Many say penalty shoot-outs are a lottery , but plenty of goalkeepers would argue against that point, perhaps most notably Danijel Subasic.
Subasic has helped Croatia win two shoot-outs in the knockout stage of the World Cup as Zlatko Dalic s men moved into the final.
Perhaps the goalkeeper got lucky, but his record with penalties would suggest otherwise.
Former Croatia international shot-stopper Joey Didulica argues that suggesting shoot-outs are a lottery is amateur thinking.
With the help of Opta data, we take a look at the records of the final four starting goalkeepers at the World Cup – Subasic, France s Hugo Lloris, Belgium s Thibaut Courtois and England s Jordan Pickford.
Penalty save records in top five European leagues since 2011-12:
Subasic – saved 7 of 19 (36.8 per cent)
Courtois – saved 2 of 15 (13.3)
Pickford – saved 1 of 9 (11.1)
Lloris – saved 2 of 26 (7.7)
Danijel Subašić
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)
There s more to it, Didulica told Omnisport.
The mental game, you ve got to be confident. A lot of it comes down to research as well.
You ve got to know who s kicking the penalty, the way they’ve approached the penalties before, where they slow down if they re going to slow down, which corner.
As much as people think it s 50-50, amateurs say that.
I think at the highest level, a good goalkeeper definitely can have a better chance than 50-50 in a shoot-out. Your best keeper normally can win it for you.
Interestingly, teams going first in shoot-outs at the World Cup have won 50 per cent of the time (15 of 30).
Teams going first have also lost all four shoot-outs at Russia 2018, as well as the past six.
Don t try telling goalkeepers, past or present, about these so-called lotteries.
