Blatter Floats Idea to do away with World Cup Final Penalty Shootout

January 15th, 2007 | by: WC Bob | Comments Off

Like many football fans around the world, FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter was left with a bit of an unpleasant taste in his mouth after the 2006 World Cup final was decided in a penalty shootout. This has put the hamsters in Blatter’s brain into motion and one solution that he is floating around is that in the future if the final ends in a tie the two teams would wait 48 hours and play again at the same venue.

“The fact that football, which is in essence a collective game, should be decided in individual actions like a penalty shootout, places the essence of the game in doubt. It’d be better to wait two days and then have a tiebreak,” explained Blatter to the French channel.

I’ll give Blatter credit for recognizing that a penalty shootout is a difficult way to crown a champion, but instead of waiting two days to play another match why not simply play the game until someone scores? The result would still be decided on the pitch and the world wouldn’t have to come to a halt for a couple more days while waiting for a final rematch.

Like many of Blatter’s ramblings, I doubt this one will be implemented but it is instructive to see that he wants the current format to change.