He's skipped more friendlies than he's played in over the last few years in order to focus on his club career. He's a great player but he's totally unworthy at this point of the martyrdom you're heaping on him for his USMNT service.
disingenuous post. He skipped the friendlies because his team, his coach and his federation let him down. He then decided to bypass the interim coach (unfortunate but understandable) and has played for the actual coach. One thing I have learned about this new generation, they pull the plug fast if they feel they are being abused. To put a point on it: No player was more influential to his country during qualifying than CP. Nott Messi. Not Ronaldo. Not Kane. Funny he is worthy of everything except what he is getting from US Soccer.
Not that it really makes a difference, but I've more often seen 80-85% as PK conversion rate. EPL as per Transfermarkt During this playing time 103 penalties were given in 380 games up to now. Therefore, on average, the spectators saw 0,27 penalties per match. Of the 103 penalties {treffen}scored and {fehlschuesse} missed. This corresponds to a hit ratio of 81,6 %. Bundesliga per https://www.transfermarkt.us/bundesliga/elfmeterstatistiken/wettbewerb/L1/saison_id/2018 During this playing time 91 penalties were given in 306 games up to now. Therefore, on average, the spectators saw 0,30 penalties per match. Of the 91 penalties {treffen}scored and {fehlschuesse} missed. This corresponds to a hit ratio of 81,3 %. Of the top scorers, oddly, Messi and Ronaldo are the only two (in this list) below 80% (68 and 77 respectively.) https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/ro...ific-penalty-takers/xadfhkzo0e9g1dh2dbe58syv9
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Josh Sargent told me postgame that the ref apologized at halftime for missing the handball.<br><br>I asked him if he would’ve taken the penalty had it been called…<br><br>“Yeah. 100 percent."</p>— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) <a href="Josh Sargent told me postgame that the ref apologized at halftime for missing the handball.I asked him if he would’ve taken the penalty had it been called…“Yeah. 100 percent."— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) September 11, 2019 ">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This website has different stats than you quoted...(goal.com) https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/what-is-lionel-messis-penalty-record/14jr7obhc5srw17av4g20hvgh5
Transfer market has Messi 85 out of 110 = 77.27% career Ronaldo 111 out of 133= 83.45% career I think were are just disagreeing over stats that are not accurate but my point was 95% was way to high for an expected rate. For for a tangent I think conversions will rise with the new VAR of keeper movement coming into play.
It's weird. There shouldn't be an easier stat to gather... Oh well. Regardless, 75, 80, 85... a solid pro should hit 3 in 4 or better for sure.
Good/great player does not necessarily equal good penalty taker. I have seen teams where, if you watched practices and other training, it was quite clear that the best PK takers were not the best players aand often they do not appear to be to people in the normal offensive positions. In fact I have seen teams where the "best" PK takers were the keepers. Also all the trickery we see is simply cover for poor technique. If a player hits the ball well and into one of the quite large triangles in the upper part of the goal the kick will never be saved. It is pretty eaasy to train the body to do that, all it takes is finding the right technique and then lots of reps. No trickery or deception is needed if the player actually executes the kick correctly the goal is scored. Players that try to have a lot of different PK shots are wasting their time. All that is needed is one or two correctly executed shots and they will score over 90%. It is one of the few times the player is in almost total control. The player can choose exactly how the kick is taken and the goal does not move and the ball does not move until it is kicked. Great players, like Messi, usually do not practice PKs enough because they find it beneath them and they cannot show off while practicing.
I have no idea if this is true, but it should be relatively easy to check. A good number of WC games and other tournaments go to PKs where a good cross section of players get to take kicks from the spot. Be interesting to see how often the top PK takers are also top player - esp top attackers, since they usually get to take PKs in live games.
Taking PKs is a specific skill. It involves technique, yes, but also mentality to execute technique under pressure. It was, at least, weird judgement at least to give Sargeant a PK he didn't earn (why?). The miss reflects poorly on both of them.