France beat Morocco 2-0 in their World Cup 2026 quarter-final in Foxborough, but the match reignited debate about the "stutter" penalty after captain Kylian Mbappe saw a hesitant spot-kick easily saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou while the game was goalless. Mbappe recovered to score a curling effort on the hour, with Ousmane Dembele adding a second, yet his uncharacteristic miss prompted pundits to question whether the stuttering run-up — permitted under Fifa rules provided a player does not feint immediately before striking — is now doing players more harm than good.

The technique, long used by figures such as Pele, Hugo Sanchez and John Aldridge, has struggled this tournament: of 26 stutter penalties (shootouts included) only 57% were scored, against a 68% conversion rate for the 35 non-stutter attempts. More broadly, this has been a poor World Cup from 12 yards, with 30% of non-shootout penalties missed — the second-highest since records began in 1966 — rising to a record 35% miss rate once shootouts are included. Pundits including Pat Nevin, Ian Wright and Roy Keane attributed the trend to bigger, better-prepared goalkeepers armed with data, and to disruptions such as the three-minute, 12-second VAR delay before Mbappe's kick. It was only Mbappe's second penalty miss for France, who has now scored 14 of 16, while Bounou has been beaten by just two of nine World Cup penalties he has faced.