Penalty pain: Players converted just 4 of the first 8 penalty kicks at the Women’s World Cup

By MAX RALPH
Associated Press

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — How’s this for a pair of stats? The first eight matches of the Women’s World Cup each included a penalty kick – and the attacking team converted just four times from the spot. Some of the attempts were turned away by goalkeeping heroics, others were clean misses and all four denials had some of the game’s biggest names on the short end. A mere 50% conversion rate, if it continued through the 2023 tournament, would be notably low. Norwegian psychologist Geir Jordet reported a near-80% success rate across 409 chances in top senior international competition in his 2006 research on the penalty kick.