FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Organisers Present the Official Match Ball - Maifeld, Berlin, Germany - November 15, 2023 General view of the Euro 2024 match ball 'Fussballliebe' REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Euro 2024’s Round of 16 starts on Saturday and with it the potential for penalty shootouts, a prospect that sends some countries into meltdown while others embrace the 'loneliest walk in sport' already believing they have a foot in the next round.
The first major international shootout took place to decide the final of the 1976 European Championship, when Czechoslovakia beat West Germany via the nonchalant chip of Antonin Panenka.
Since then there have been a further 21 shootouts at the Euros, an average of more than one in every five matches culminating at Wembley three years ago when Italy beat England in the second final at the continental competition to go to spot kicks - all lovingly recorded by Roberto Di Maggio of the Record of Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation.
The Czechs won the next one too, in the 1980 third/fourth playoff, and another in the 1996 semi-final against France and have the proud record of converting all 20 of their attempts, including a marathon 9-8 success in 1980.
It’s fair to say that Germany learned from that initial defeat, establishing themselves as the masters from 12 yards.
They won their next two Euros shootouts and four out of four at the World Cup. In all they have slotted a remarkable 32 of 37 attempts, so should any of their games go to the ultimate decider, German fans are unlikely to be hiding behind their sofas.
England, partly thanks to the Germans, have the opposite relationship with shootouts. They actually started well at the Euros, beating Spain at Wembley in the quarter-finals in 1996, but then lost to Germany in the semis, with current manager Gareth Southgate the man responsible for the decisive miss.
They lost again to Portugal in 2004, Italy in the 2012 quarter-finals and again in the Euro 2020 final.
England also lost their first four World Cup shootouts, including the 1990 semi against Germany, and though they finally stopped the rot by beating Colombia in 2018 after a remarkable 18-month, five-man analysis project put together for just that purpose by the country's FA, the nation’s confidence – players and fans – remains fragile.
The Netherlands are another nation with no love for a shootout having lost three out of four at the Euros – in four successive tournaments from 1992 - and have the same ratio at the World Cup, most recently the bad-tempered quarter-final loss to Argentina in Qatar two years ago.
Italian fans will almost be expecting a shootout, having been in seven at the Euros alone – the most of any nation – and another four at the World Cup.
They have suffered some monumentally painful defeats along the way, not least the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil and the 1990 semi on home soil against Argentina. On the other hand, they won the 2006 World Cup on penalties and were crowned Euro 2020 champions after back-to-back shootout wins over Spain in the semi and then England.
That defeat was one of only two in six Euro shootouts for Spain, but with three defeats out of four in the World Cup and defeats in their last three in a row across both competitions, their confidence will have probably waned.
France have mildly negative balance on paper, winning three of their eight, though with two of the defeats just happening to come in World Cup finals, the country is certainly more in the England camp than the German in their appreciation.
There is a mixed Euro/World Cup record among the rest of the contenders. Portugal have won three out of four, Denmark one out of three, while Romania lost their only two and Switzerland won one lost three.
Belgium won their only shootout 38 years ago while Turkey's perfect record is also notable, taking part in one shootout but needing to take only three shots to beat Croatia 3-1 in their Euro 2008 quarter-final.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
