So far in the Africa Cup of Nations, the trend of upsets seems to have eased. It's no wonder, after all, most of the strong teams have been knocked down by the underdogs, and the dark horses want to continue to upset and can't find a partner. The teams that make it to the quarterfinals are basically dark horses, is it possible to let the dark horses upset the dark horses?
However, don't look at the Africa Cup of Nations, there are no upsets, but that doesn't mean the game has lost its highlights. In fact, although there were no big scores in the four quarter-finals, and there were no shocking reversals, the four games were still very exciting. One of the games went to extra time, which led to a penalty shootout.
And what we are focusing on today is this penalty shoot-out, Cape Verde vs. South Africa.
At first glance, many fans may think that this is a very dull and boring game, 2:1, which is all too common. But when they knew that 2:1 was actually the score of the penalty shootout, everyone's hearts must have been shocked.
Generally speaking, penalty shootouts are played in 5 rounds, and the most common scores are 5:4, 4:3, 5:3, after all, it is a high probability event to score a penalty, and a penalty is a small probability event. If a penalty shootout is tied at 3:2, it can already be proved that the two sides are poorly punished. Remember the Champions League final in 02-03? AC Milan defeated Juventus on penalties 3:2, which shows that the shooting percentages of both sides are not high, or rather, the goalkeepers of both teams play well.
So, is there a lower penalty shootout score than 2:1?
Yes. In the 2011 Copa America, Paraguay eliminated Brazil in a penalty shootout, and the score was 2:0. However, Brazil had two players flying or deflecting wide, while the Paraguayan goalkeeper only saved two goals.
Next, let's talk about the process of South Africa's 2:1 elimination of Cape Verde, yes, South African goalkeeper Williams actually saved 4 penalties.
In my impression, the best penalty kick is Santoldo. In the semi-finals of the 2000 European Championship, Toldo shocked world football by saving three penalties from the Netherlands in a penalty shootout, so Toldo was named a saint. And in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup, Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo replicated this miracle.
However, this is not the best, at least, Santo Tordo and Williams of this Africa Cup of Nations, he still has to stand aside. Williams saved four penalties.
If you look for a benchmark, it is the Champions League final in the 85-86 season, when Bucharest Stars goalkeeper Dukadam, who made four consecutive saves in the penalty shoot-out to help his team beat Barcelona 2-0 and win the Champions League.
After 38 years, Williams recreated the miracle of Ducatadam at the big competition.
You know, it's not so easy to make four saves in a penalty shootout. In addition to playing well, you also need the cooperation of your teammates, or in other words, the opposing goalkeeper also needs to show a high level of performance. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the penalty shootout to reach the fourth round, and it will not be possible to talk about four consecutive saves. Remember the quarterfinals of Spain vs Morocco at the 2022 World Cup? The score was 3:0, the Moroccan players punished well, and the Spanish players punished poorly, so the penalty shootout was very short, and Bounou wanted to target Dukadam, but there was no chance.
Quadruple miracles like Dukadam and Williams can only be staged once in thirty or forty years, after all, the conditions are too harsh. Let's watch and cherish it.