Amanda Dlamini

Penalties are one of the things that we worked on a lot because you can always end up in a penalty shootout.

To get us started, let's go back to the basics.

A penalty is a free shot at goal from 11 meters where the goalkeeper attempts to stop the ball from going into the net.

A penalty shootout is used to decide the result of tied games in knockout football tournaments.

And with that stage of the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada fast approaching, they'll soon be watched by billions of fans around the world.

Penalties are only used if both teams are tired after the regular 90 minutes and then usually an extra time of 30 minutes.

Both teams take five penalties each.

If they still tired after those five penalties, then they carry on.

But in sudden death, if you miss, you lose.

They are a source of huge anxiety and excitement for players and fans.

And they've been the final act of great football matches throughout history, including the last World Cup final when Argentina were crowned champions of the world for the third time.

But how did football settle on this method to decide the winner of tied knockout games?

Ben Littleton is a football journalist who wrote the book 12 Yards, The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty.

He's our guide through penalty shootout history.

That Israeli official was Yosef Dagon, who came up with the idea after watching Israel lose their 1968 Olympic quarterfinal after lots were drawn out of a huge sombrero.

Some of the options that have been used in the past include counting corners or using a golden goal in extra time, where as soon as you score, you win the game.

But we're not here to talk about those.

We're here to discuss penalties.

The final of that tournament, which was contested by West Germany and Czechoslovakia, isn't just significant for hosting the first international penalty shootout either.

Because in that shootout, one player would do something remarkable.