Argentina will face Germany in Sunday’s World Cup Final and that was always likely after Sergio Romero saved Ron Vlaar’s first penalty.
Much work goes into practice and the psychological aspect of the penalty shoot out and there was heavy criticism of the Netherlands goalkeepers apparent ‘sledging of opponents in both the Costa Rica and Argentina games.
That said sport will always be a numbers game and throughout last night’s drama US statistics site Five Thirty Eight was updating this fascinating data model of the likely chance of progress as each penalty was scored.
It takes no account of the facial set of the players stepping up, or of the commentators version of events that can stir expectation among the watching TV audience. It is though the kind of data that Paddy Power and other online bookmakers will have at their finger tips when setting odds on what is likely to happen next.
Worth keeping by your side for Sunday night perhaps…
