World Cup 2022

[jollystomper]

Great game!

 

[Luvtoride]

Great game, agreed.
But I still find it unsatisfying that the Championship game of a grueling tournament comes down to be decided on penalty kicks.

As a long time hockey fan who has heard (and at times bemoaned) the shootout to determine winners during regular season games, called a “skills competition”, At least in the playoffs, the NHL has Overtime until a team wins!

Even if that’s how it has “always been” and I’m not sure of that, I think FIFA should explore another option.

Sorry, just my opinion.

 

[tulak]

Great game. First 80 min were meh. The rest will be remembered for a long time.

 

[SheitlQueen]

I am not interested in soccer but was in Argentina when they won two of their matches. It was fun watching the people celebrating.

 

[euro]

Great game, agreed.
But I still find it unsatisfying that the Championship game of a grueling tournament comes down to be decided on penalty kicks.

As a long time hockey fan who has heard (and at times bemoaned) the shootout to determine winners during regular season games, called a “skills competition”, At least in the playoffs, the NHL has Overtime until a team wins!

Even if that’s how it has “always been” and I’m not sure of that, I think FIFA should explore another option.

Sorry, just my opinion.

Agreed, it is a shame that penalties had to decide. Hard to come up with something more satisfying though. In the old days, they would run a repeat game a few days after if the final was drawn (after extra time). Not practical anymore, given the elaborate nature of such games. At one time, they actually drew lots or flipped coins. Very crazy IMHO. Of course, theoretically, you could do multiple overtime (like basketball or hockey), but the physical demands of soccer combined with the size of the field leads to drastic deterioration of game quality after full time, and anything past the first extra time would quickly become a farce with no prospects of scoring.
Not sure there is anything better than penalties - at least that has SOMETHING to do with soccer skills.
Only thing I could think of for a tournament like WC would be to carry overall performance in all games through as a tiebreaker. That would have the added benefit of also motivating the teams to play full bore in all the preliminary rounds. For the current situation, France and Argentina both had 6 points and a goal difference of 3 in group play. France won 2:1 in the quarters and 2:0 in the semis vs Argentina's win after penalties in the quarters, but 3:0 in the semis. I'm not even sure how to score that, but maybe France would be ever so slightly ahead because two wins in regulation are better than one win regulation and one win after penalties?
Very tricky indeed!

 

[Luvtoride]

Euro, thanks for the historical perspective. That’s why I didn’t suggest a better way such as “overall points” in the tournament. And yes as a hockey fan, “regulation wins” would count more than overtime or shout out wins as a tie-breaker.

I understand your concern about deterioration of play during long multiple OT periods. Perhaps that could be addressed with allowing more substitutions in OT. The fact that each team has abled bodies sitting on the bench who never got into the game due to the limit (is it 5) of substitutions during game play is a shame. Maybe even allow players who have come out to go back in during OT periods.

Certainly worth considering alternatives.

 

[Alan]

One alternative to penalties they did try in the past was the “Golden Goal” where the first team to score in Extra Time won but it was dropped after a while because the teams played extremely defensively and the matches quickly became extremely boring so they reverted back to a penalty shootout.

I watched the game with my son at his house and Argentina were so dominant that France had no attempts at all on goal in the first half and only 2 attempts in the 2nd half, both well wide of the goal, until the 80th minute penalty. And then came a final to remember for all time.

 

[pb4uski]

Great game, agreed.
But I still find it unsatisfying that the Championship game of a grueling tournament comes down to be decided on penalty kicks.

As a long time hockey fan who has heard (and at times bemoaned) the shootout to determine winners during regular season games, called a “skills competition”, At least in the playoffs, the NHL has Overtime until a team wins!

Even if that’s how it has “always been” and I’m not sure of that, I think FIFA should explore another option.

Sorry, just my opinion.

+1. At least for the finals, and even perhaps the semis and quarterfinals, I prefer the NHL approach of keeping playing until a team wins (sudden victory) rather that a shootout. At that point with two evenly matched teams it changes the contest to endurance and not making a fatal mistake.

Or perhaps reduce the number of players by 1 every 15 minute half to open up the field and make defending more difficult so teams can't go conservative.