Penalty shootouts are as binary as it can get, it's heaven or hell, black and white – a winner, a loser.
I don't know if anyone likes penalties, says Sweden's team captain Kosovare Asllani ahead of Thursday's European Championship quarterfinal against England.
But it's a part of the game and something you train for. But I think all teams want it to be decided before that.
So too for national team manager Peter Gerhardsson, who describes penalty shootouts as "one of football's absolutely most difficult moments".
"Was about to collapse"
He knows what a nightmare it can be for the player who is forced to step forward. Gerhardsson always has anecdotes close at hand and this time his memory takes him back to the Swedish Cup in 1984, when he played for Hammarby.
I've never been as nervous in my entire life as when I took a penalty in some semifinal against Norrköping. I scored but I was about to collapse on my way to place the ball, says Gerhardsson.
So you can be nervous, it can be tough. But you can still score, as long as you make it to the ball and the penalty spot.
Are you less nervous as a national team manager?
Yes, it's not me who's going to take it, says Gerhardsson in classic Uppland dialect.
But it's incredibly exciting! Since I have a bit of a bad grasp of the score, sometimes I have to ask: "Do we win if we score this one?"
Who do you ask?
The one standing next to me. And then I hope they have a grasp of it.
Ready despite the miss
Sweden's left back Jonna Andersson has more difficult and more recent memories. She and Asllani were two of four Swedish players who missed a penalty in the Olympic Games final in 2021.
How is it to take a penalty in a championship?
I don't even know if it's possible to describe. I'm not used to taking penalties so it's clear that I'm extremely nervous. But I know that those who are experienced have similar feelings. It's a very special situation. It's like everything around you just disappears, says Andersson.
As one of the team's most experienced players, she is still prepared to possibly have to take a penalty against England. The nerves she won't get away from.
They will be there. It's basically just trying to accept it. You try to just be secure in yourself and know that what you've done in training, that's what you should try to do in the game as well.
