Overview
- Egypt defeated Australia 5-3 in a World Cup round-of-16 penalty shootout after Australian centre-backs Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington missed their spot-kicks.
- Former centre-back Per Mertesacker argued on ZDF that teams should avoid letting inside defenders take penalties because they lack repeated finishing practice and are more likely to falter under pressure.
- Former midfielder Christoph Kramer rejected a positional rule and said there is no clear statistic showing centre-backs miss more penalties while stressing that mentality and pressure management decide shootouts.
- During the broadcast the panel cited past high-profile misses and played a clip of Egyptian players watching Kylian Mbappé penalties as an example of psychological preparation for a shootout.
- The exchange ended without consensus and Kramer said he would look for supporting statistics, leaving selection practices unchanged for now and pointing to coaching choices about practice, confidence and player temperament as the practical factors to watch next.