London – With the World Cup just days away, a British researcher has revealed the secret of taking penalties – don't look at the goalie.

Greg Wood discovered in a series of tests that most penalty-takers look at the keeper rather than at the ball because the goalie is the main threat to them.

He asked members of the football team at the University of Exeter, where he works, to take penalty shots.

Then he added an element of pressure, warning them that their results would be shared with the other players, and that there was a $70 prize for the best result.

Special goggles recorded the movements of their eyes and allowed researchers to analyse the gaze of each player as the spot kick was taken.

They found that the player paid far more attention to the goal-keeper when under pressure and that if the attention of the kicker was on the centre of the goal, the shot was more likely to go to the centre, too – resulting in a more saveable penalty.

"The optimum strategy for penalty takers to use is to pick a spot and shoot to it, ignoring the goalkeeper in the process," said Wood.

The results of his experiment are on the University website.