Women’s World Cup: how to win a penalty shoot

Four matches stand between Sarina Wiegman’s England and the World Cup trophy: four matches that could each be settled by a penalty shoot-out. England’s women have not faced one in a major tournament since the 2011 World Cup, when they lost to France, but they did win a shoot-out against Brazil for the Finalissima four months ago.

What can they learn from that, and which aspects need addressing? The Times asked Geir Jordet, a Norwegian sports scientist who is a world-leading expert in the psychology of penalties.

“The two time intervals that you control as a player, that we found in our studies are correlated to performance, are ball placement and reaction to the whistle,” Jordet says. Players who take a longer time to spot