Paying the penalty for obsessive passing – James Calvert

The standard of the penalties at this World Cup has been nothing short of diabolical.

At the time of writing – that is, before the quarters – a staggering 42 per cent of spot kicks have been either saved or missed, double the normal tournament average. And that stat comes despite the fact that, up to that point, we had not yet been treated to England’s blast-your-kick-over-the-crossbar approach to this fine art.

Penalties in open play have been in relatively short supply, but we have still seen misses by the likes of Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Alphonso Davies, players who should know a thing or two about scoring from 12 yards. But the real awfulness has come in shoot-outs.

The Japanese players, bless their inexperienced little cotton socks, took their penalties in a manner that suggested they weren’t entirely sure how the whole process worked and were worried that scoring may offend someone. And that’s a shame because I thought they were actually more deserving of a place in the quarters than Croatia.

Meanwhile, the less said about Spain’s penalties the better, certainly if you are a Spanish fan. But I’m not, so I don’t mind telling you I thought their spot kick demise...