Book description
The penalty shoot-out is the greatest set piece of sporting drama
ever conceived. Cruel, arbitrary, tortuous and unfair, it has also
presented the England football team with a new and infinitely more
punishing manner in which to lose. Three times in the past decade the
nation has sat on the edge of its collective sofa and watched the
seemingly inevitable unfold as Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle, Gareth
Southgate, Paul Ince and David Batty have selected the wrong shots in
the lottery of international championship shoot-outs.
Except it's not a lottery. There is an art to scoring penalties,
which calls upon a unique combination of physical prowess and
psychological strength. In the corridor of truth that leads from the
penalty spot to the goal-line, a succession of English footballers
have had to confront not only the opposing goalkeeper but the hopes
and dreams of fans and fellow countrymen and, of course, themselves.
Score and few will remember; miss and - as the above list of names
testifies - no one will forget.
Talking to some of the game's most successful players and managers,
the question the book seeks to address is simple: can England overcome
their fear of the penalty?
Andrew Anthony is a feature writer and investigative journalist. He
has written for the
Observer
since 1993, and for the
Guardian
since 1990. He has also written for
Vogue
and the
Daily Telegraph
. His features cover a wide range of subjects: politics, crime, sport,
literature, TV and popular culture. He was nominated for Feature Writer
of the Year in 2000 and Sports Writer of the Year in 2003.
