Test your world cup penalty shootout knowledge
This year's World Cup in Rio is England's chance to show that they have what it takes to be the best in the world. Rio will be a big test – it's going to be so hot that it will be difficult for players to keep up a winning performance for a whole game, but that's what the World Cup is about – it's supposed to be tougher than any other game.
While the standard length for a football game is 90 minutes, sometimes games go to the penalty shootout stage, something which will test our players to the max. England have lost World Cup matches three times during penalty shoot outs, the worst record for any team. Penalty shoot outs were introduced as a decider in 1978, and the first game to be decided by penalties was France v West Germany in 1982, with West Germany as the victors.
No one loves sports trivia like a football fan, and to accompany the World Cup, Ladbrokes Casino is releasing the Big Penalty Quiz. See how big a fan you are with the quiz, which lets you answer questions about penalty kicks in all World Cup matches. You play by clicking either SAVED, MISSED or SCORED, and you get a point per correct guess. There will be fifteen questions in total, which will test your knowledge of all penalties played. The quiz is formatted using classic 8bit styling, so it has a really old school feel – and you'll be able to share your results on Facebook and Twitter, so you can display your World Cup savvy knowledge for all to see
The World Cup is the most important event in the football calendar, and is possibly the most televised, advertised and followed sporting event in the world, alongside the Olympics. The winning team are the undisputed champions of the world, and such is the quality of the players that many of the games end in a penalty shootout. Failing in a shootout can affect a player forever – Roberto Baggio maintains that he never recovered from the day when he failed to score a goal when taking a penalty in 1994, meaning that Italy lost to Brazil. It was to be Brazil's fourth win in a World Cup – can they manage it again on home turf? Or will England manage to sneak one under the bar and kick on to victory? Either way, you can be king of the penalty by playing Ladbrokes Big Penalty Quiz – and sharing your high scores will make you feel better if England lose.
