Need penalty shoot-out advice? Ask a German. And who better than Oliver Kahn, the former Germany and Bayern Munich captain?
This is for you, David James: the how-to penalty-saving guide, direct from the world leaders in spot-kick success. According to Kahn, the winning formula is a mixture of research, luck and psychology.
“In order to be able to save a penalty, you need a certain amount of luck but you also need preparation,” he said. “Familiarise yourself with who is taking the shot, what their preferences are — is it a technical player who will place the kick or someone who will use power?
“You can read a lot from body language. Make eye contact — you can put off the taker with your body language. If he makes a mistake, you can see from his eyes which way the ball will go.
“It’s a psychological battle that is often invisible to spectators. More than anything it is a question of absolute concentration.”
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The 41-year-old was named as the best goalkeeper of the 2002 World Cup but his error in the final handed Brazil their opening goal. He was a back-up to Jens Lehmann in 2006 and to Andreas Köpke in 1998 and at Euro ’96. Kahn made three saves as Bayern beat Valencia in a shoot-out in the 2001 Champions League final at San Siro in Milan.
“I was informed by a coach who would be taking the penalties and what corners they preferred,” Kahn said at a press conference hosted by adidas. “But I forgot all that and went into a phase of total, narrow focus.
“So much so that when I made the last save, I wasn’t even sure it was the final kick. I found out we had won by the reactions of my team.”
The man England’s penalty-takers must outfox should tomorrow’s match follow the grimly predictable route of so many previous England fixtures is Manuel Neuer, the 24-year-old Schalke goalkeeper. He is a Bayern target with a rising reputation and was in the Germany side that beat England 4-0 in the European Under-21 Championship a year ago.
“He is still very young and he hasn’t had a lot of negative experiences, only positives,” Kahn said. “He is full of self-confidence and sees himself as a winner.”
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Kahn suggested that the dearth of high-quality English goalkeepers is because the elite Barclays Premier League clubs look abroad for talent rather then their own back yard.
“Bayern have a policy — Germany’s No 1 goalkeeper needs to be the man between the posts for them,” he said. “In England, the big clubs have foreign goalkeepers — Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal. “That makes it difficult to develop an English goalkeeper who can become world class.”