While watching the Asian Cup final go deep into extra time, one of my friends turned to me and said, “I’d take any goal at the moment, even one for Japan. That’s got to be better than penalties.” A few minutes later he got his wish.
To purists, the penalty shoot-out is like a lottery.
For a low scoring game like football where every goal is like gold, having a contest decided by penalties sits at odds with how the rest of the game is played.
So how to resolve a drawn final?
There seem to be three main options:
1. Using performance in prior matches.
2. Using the performance of the teams in the match.
3. Lottery type mechanisms like penalties.
Determining the result of a game by using goal difference or goals scored is not comparing like with like.
Two 1-0 victories against the two other ‘good’ teams in the ‘group of death’ should be ranked much higher than 3-0 victories against lesser opposition in an easier group.
Any mechanism put in place to break a deadlock should not produce a decision that is contentious.
There are also difficulties with the second option which would include measures such as the number of times a team hits the woodwork or the number of corners that occur during the game.
There seem to be a lot of people who support for the woodwork option as it is not something that players would aim to do, but would reward the team which has played the most attacking football.
To passing observers of football, the most attractive teams are generally those who score more goals, but this undervalues a team which can soak up massive periods of pressure and score on the counter.
This style of play can be just as exciting and attractive as a 5-0 drubbing.
Football isn’t just about scoring goals, but stopping them as well. What constitutes attractive football is in the eye of the beholder.
That leaves the third option and once concepts like golden goal which have been tried but rejected are eliminated, the only realistic method out there would seem to be penalties.
There have been suggestions that penalties could be taken from other spots, or that the style of the shoot-out could be amended to resemble ice hockey shoot-outs.
However, the idea that is the most intriguing is altering the time at which the penalties are taken. This concept is based on introducing ‘imbalance’ into the game; that is only two results are in play rather than three.
A classic example was the Australia Croatia game at Germany 2006. Croatia knew anything less than a win would see them eliminated as a draw was as good as a win for Australia.
By introducing imbalance into the game, the incentives on offer change.
So if the game ends in a tie and the result of the penalty shoot out is used to determine the result, when to take the penalties? It all depends on when it is thought that imbalance should be introduced into the game.
If penalties are taken before the game, there is imbalance for the whole 90 minutes. The option that would seem most preferable is to have penalties after the 90 minutes of regular play, but still play extra time.
This option allows for the game to be played as normal with imbalance only introduced in extra time.
Whilst there will still be situations where two teams are trying not to lose rather than win for 90 minutes, if the team that loses the penalty shoot out knows that if they don’t get a result in extra time they will lose hopefully the result is a less timid approach to extra time with it all to play for.
It’s a complicated issue.
There are the fans of the penalty shoot out who wouldn’t have the high drama of a final decided any other way. If there weren’t penalties then one of the greatest moments in Australian football may not have happened (that Aloisi penalty still send shivers down my spine).
Here’s a final thought on the topic to the head honcho himself, Sepp Blatter.
“When you play a World Cup final, it’s all about passion and desire. When you go into extra time, we’re talking about drama.
But when we reach the penalty shoot-out, it’s a tragedy. Football is a team game, while the penalty shoot-out is all about the individual.”
PS: The title is taken from a Pele quote. The full quote is “A penalty is a cowardly way to score.”
Slippery Jim
Guest
Nope, replays have also been traditionally used to determine a winner after a draw.
punter
Guest
It could be worse some rely on missing to determine a result.
UK Steve
Guest
So beautiful that you have to rely on "pure luck" to determine the result.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I wouldn't expect a non-football person to understand the Beautiful Game.
UK Steve
Guest
How is it pure luck when the penalty was placed in the perfect spot and unsaveable. Soccer fans just can’t stand the fact that their game is full of flaws.
hittingthevalve
Roar Guru
Hi Axelv, My original title for this piece was 'Penalties: A cowardly way to score' which was more in line with the Pele quote but it was changed (a small price to pay to hear the great responses from the Roar crowd). In no way did I want to imply that Australia's win over Uruguay was a cowardly win, more that the idea of penalties sits at odds with the the way the rest of the game is played. As I mentioned in the piece, I still get shivers when I see that famous footage with Aloisi, but I still believe that there are some alternatives out there that deserved to be looked at.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
If its a tie after 120 minutes, keep playing 15 minute halves with golden goal until its decided.
Axelv
Guest
If it's pure luck than how come someone like Mark Viduka always misses? And some players of the team almost always get one in? Confidence and psychology has alot to do with it, something that Kevin Muscat is a master at. He missed against Sydney, how many in a row did he convert before that, was it 17? Heck, even in the backyard you can beat someone in a penalty shootout that has superior ability to you.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
0-0 draws are very rare in football nowadays. I don't have any meaningful stats, my guess was between 10-33% of drawn matches are 0-0 and a quick look at some random samples validates this "guesstimate". E.g. this season MVFC: 30% 0-0 draws out of 10 drawn games; Brisbane: 18% 0-0 from 11 draws; Wellington: 20% 0-0 from 5 draws Man United: 33% 0-0 from 9 draws AC Milan: 14% 0-0 from 7 draws UCL: 28% 0-0 from 14 drawn matches ----------------------- It won't be bizarre to have different ways of determining drawn matches. Even now, in 2 leg ties some "drawn results" will be decided on "the away goals rule" and some will go to penalties. E.g. 1st leg: Team A 3-2 Team B 2nd leg: Team B 1-0 Team A Aggregate: 3-3; Team B wins on the Away Goals Rule 1st leg: Team A 2-1 Team B 2nd leg: Team B 2-1 Team A Aggregate: 3-3 must be decided on Penalties b/c both scored the same Away Goals With my system, only 0-0 draws would go to Extra time and only 0-0 draws after ET would go to penalties. Plus, the value ascribed to that 1st goal would be tremendously important.
Andrew
Guest
Australian Football you must be talking about half a country that cares about AFL the other half hate it, the bigger half! Penalties are fabulous, they do require skill and nerve. 2 things missing from any AFL game "Australian Football". Leave real football alone leave it to the paranoid AFL people to keep changing their game, as it has grown so much ion 150 years.
James06
Guest
Publicity? what are you on?
Australian Football
Guest
OMG get over it, our nation doesnt care about the game and despite all the publicity around it, still no ones cares.
The Bush
Roar Guru
That's actually not a bad idea. The only problem is the lack of consistency. It would be bizarre if one style of draw ended in penalty shoot-outs but no other style did. P.S. I would love to know the odds/statistics on draws being 0-0. Would you're method actually significantly reduce these tournament outcomes, or are 0-0 draws the most common?
MyLeftFoot
Guest
It ceases to become a test of soccer as a team game. I just can't see how it decides the best team. In fact, having turns at corners would be a better test of the team effort than penalties. Now that's not a bad idea...
MyLeftFoot
Guest
You're right, three of four tied games in the Asian Cup were decided 1-0, the other went to pens. Last Asian Cup, four out of four tied games went to pens. Incredibly, Sth Korea got 3rd spot, without scoring a single goal in three knock out games. That sort of underscores the problem with pens. Let me tell you, none of those Sth Korean games could be described as tense, especially with aussie Pim at the helm.
Evan Askew
Guest
I think this was a good article and the suggestion of penalties before injury time is intriguing. But I don't see penalties as a problem and with the moder gam being so congested with so may games being played it is the best option. THe principla reason it is the best option is precisely because it is not a lottery. A penalty shootout tests the mental stength as well as the players technical capabilities. Their ability to place their shot out of reach of the keeper. The team with out the mental strenght or the techincal ability will more often than not lose the penalty shootout.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
It wasn't a cowardly win but it was certainly a win based on PURE LUCK ... as opposed to pure football. If we'd lost we'd be crying - quite legitimately - about how UNlucky we always are in WCQs ... so, we also have to admit we were lucky to win. The Uruguay keeper does everything correct to save Johnny's penalty .. it's just that Johnny's penalty was placed in the perfect spot and unsaveable.
Walt
Guest
The latest installment of the Asian Cup had Australia beat Iraq a.e.t, South Korea beat Iran, Japan and South Korea both scored in e.t and of course the final went over 90 minutes. Glad that these games didnt follow the "shut up shop" formula.
MyLeftFoot
Guest
Having seen replays of the ET a few times, my overwhelming reaction is just how lucky we were.
MyLeftFoot
Guest
The problem that has arisen in the modern era is that ET is actually not all that gripping at all, because time and again, both sides call a truce and hang out for the pens. Gone are the days when: 1. in 1970, Italy and Germany scored 5 goals in ET; and 2. in 1982 France and Germany scored 4 goals in ET. This is an additional problem with pens - both sides know they're there, so you only need one side to want to hang tight for the half hour, and that's what you get - pens - almost a foregone conclusion.