The stutter-step penalty is widely reviled but it’s here to stay

Brazil’s exit revived debate over the stutter-step penalty, a Brazilian innovation that remains one of football’s most daring and divisive techniques Popularised by Pelé, botched by Bruno Guimarães. The stutter-step penalty is one of the most notable trends of this World Cup, but Guimarães’ sputtering spot-kick failure was crucial as Brazil were dumped out of the tournament by Norway on Sunday. The midfielder’s stutter penalty was saved by Ørjan Nyland, who dived to his left to parry the weak effort in the first half of Sunday’s last-16 contest in New York-New Jersey. The match was scoreless until two second-half goals from Erling Haaland gave Norway the victory, with substitute Neymar claiming a consolation deep into stoppage-time via a successful penalty after another halting run-up. Continue reading...