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Where to aim a penalty kick

When you see hundreds of kicks, it’s possible to make some conclusions.

Penalty kicks, explained by data

A World Cup penalty kick shootout can be one of the tensest ways to end the game. But where’s the best spot to place a kick?

Data scientist Pablo López Landeros pored over hundreds of kicks and tracked where keepers dove, where players kicked the ball and, most importantly, when they scored a goal. As the above video shows, the results provided some conclusions — and also raised some questions about the best spot for a penalty kick.

Watch the video to learn more. You can also check out Landeros’s dataset here.