During a penalty it is just you against the goalie. You are not marked by an opponent and no defender is allowed to put a hard tackle on you. All your attention should be on getting that ball past the goalkeeper.

To believe in your self is absolutely essential. You can only acquire it by practicing and taking penalty during your soccer games.

On this way you will gain enough experience and you will be able to keep yourself calm and focused.

Did You Know…?

Now I will tell you something that you may didn’t know about taking a penalty. You are the one that has all advantages even if you have heard something else.

For example many people say that goalkeeper is the one that has all the advantages because he or she has nothing to lose and everything to win.

Well, this may be true, however, the goalkeeper has still to save the shot and odds for scoring are much higher than comparing to saving.

There is only 11 meters between the ball and goal. You can either shoot low, high, with force and so on. You have plenty of time to go through the soccer kick and decide where you will put the ball.

This will not only increase your chances of scoring, you will also be able to study the goalkeeper and search for weakness.

All these advantages put your opponent’s goalkeeper in a victim-like position with scarcely any form of defense. However, you still need to keep full concentration and focus on the ball.

Don’t Lose Focus

If you lose the focus then you can be pretty sure that either will the goalkeeper save your shot or you will miss the goal.

Even if you miss the penalty you need to be aware of the fact that many great soccer players have done the same thing.

Robert Baggio

One example is the Italian passing and dribbling king R. Baggio. He missed the last penalty in the World Cup Final of 94.

What I am trying to say is that the world will not fall apart just because you missed a penalty. I can admit that missing a penalty is one of the toughest situations a soccer player must go through.

You have to be able to tell yourself that there will always be another game to play. Sure, sometimes you’ll have teammates that make you feel bad about it.

However, you are just going to have to realize that people will always have something bad to say if you let them get to you.

Summary

If you want to become a professional, or try to make a living playing soccer, having a strong mental focus is critical.

You must therefore be able to perform a penalty under pressure and deal with the fact that you could miss it!