Is there ever any talk about eliminating deciding games penalty kicks?

[Willie99]

Go on to sudden death?

Maybe even start taking players off the pitch at some point?

I never like ending such important games on penalty kicks (happens to Italy far too often)



The championship is decided on guesses by your goaltender

 

[slapshot]

well they did have the Silver and Golden Goal rules but don't use them anymore

 

[Greenbacks]

They play two 15 minute halves for what?

Play 30 minutes and the 1st team to score it's over.

If not then PK's.

 

[SunDodger]

It is what it is. High pressure penalties.

In this case, it was the missed pk by Russia that ultimately decided it.

 

[AngelMartin]

He is right...they should do what the NHL did when they went to a 3 on 3.....if you went with like a 7 on 7 or some sort of format like that it would be better. I think that is fairer then penalty kicks...

 

[SunDodger]

The last thing they should do is try to "Americanize" the sport to appease marginal fans.

Does anyone remember the abomination known as indoor soccer? Let's make it like hockey because not enough scoring.

Leave it the way it is.

 

[he_dblhockeystx]

i only watch soccer during the World Cup.. I could have sworn if you scored in overtime it was over.. surprised me when they kept playing after Croatia scored

 

[Willie99]

Watching last weekend’s African Cup of Nations Final reminded fans everywhere of soccer’s elephant in the room, penalties. The penalty shootout is the one glaring error in a beautiful, near-perfect game. After 120 minutes of battling for each yard and each shot, the game is finally decided by a combination of luck and some level of mind games. The penalty shootout ignores so many aspects of the game. While shooting is obviously a major part of soccer, the shootout eliminates passing, spacing, dribbling, teamwork, physicality, and many forms of tactics from the game. We boil down our beautifully sculpted sport to a backyard shooting contest.
The penalty shootout arose from the logical need to have a final way to end the game. Up until its adoption in 1970, many knockout games were decided by a coin flip or entirely replayed. The coin flip was inherently unfair and a complete replay often took too long and caused many logistical issues. The penalty shootout was proposed after it had been used sparingly with some success. At the time of its adoption, many people accepted it as a better option but still flawed. The International Football Association Board, which decides the rules of soccer, adopted the shootout while still “not entirely satisfied” with the solution. Since then the penalty shootout has become ingrained in soccer. While wildly considered imperfect, no serious efforts have been made to change it. This is largely due to its sheer entertainment value. Soccer is often criticized for being too slow and boring. Anyone that watched the Cup of Nations Final can’t argue with that. The shootout without fail creates a headline, a hero, and a villain. The entertainment value equates to more viewers which equates to more money.
A number of alternatives have been proposed attempting to match the excitement of a penalty shootout with a more soccer-like finale. The 90 minute penalty is one of my favorite alternatives. It would place the penalties at the end of regulation of a tie game. The teams would still play extra-time, and if still tied at 120′ the game would go to the winner of the shootout. The excitement of the shootout remains as well as introducing excitement to an extra-time generally plagued by fatigue and careless play. By giving one team an advantage going into extra-time, the other is forced to play offensively against a team defending to the best of their ability. This method eliminates the possibility of a scapegoat. Missing the final penalty can make any player enemy number 1 in the eyes of their fans. The extra-time period will give those players a chance at redemption. Fans also wont remember the final moment of the game as a penalty off the crossbar.
The second popular alternative is a golden goal extra period with reduced numbers of players. After the first 120 minutes have been played, the teams could enter 10 minute sessions of golden goal where each proceeding round removes a player from each side. By opening up the field, the teams are more likely to score. The greatest positive of this method is that the game will be decided by an actual soccer match. No game will ever end in bout of luck. New tactics will arise as the field spreads out. For example, sweeper-keepers like Neuer would become more valuable with their ability to leave the goal and help a short sided team. The clear disadvantage from using this design is the growing fatigue experienced by players. They could play upwards of 200 minutes in a single game and be expected to play again a few days later in a tournament situation. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, expressed his dissaproval of penalties and his support of this plan.
“When it comes to penalty kicks it is a tragedy…Maybe to take players away and play golden goal”. However, he said this in 2006 and no change has been implemented. When faced with the monetary incentive that penalties bring, it ‘s hard to blame him.
Until fans stop watching shootouts or another better solution is proposed, penalties will likely remain the deciding factor of knockout games across the soccer world.

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Don't think anybody loves the PK final

https://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/2015/02/13/the-penalty-shootout-flaws-and-alternatives/

 

[kidman232]

ive always felt like the pk like was to close to the goal, they should move it some yards back

 

[RunMaker]

ive always felt like the pk like was to close to the goal, they should move it some yards back

Interesting take.

I like the elimination of players idea. Every five minutes you eliminate one player from each team... until eventually you get four on four. Can you imagine the huge wide open space for that? Guaranteed someone scores in that scenario.

And it would be counting down every five minutes. After twenty minutes you've subtracted four players from each team.

 

[bodyforlife]

Go on to sudden death?

Maybe even start taking players off the pitch at some point?

I never like ending such important games on penalty kicks (happens to Italy far too often)



The championship is decided on guesses by your goaltender

I agree Willie, but the Soccer purists will sit there and call others stupid instead of looking at logic. If it's a "team" sport, then you should win or lose as a team. It's stupid to let a team game go down to a battle with one player versus another (and as you said, the goalie is simply guessing as we often see them jump in a totally different direction of the kick). The main argument I've heard is because the players already play for such a long period of time, they couldn't possibly take this thing to sudden death, with exhaustion and injuries being the result. I personally like one of the solutions a friend came up with. You extend the OT to 5 minutes at a time, and each OT period, you simply widen the goal (don't eliminate players). The OT periods couldn't possibly last that long as within 15 minutes, it would be very tough to defend that goal (but the whole team would be involved in the process....not just a kicker and a goalie).

The other argument was that it's no different than the NFL because the kicker typically make 90+% from inside the 30 on a FG so that's also a no brainer. I completely disagree with that one. What the soccer fan is missing is it took a drive typically in less than 2 minutes to get the team in position to kick that FG. Also, both teams are still involved in the process.


I don't care about this "purist" garbage. If something is impractical, fix it.

 

[Knightrofins]

The problem is that only 3 substitutions are allowed per team per game (you get a 4th if a goal if overtime is played). These players get crazy tired and they have another game to play in a few days.

penalty kicks are a shitty way to lose but pretty exciting to watch.

 

[beefdiesel]

Instead of playing 90 minutes, I say go straight to penalty kicks, soccer is boring af, I bet the World Cup but do not watch until last 20 mins

 

[Willie99]

I agree Willie, but the Soccer purists will sit there and call others stupid instead of looking at logic. If it's a "team" sport, then you should win or lose as a team. It's stupid to let a team game go down to a battle with one player versus another (and as you said, the goalie is simply guessing as we often see them jump in a totally different direction of the kick). The main argument I've heard is because the players already play for such a long period of time, they couldn't possibly take this thing to sudden death, with exhaustion and injuries being the result. I personally like one of the solutions a friend came up with. You extend the OT to 5 minutes at a time, and each OT period, you simply widen the goal (don't eliminate players). The OT periods couldn't possibly last that long as within 15 minutes, it would be very tough to defend that goal (but the whole team would be involved in the process....not just a kicker and a goalie).

The other argument was that it's no different than the NFL because the kicker typically make 90+% from inside the 30 on a FG so that's also a no brainer. I completely disagree with that one. What the soccer fan is missing is it took a drive typically in less than 2 minutes to get the team in position to kick that FG. Also, both teams are still involved in the process.


I don't care about this "purist" garbage. If something is impractical, fix it.

Furthermore, even that argument from the "purist" is not exactly what it suggests. According to the article I cited in post #8, they started going to the PK in 1970. Before that they either replayed the entire game or flipped a coin, the PK is a better option than those two, but it hasn't been around all that long and many involved in the sport still consider it an "imperfect solution"

I still like my solution better. Implement the golden goal and start removing players from the pitch (obviously, this applies to knockout games only)

Or maybe move the penalty kick to outside the penalty box, that would bring more skill into the process. The goaltender could react more, not simply try to guess right, and the scorer would have to execute a more skilled shot. The current process is "imperfect", and there's a lot of room for improvement.