatar.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association responded by changing the rules a year later, ordering that a goalkeeper “must not engage in behavior that unfairly interferes with the kick”.
That success rate puts the Socceroos second highest among the last 32 teams at the World Cup, behind Belgium, who won their only try.
Egypt has participated in 13 penalty shootouts with a record of 6-7. Their most recent game was in January this year, which they lost 4-2, after a 0-0 draw with Nigeria in the third-place game at the Africa Cup of Nations.
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Nick Ralston is deputy editor and investigative editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, rights editor and world editor.Connect through X or email address.
