It's Been Two Days And We're Still Thinking About Akanji x Sanchez - Can We Stop Putting Centre-Halves on Penalties?

Why Are Centre-Backs Being Trusted More In Penalty Shootouts?

The FIFA World Cup round of 16 tie between Switzerland and Colombia in Vancouver, Canada was a match which from early on seemed destined to go to a penalty shootout, as during the 120 minutes of action neither team managed to find a way past the opposition goalkeeper.

There were little genuine goal-bound chances before extra time commenced, where Colombia hit the bar through a header in the early stages of the first period of extra-time through Davinson Sanchez, before the best chance of the match would also fall for the South American side in the 114th minute, as a defensive error from Switzerland led to Colombia's Jaminton Campaz who was presented with a glorious opportunity to all but win the match for his side and send them through. Alas, he ruined the chance and pissed it over the crossbar.

With that, penalties would decide who would earn their place in the last eight of the FIFA World Cup and qualify for the quarter-finals. Swiss captain Granit Xhaka stepped up first and converted, as did Colombia's Juan Quintero to get his side on the board and off to a good start.

However, the second round of spotkicks would see centre-back Sanchez step up next for Colombia, ahead of multple attacking options. And his effort would smash against the crossbar and give Switzerland the opportunity to take advantage in the shootout.

But Sanchez's miss was then followed up by a miss from the Swiss. And, just like Sanchez, it was a centre-back who failed to convert in the form if Inter Milan's Manuel Akanji who spunked his effort over the bar. And this came a few days after Australian centre-back Harry Souttar missed his penalty against Egypt in the same manner before the Socceroos were dumped out. It begs the question from us...

🗣️ "Listen, centre half - I'm not having the stutter step." 🙅

What did you think of Davinson Sánchez's penalty? pic.twitter.com/oE682OeHhb

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 7, 2026

Despite Akanji's miss, Switzerland would progress, with both Cedric Itten and Ruben Vargas finding the net whilst Cucho Hernandez failed for Colombia. However, the two misses raised questions amongst many supporters as to why centre-backs have become higher in the pecking order of takers for penalty shootouts.

A similar incident had occurred in another penalty shootout to take place in the knockout round of this summer's tournament, as Paraguay shockingly defeated Germany in the round of 32 stage. In that particular shootout, Bayern Munich's Jonathan Tah was chosen to take the fifth penalty for Germany, ahead of multiple more attacking options, and failed to find the net.

Similarly, when Australia faced Egypt for a place in the Round of 16, their clash also went the distance to a penalty shootout. And again, it was the penalties of the centre-halves that proved crucial for the wrong reasons.

Both of the Socceroos starting centre-backs, Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington, saw their efforts fail to hit the net. And as a result, Egypt progressed to the next round of the tournament.

Centre-backs being some of the first to step forward in penalty shootouts seem to be a recent trend in football, and was also seen back in the UEFA Champions League final in May, where Gabriel stepped up to take the crucial fifth spotkick for Arsenal in budapest versus PSG. However just like Sanchez and Akanji, the Brazilian missed and PSG won the trophy.

The reason for this isn't particularly clear but can perhaps be understood. Somewhat.

Defenders, particularly centre-backs, are often some of the strongest players both physically and mentally. So logically, they should not only be able to muster more power through their strike of the ball, but also remain more calm and composed as they attempt to outwit the opposition goalkeeper.

Harry Maguire famously executed one of the finest penalties seen in modern football during the 2020 Euros final for England over Italy with the Manchester United defender stepping up in hugely tense circumstances and finding the top corner with an impressive mix of power, accuracy and precision. However, the data shows that Maguire's effort is more of a minority.

Data has shown that just 44% of the 18 penalties taken by centre-backs in shootouts at the FIFA World Cup since the beginning of the 2022 edition of the tournament in Qatar have been successfully converted.

Don't let CB's take penalties!

In the aftermath of Switzerland vs Colombia, I investigated the last three World Cups to see if the data backed up my hypothesis pic.twitter.com/wc8BHsBixz

— Romeo Scagliarini (@ItalianScallian) July 7, 2026

That figure is significantly less compared to that of other positions, despite them seeing a much larger amount of penalties taken - out of the 52 taken by midfielders in the same period of time, 73% of the penalties found the net alongside a percentage of 65% from 26 for strikers.

The data shown backs up the argument that having centre-backs as one of the main takers in a penalty shootout is an unnecessary risk and usually ends up not working out. Whilst many centre-backs are strong, tough, calm under pressure and possess good leadership qualities, the fact is they are not trained in the art of penalty-taking and goalscoring with attacking players, more accustomed to finding the back of the net, more capable of successfully taking penalties.

It is clear that whilst certain centre-halves may possess qualitites that make a capable penalty taker, the preferred options should be those further up the pitch as more attacking players will have more practice at shooting towards goal and being more comfortable goalscorers, with those players being trusted first giving teams a stronger chance of being on the winning side in a shootout.