Penalty shootouts: how Australia can avoid the cruellest World Cup fate

The Socceroos have never faced a penalty shootout at a men’s World Cup but have been urged to prepare for spot kicks before the last-32 match against Egypt. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Germany know it. So do the Netherlands. The pain of the penalty shootout is the cruellest fate in football, the individual spotlight on the kickers serving only to embarrass those who fail the sport’s most basic test.

Australians understand the stakes well too. Though the Socceroos have never faced a shootout in a World Cup, the most replayed moment in the history of men’s football in Australia is John Aloisi’s penalty to defeat Uruguay in the World Cup playoff in 2005. The memory of Cortnee Vine’s 2023 winner for the Matildas against France perhaps exceeds even Aloisi’s spot kick.