تبدو ركلة الجزاء مهمة في هذه المباراة.

Here تبدو means seems or appears.

It is the present-tense form of بدا / يبدو (to seem, to appear), and specifically it is third-person feminine singular.

So the sentence structure is basically:

• تبدو = seems
• ركلة الجزاء = the penalty kick
• مهمة = important
• في هذه المباراة = in this match

So, very literally: Seems the penalty kick important in this match.

The form تبدو can indeed mean she seems, but here it is not referring to a female person. It is feminine because the subject ركلة (kick) is a grammatically feminine noun.

In Arabic, verbs agree with the grammatical gender of the subject, even when the noun is an object or idea rather than a person.

The important point is:

• ركلة is feminine
• so the verb is تبدو, not يبدو

The first word, ركلة, controls the agreement.

ركلة الجزاء is an iḍāfa construction (a possessive/genitive construction), and the first noun is the head noun. That means:

• gender comes from ركلة
• number comes from ركلة
• the whole phrase is basically a kind of kick

So the verb is feminine because the head noun is ركلة, and the adjective/predicate is feminine for the same reason.

This is an iḍāfa structure:

• ركلة = kick
• الجزاء = the penalty

Together, it literally means something like the kick of the penalty, which English expresses as the penalty kick.

A key rule of iḍāfa is that the first noun usually does not take ال, while the second noun can. The definiteness of the whole phrase depends on the second noun.

So because الجزاء is definite, ركلة الجزاء as a whole is also definite:

• ركلة الجزاء = the penalty kick

It is feminine because it matches ركلة, the head noun of the subject phrase.

So:

• ركلة = feminine
• مهمة = feminine

It does not take ال because it is not being used as an attributive adjective inside a noun phrase. It is being used as the predicate: important.

Compare:

• ركلة الجزاء المهمة = the important penalty kick
  Here المهمة is an adjective describing the noun directly, so it is definite.

• ركلة الجزاء مهمة = the penalty kick is important
  Here مهمة is the predicate, so it is normally indefinite.

Your sentence is of the second type.

Because verb-first word order is very common in Arabic.

So:

• تبدو ركلة الجزاء مهمة = normal verb-first structure
• ركلة الجزاء تبدو مهمة = also correct

Both mean essentially the same thing, but the second version can sound a bit more like As for the penalty kick, it seems important or can make the subject feel more topical.

For learners, it is good to recognize both patterns:

• VSO: verb–subject–other elements
• SVO: subject–verb–other elements

Yes, absolutely.

That version is also correct in Modern Standard Arabic:

• ركلة الجزاء تبدو مهمة في هذه المباراة

The difference is mainly one of style or emphasis:

• تبدو ركلة الجزاء مهمة... = more neutral, often more formal/narrative
• ركلة الجزاء تبدو مهمة... = puts more focus on ركلة الجزاء

So both are natural; the given sentence just uses the common verb-first pattern.

Because مباراة is a feminine noun.

So the correct demonstrative is:

• هذه = this (feminine)
• هذا = this (masculine)

Since مباراة is feminine, Arabic says:

• هذه المباراة = this match

Because in Modern Standard Arabic, when a demonstrative like هذا or هذه comes before a noun, the noun is usually also marked as definite with ال.

So Arabic normally says:

• هذه المباراة = this match
• هذا الكتاب = this book

This is different from English, where we do not say this the match. In Arabic, that pattern is normal.

A fully vocalized version would be:

تبدو ركلةُ الجزاءِ مهمةً في هذه المباراةِ.

Here is what is happening:

• ركلةُ = nominative, because it is the subject of تبدو
• الجزاءِ = genitive, because it is the second term of the iḍāfa
• مهمةً = accusative, because it is the predicate/complement after تبدو
• المباراةِ = genitive, because it comes after the preposition في

In normal Arabic writing, these short-vowel endings are usually not written, so learners have to infer them from grammar.

This is a very common learner question.

• مهمة at the end of a phrase is usually pronounced something like muhimma (or muhimmah if you want to show the written ة).
• But in ركلة الجزاء, the ة in ركلة is pronounced as t, because it is in an iḍāfa construction.

So you would hear something like:

• raklat al-jazā’
• muhimma
• fī hādhihi al-mubārāh

So yes: ة often sounds like -a / -ah in pause, but like -at / t when connected grammatically.