In the first of today's two tedious games, Spain tried to bore the Russian team into defeat by endlessly passing the ball back and forth without ever getting near the goal. The Russians valiantly resisted by doing absolutely nothing until the penalty shootout finally put a stop the whole thing. The next game, Croatia-Denmark was more or less the same, although the many catches of penalty shots by the goalkeepers provided some excitement.
In today's standings, LucasA is 1st, Papa Patrick is 2nd, and Helena Perrone is 3rd. For the rest, check the complete standings.
Showing posts with label penalties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label penalties. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Saturday, July 5, 2014
On to the semi-finals
My cable and internet connections are working again! This means that I could watch today's matches unencumbered and that FIFA's evil plans were thwarted.
In the first game, Argentina won against apathetic Belgium because Belgian players couldn't decide on whether they wanted to score a goal or not. Indecisiveness seems to be their national trait.
The second game was much more engaging. Recall that Netherlands was tricked by Mexico into having to play against mighty Costa Rica. However, Netherlands ended up winning in the penalty shootout after Louis van Gaal substituted the goalkeeper by one who is an expert in stopping penalty shots. For some inexplicable reason, journalists around the world are calling van Gaal a genius for making such an obvious decision.
What about the Bolão? Seppel is 1st, Serginho Matos 2nd, and Manfred and Sandy are tied at the 3rd place. Cabeça de Macaco is up one position again. The complete standings are here.
In the first game, Argentina won against apathetic Belgium because Belgian players couldn't decide on whether they wanted to score a goal or not. Indecisiveness seems to be their national trait.
The second game was much more engaging. Recall that Netherlands was tricked by Mexico into having to play against mighty Costa Rica. However, Netherlands ended up winning in the penalty shootout after Louis van Gaal substituted the goalkeeper by one who is an expert in stopping penalty shots. For some inexplicable reason, journalists around the world are calling van Gaal a genius for making such an obvious decision.
 |
| A revolutionary concept: in the penalty shootout use a goalkeeper who is good at it. |
What about the Bolão? Seppel is 1st, Serginho Matos 2nd, and Manfred and Sandy are tied at the 3rd place. Cabeça de Macaco is up one position again. The complete standings are here.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Readings to prepare for the Bolao #5
According to today's International Herald Tribune...
"The (Penalty) Shootout is the Ultimate Mind Game.
Several studies point to power of psychology in taking penalty kicks."
Full text available here.
- - -
UPDATE: Anonymous comment points us to José Apesteguia and Ignacio Palacios-Huerta's "Psychological Pressure in Competitive: Environments: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment"
Abstract: This paper studies the behavior of professional subjects involved in a dynamic competition in their own natural environment. The setting is a penalty shoot-out in soccer where two teams compete in a tournament framework taking turns in a sequence of five penalty kicks each. As the kicking order is determined by the random outcome of a coin flip, the treatment and control
groups are determined via explicit randomization. Therefore, absent any psychological eff ects, both teams should have the same probability of winning regardless of the kicking order. Yet, we find a systematic first-kicker advantage. Using data on 2,731 penalty kicks from 262 shoot-outs for a three decade period, we fi nd that teams kicking fi rst win the penalty shoot-out 60.5% of the time. A dynamic panel data analysis shows that the psychological mechanism underlying this result arises from the asymmetry in the partial score. As most kicks are scored, kicking first typically means having the opportunity to lead in the partial score, whereas kicking second
typically means lagging in the score and having the opportunity to, at most, get even. Having a worse prospect than the opponent hinders subjects' performance.
Further, we also find that professionals are self-aware of their own psychological effects. When a recent change in regulations gives winners of the coin toss the chance to choose the kicking order, they rationally react to it by systematically choosing to kick fi rst. A survey of professional players reveals that when asked to explain why they prefer to kick first, they precisely identify the psychological mechanism for which we find empirical support in the data: they want to lead in the score in order to put pressure on the opponent.
"The (Penalty) Shootout is the Ultimate Mind Game.
Several studies point to power of psychology in taking penalty kicks."
Full text available here.
- - -
UPDATE: Anonymous comment points us to José Apesteguia and Ignacio Palacios-Huerta's "Psychological Pressure in Competitive: Environments: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment"
Abstract: This paper studies the behavior of professional subjects involved in a dynamic competition in their own natural environment. The setting is a penalty shoot-out in soccer where two teams compete in a tournament framework taking turns in a sequence of five penalty kicks each. As the kicking order is determined by the random outcome of a coin flip, the treatment and control
groups are determined via explicit randomization. Therefore, absent any psychological eff ects, both teams should have the same probability of winning regardless of the kicking order. Yet, we find a systematic first-kicker advantage. Using data on 2,731 penalty kicks from 262 shoot-outs for a three decade period, we fi nd that teams kicking fi rst win the penalty shoot-out 60.5% of the time. A dynamic panel data analysis shows that the psychological mechanism underlying this result arises from the asymmetry in the partial score. As most kicks are scored, kicking first typically means having the opportunity to lead in the partial score, whereas kicking second
typically means lagging in the score and having the opportunity to, at most, get even. Having a worse prospect than the opponent hinders subjects' performance.
Further, we also find that professionals are self-aware of their own psychological effects. When a recent change in regulations gives winners of the coin toss the chance to choose the kicking order, they rationally react to it by systematically choosing to kick fi rst. A survey of professional players reveals that when asked to explain why they prefer to kick first, they precisely identify the psychological mechanism for which we find empirical support in the data: they want to lead in the score in order to put pressure on the opponent.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Readings to prepare for the Bolao #3
P.-A. Chiappori; S. Levitt; T. Groseclose (2002): "Testing Mixed-Strategy Equilibria When Players Are Heterogeneous: The Case of Penalty Kicks in Soccer", The American Economic Review, 92(4), p.1140
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
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