Euro 2016: Antonin Panenka reckons England players ‘must work hard all day and every day on penalites’
Cheeky Czech legend tells Three Lions stars how to finally end their spot-kick misery in yet another major tournament
ANTONIN PANENKA can tell England how to finally end their penalty misery.
Czech legend Panenka, 67, scored the decisive spot-kick against West Germany to win the European Championships in 1976.
That is the Germans’ ONLY loss in six shootouts at major tournaments — and two of their five wins were against England.
The Three Lions, meanwhile, have lost six out of seven.
England’s last-16 rivals Iceland are expected to park the proverbial bus in Nice tomorrow night, so Roy Hodgson’s men could face a shooutout once again.
Panenka’s dinked penalty over Sepp Maier in the Belgrade final went down in football folklore.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Andrea Pirlo all mastered ‘the Panenka’.
So the master of the spot-kick’s advice to potential penalty-takers for England is . . .
- Focus on where to strike penalties in your mind — even during downtime.
- Compete among yourselves with forfeits for the losers. This builds a strong bond.
- Practice taking penalties every day — before, during and after training. And don’t stop until your technique is perfect.
- Simulate pressure during training by having loud speakers blaring out stadium noises. And even have coaching staff and team-mates trying to put you off.
Panenka, 67, said: “You must practice all the time. Shoot many times. I’d say to the English they must remind themselves daily how to do it.
“Build the technique so the ball goes where they want.
“They should play the scenario in their minds and imagine themselves scoring the perfect penalty.
ANTONIN PANENKA
Born in Prague in 1948, the goalscoring midfielder played most of his club career at local side Bohemians and then Austrian side Rapid Vienna.
He won 59 caps for Czechoslovakia, scoring 17 goals and helping the team win the 1976 European Championships with his famous penalty, which he dinked over German goalkeeper Sepp Maier.The attacking midfielder was named Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year in 1980.
Panenka has been president of Bohemians since the end of his playing career.
“They should also think about this calmly while they’re relaxing in the hotel too.
“The players must be mentally prepared — not only to shoot when nothing is at stake but also when it matters.
“Before I took a penalty I had to be convinced I’d score. But if you’re not sure, it’s better to let someone else do the honours.
“It’s a question of the player’s mental state. It depends how good the player’s performance was on the pitch during the match and on his emotions whether he feels confident.
“If a player feels good, his attitude to taking the penalty is better.”
The former midfielder — who won 59 caps for his country and scored 17 goals — understands pressure can have a negative effect.
I met up with him to watch England’s shootout defeats and get his take on what went wrong.
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England lost to Germany at the World Cup semi-final at Italia 90 and again in the Euro 96 last four at Wembley. Portugal have also beaten them twice in 2004 and 2006, so did Argentina at the 1998 World Cup and most recently Italy at Euro 2012.
Their only success was against Spain in the Euro 96 quarter-final.
Panenka said: “I scored 30 penalties and missed one, but even that time I never succumbed to pressure. I always concentrated.
“Every time a referee awarded a penalty I was happy to score a cheap goal. I wasn’t aware of the fans or the players. I knew I’d score.
“In 1976 our coaches assumed a match could be decided by penalties, so we rehearsed them.
“We’d have about 7,000 fans watching in a stadium to simulate a real shootout. And when we took the penalties we had the sound of fans played through loud speakers — this was done to give us as close to the atmosphere as possible that we might experience during the championship.
“It trained your mind to block out the noise and focus on the kick.
“I’d even suggest team-mates and coaches should put lots of doubt in the kicker’s mind by yelling things to him or doing other things that could distract.
“It’s all part of simulating pressure so the kicker’s mind is trained to be too strong to be affected.”
Panenka believes there are only TWO ways to take a penalty.
He explained: “I studied a goalkeeper’s movements before the kick.
“Some players know in advance where the ball will go while others leave it to chance. They can react quickly to a keeper’s behaviour.
“In our day it was easier for the kicker because a keeper could not to move — now it’s harder because goalies can move along the line. My philosophy was to run about six to seven metres, that way I could watch the keeper and kick the ball better.
“Even if a keeper guesses right, it’s difficult for him to catch the ball.”
Panenka took two years to perfect his world-famous penalty.
He revealed: “I practised with our keeper Zdenek Hruska after training at Bohemians, a club in Prague.
“We were shooting penalties again and again. And to make it more exciting, we competed for beer or chocolate money. He was good so it was me who kept paying.
“I was trying to find ways to achieve success.
“It occurred to me a keeper waits until the last moment before he risks diving left or right.
“ I also thought if I aim the ball to the middle and kick it hard, then a keeper can use his reflexes to save it.
“But if you kick the ball gently in a curve a keeper cannot react. So this is what I started practising.
“There were two issues. The good one was I started winning and the other was that I started putting on weight due to excessive beer and chocolate consumption!
“Having little bets and maybe fun forfeits for the loser is a good way to build up team spirit.
“I started using the technique in training and friendlies, then in our national league for my club.
“Also when I was in the national team training camp our keeper Ivo Viktor knew about my technique, so he was perfect to practise with.
Panenka's verdict on our penalties
WORLD CUP 1990 — SHOOTOUT SCORE: West Germany 4 England 3
ENGLAND deserved to win this semi-final in Turin. Stuart Pearce just hit his kick hard and it was saved. Chris Waddle’s miss was a surprise, he went for power and his kick went high over the bar.
EURO 96: Germany 5 England 4
TERRY VENABLES’ men were the better side at Wembley and their penalties were good but Germany were like robots! And Gareth Southgate, again not technically the best, saw his crucial kick saved.
WORLD CUP 98: England 3 Argentina 4
AFTER Hernan Crespo side-footed his shot at a good height for David Seaman to save, I was surprised to see Paul Ince do the same in Saint-Etienne. Then David Batty hit the ball at a great height for Carlos Roa — and paid the price.
EURO 2004: Portugal 6 England 5
THE penalty spot in Lisbon was poor and David Beckham’s kick over the bar proved that. Rui Costa missed before an unconfident Darius Vassell had his saved by Ricardo — who then scored the winner.
WORLD CUP 2006: Portugal 3 England 1
FRANK LAMPARD’S run and body language was predictable and Ricardo saved — then Steven Gerrard did the same. Jamie Carragher’s was pushed on to the bar and, despite misses from Hugo Viana and Petit, Ronaldo hit the winning kick.
EURO 2012: Italy 4 England 2
RICCARDO MONTOLIVO shot wide but Pirlo copied my kick with a dink past Joe Hart in Kiev. Ashley Young hit the bar and Ashley Cole’s was saved by Buffon.
“One thing is important, I had to somehow influence the keeper.
“I would do my ritual with my movement, special run, use my eyes, particular behaviour. For instance I focused my eyes one way, so the keeper thinks he guesses my intentions. Then you execute the kick.”
Panenka says he did not feel any pressure as he stepped up to take his kick in 1976, just after German Uli Hoeness had missed his.
He said: “At that time it was simple. First, nobody was aware of that style.
“And our whole team was feeling great euphoria, so even if we had failed to score we would have been happy because we were in the final.
“And the player just before me did not score, so I felt that it wasn’t just 100 per cent success ahead of me but 1,000 per cent success.
“The very scenario I found myself in had been on my mind for two months. I had been playing it through my mind.
“I didn’t feel any pressure. I knew what the outcome would be. I had perfected the penalty through lots of training — and England can finally do the same too.”