Stutter Steppers

With the knockout rounds well underway, it’s time to contemplate one of soccer’s great perennial mysteries: Why do the best players alive miss so many World Cup penalty kicks?

The kicker is an elite player with a clear shot at the net (twenty-four feet wide and eight feet tall) from dead center, twelve yards away. A goalie is standing there, also world class, but his movements are restricted (his feet can’t completely leave the goal line until the ball is struck), giving him just a fraction of a second to act. His best hope is to guess where the shot is going to go ahead of time, and throw himself blindly in that direction as soon as the shooter’s foot connects with the ball. Goalies are often wrong, and even when they’re right a ball hit hard enough will beat them to the corners nearly every time.…