Online Reporter
IN a controversy-filled Africa Cup of Nations football final, Brahim Diaz’s attempt to bring some calm only added to the chaos.
Around 17 minutes passed between Morocco being awarded a penalty, deep into stoppage-time, and Diaz beginning his run-up.
The Real Madrid forward slowed as he approached the ball and dinked the ball down the middle but goalkeeper Edouard Mendy didn’t move, comfortably caught it and the game went to extra-time with Senegal emerging victorious.
A horrible moment for Diaz, who looked distraught as he was handed the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer by FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the end of the game.
It is not the first time a Panenka has gone wrong in recent weeks with Sunderland’s Enzo le Fee seeing a similar effort easily saved by Caoimhin Kelleher in an English Premier League loss at Brentford earlier in January.
But while such efforts look awful when they don’t go in, is a chip down the middle really the worst choice for a penalty taker to opt for?
Where did the Panenka
come from?
The Panenka takes its name from Antonin Panenka, who famously chipped his penalty down the middle to win the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia.
The game against reigning champions West Germany had ended 2-2 after extra-time in Yugoslavia, with a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner. When Uli Hoeness smashed his spot-kick over the bar, Czech midfielder Panenka had the chance to win for the underdogs.
After a quick run-up, Panenka floated a delicate chip down the middle to befuddle goalkeeper Sepp Maier and win the trophy for Czechoslovakia. It was not the first time Panenka had attempted such a penalty. In fact, he had scored for his club side Bohemians against local rival Dukla Prague in the same manner just a month earlier.
However, his Euros-winning effort brought the technique to a wider audience and the Panenka was born. In the 50 years since Panenka brought the dinked penalty to prominence, it has gradually become more common.
A number of top players, including Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Francesco Totti, have successfully used the technique from the spot.
France legend Zinedine Zidane has a claim for taking the most high-pressure Panenka, in the 2006 World Cup final with his penalty hitting the underside of the crossbar and just crossing the line.
It’s probably not what he is most remembered for that night, though.
England have suffered at the hands of the Panenka a couple of times in shoot-outs, most famously when Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo nonchalantly beat Joe Hart to change the momentum of the shoot-out in the Euro 2012 quarter-final. Similarly in the 2022 EFL Cup final, with Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga making a show of trying to distract the Liverpool players, Fabinho responded by calmly dinking his kick down the middle, much to the delight of the Reds fans behind the goal. — BBC Sport.
