Smart Guy Says Aim High on World Cup Penalty Kicks

May 5th, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

World Cup football players around the world are taking notes today now that a theoretical physicist has revealed the shocking secret that hitting the top corner of the goal is the way to go when taking a penalty. Ken Bray has penned a book called “How to Score,” which, despite what the title suggests, is about the science of football and not the science of picking up women. Using all kinds of formulas that neither you nor I could ever possibly understand, Bray has determined that the areas near the posts and the upper corners are the “unsaveable zone” for keepers.

“If a player were to place the ball in those regions which are 28-30 percent of the goal area there is not a sniff that the goalkeeper can do to get across to them,” he said.

The only thing more startling than this new scientific discovery is that someone is actually paying an overeducated guy to sit around, watch football and state the obvious.

I’m talking about the scientist, not me.

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Chris

Easier said than done, I can remember Platini, Baggio, Waddle all aiming for those areas and firing just over in World Cup shootouts.
Mesto

I have a theory that the best way to score a goal is to kick it where the keeper ain’t, but maybe I need to spend 10 years at university before I can state that definitively.
soze

One penalty kick I remember (un)fondly. Zidanes take against Portugal at EC2000. He struck that top left corner with beautiful precision. I do not think there was a centimeter of room between the posts and the ball when it went in. Superb.
http://ecuador.worldcupblog.org/ Trent

Speaking of botched penalty kicks, this may just be the man to teach Becks to lock his car doors. I hear that it can cut down on auto thievery by several percentage points.
DasBoot

The statistics may say that aiming high is best, but usually it’s only the players who are good at taking penalties who have the confidence to do it.
Rey

I don’t know of any scientific evidence of how to kick a penalty, but one thing I know is that Mexico has always been cursed in the penalty shots.(Confederations)
http://www.bensefels.de Bense

Yeah, Kenny is a friggin moron.

If you aim too high, it’s way over. You need to take at least no chance in aiming at the goal.

Aditionally, the taker picks his spot before. But a good goalie keeps him guessing where he is gonna jump.
http://n/a Lance

High is beautiful and low is practical. In game situations, I usually like to pound low kicks near the side netting. Not quite as pretty as as a high lob into the top corner, but a score is a score.