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World Cup Science: The Science Behind Penalty Shootouts

The World Cup last-32 ties of Germany v Paraguay and the Netherlands v Morocco have both been decided by penalty shootouts. Paraguay’s Orlando Gill, Germany’s Manuel Neuer and Morocco’s Yassine Bounou made four saves between them across the two shootouts as Paraguay and Morocco advanced to the last-16. But can goalkeepers at the World Cup really react quickly enough to save a penalty, or is it all just guesswork? WIRED breaks down the physics behind a perfect penalty save.

Released on 06/30/2026

Transcript

[Narrator] Can a goalkeeper really stop a penalty

or is it all just luck?

Because when the ball is struck from 11 meters away,

everything happens in less than a second.

Today we explain what happens during a penalty kick

in The Ccience Behind: Soccer.

A typical penalty travels over 60 miles per hour.

That means the ball reaches the goal

in around 400 milliseconds,

but the average human reaction time

is between 200 and 250 milliseconds,

and that's just to begin moving.

In other words, by the time the goalkeeper reacts,

the ball is already halfway there.

That's why most goalkeepers don't react, they guess.

They analyze the shooter's body language,

the position of the foot, and shooting patterns

because yes, players tend to repeat tendencies.

That's why teams analyze hundreds

of penalties before a match to find probabilities.

In the end, a penalty is not just about power or position,

it's a mix of psychology, statistics, and milliseconds.

So next time you watch a penalty,

remember that the goalkeeper isn't just diving,

he's making a scientific decision.