This is a recurring problem for the French teams, which has too often been costly. Failures during penalty shootouts have multiplied in recent years: the Blues of Didier Deschamps in the round of 16 of Euro 2020 against Switzerland (3-3, 4-5 on the tab) and in the final of the 2022 World Cup against Argentina (3-3, 2-4 on the tabs), the Women in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup (2023) against Australia (0-0, 6-7 on the tabs) ), without forgetting the U17s during the Euro and World Cup finals.
At the end of this latest disillusionment, Hubert Fournier, the National Technical Director, announced future measures. He clarified them this Friday on RMC Sport, announcing a global strategy, which must be put in place in March. Whose main actor must be the coach. “He is the one responsible and everything starts from him,” he said.
Both the setup, the weeks or days before the possible penalty shootout, to prepare the players. He will have to offer them a scenario while trying as much as possible to contextualize the penalty shootout. And then he will have to offer them varied exercises which will allow them to create personal confidence among the shooters. And then it will also be necessary to prepare, in the same way as that for the match, a real strategy linked to this specificity that is shooting on goal. »
Order of shooters, goalkeepers and strategy of influence towards opponents: a global reflection
To do this, the management of emotions between the end of the meeting and the start of the session must be taken into account. “The desire is for the coach to create confidence for his players and for his group,” explains Fournier. By having very clear ideas, knowing with your staff who is doing what during this period of time. We calculated that there are between five and six minutes between the referee’s whistle and the first shooter. »
“We see that some want to be the saviors of the homeland by shooting in the fifth, but 20% of penalty shootout sessions end before”
Hubert Fournier, National Technical Director of the FFF.
And the players will naturally have to be involved: “We also insist on the fact that this concerns eleven players. There will be no escape like ”Ah well, I’m a little…” or ”No, I don’t feel…”, because we see clearly that for girls, we got to the end and everyone had to shoot. » Without forgetting that “the other thing is to choose the players who will shoot first, second, third, fourth… We realize that some want to be the saviors of the homeland by shooting fifth , but 20% of penalty shootouts end before. So we rather target places three and four, which are perhaps those of the pivotal players able to take these shots on goal. »
Finally, Hubert Fournier has not forgotten the role of the goalkeepers: “There is also a lot of work to be done with the goalkeepers who are also a crucial element in the success of shots on goal. There is also a strategy to put in place with the goalkeeper coaches so that they also have knowledge of the shooters to create confidence, and then a strategy of influence vis-à-vis the opponent. »
