How to succeed at taking the perfect penalty shot (courtesy MailOnline):

Experts claimed today they had discovered the scientific formula for taking the perfect penalty.

The formula, (((X + Y + S) / 2) x ((T + I + 2B) / 4)) + (V/2) -1, was developed by scientists at John Moores University in Liverpool.

After analysing England's penalties at major tournaments since 1962, the experts discovered the perfect penalty was Alan Shearer's against Argentina in 1998. Using that as a base they worked out the formula for taking the perfect penalty which has been sent to England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Dr David Lewis, a mathematician who developed the formula, said: "Until now penalty taking has been described as a lottery - one that England have bought a ticket to but lost when it mattered. "We would advise lots of practice for the England squad using these guidelines, and maybe we can lift the curse."

Dr Lewis and his team found the six variables that influence a successful penalty kick are: V velocity of ball once struck, T time between placing ball on spot and striking the ball, S number of steps in run-up to strike, I time that the ball is struck after goalkeeper initiates his dive, Y vertical placement of ball from ground, X horizontal placement of ball from centre and B striking position of boot.

From analysis of all England's penalties they disproved the 'blast it and hope' advice of TV pundits with a velocity of 25-29 metres per second guaranteeing the most success.
In psychological terms, taking too long to take a penalty increases the chance of missing with the most successful penalties taken within three seconds.

The experts agreed that doing a Roberto Carlos-style ten metre run up may look impressive but is the least successful. The optimum number of steps is four to six for hitting the target.
Reading the way the goalkeeper dives is also a key factor. Waiting for the keeper to start moving before striking the ball is the optimum for success but if a player waits longer than 0.41 milliseconds, chances of scoring are halved.

For those who still believe England may relive the penalty nightmares of Italia '90, Euro '96, France '98 and Euro 2004 Ladbrokes is offering odds of 3/1 that England are defeated on penalties during the tournament.

For Goalkeepers: Defending the penalty shot (courtesy Jerusalum Post):

Ben-Gurion University and Hebrew University researchers who figured out why soccer goalkeepers act as they do during penalty kicks have been included in The New York Times Magazine's prestigious 8th annual "Year in Ideas" supplement, which includes an A-to-Z digest of ideas that helped make the previous 12 months what they were (for better or worse).

The idea of BGU business administration department (and lead author) Michael Bar-Eli and his team, Dr. Ofer Azar from the same department and Prof. Ilana Ritov from HU, conceived the idea under G for "Goalkeeper Science" that can be applied to government, politics, business and various other fields during a crisis. The New York Times Magazine cited the study published earlier this year in the Journal of EconomicPsychology called "Action Bias Among Elite Soccer Goalkeepers: The Case of Penalty Kicks."

Bar-Eli, holder of the Nat Holman Chair in Sports Research at the Beersheba university, and colleagues studied 286 penalty kicks and found that while trying to intercept 94 percent of them, the goalies dived to the right or the left - even though the chances of stopping the ball were highest when the goalie remained in the center. Goalies are afraid they will look stupid or lazy by missing the soccer ball while standing in the center; if they are running to the sides and miss it, they think they will look better, the researchers suggested.

"Judgment and decision-making are very important for the understanding of economies, governments and businesses. Because decision-making processes in different contexts often share the same characteristics and biases, we can sometimes examine behavior in sports - where it is relatively easy to observe and where players have hugeincentives to make the right choices - and learn from it about human behavior and decision-making more generally," Bar-Eli explains.

The Israeli researchers suggested that goalies prefer to "show that they're doing something" instead of appearing to be passive. The magazine quoted Bar-Eli as suggesting that during periods of economic turmoil, chief executive officers of companies and organizations might be tempted to change their corporate strategy or investment managers to juggle their portfolios - even when staying put is the wisest course.

"I know an investment manager whose clients will be calling her on the phone saying: 'Do anything! Just do something! I cannot sit and look at how my shares decline!'" Bar-Eli said. By "running around the field" they think they will look more decisive, the authors hypothesized.