Taylor the Freelancer
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A blindfolded boy with his hand in a pot: in favour of penalty shoot-outs

afootballreport:

By Max Grieve

Imagine this for a moment. In little over a month’s time, England, having finished as runners-up in their group at the European Championships, are playing Spain for a place in the semi-finals. Roy Hodgson’s men are literally filling the face of the goal; Gerrard instructing a human-tetris formation between the posts and the bar — and it’s working. Spain, like Barcelona and Bayern Munich before them this season, are struggling to take advantage of their overwhelming dominance. Somewhere else, Gary Neville gurgles in delight. The whistle comes; then sounds again as the two sides begin extra time. There are no goals.

Germany await the victors in Donetsk, and with no way of separating the teams, a 14-year-old boy is called onto the field, his eyes blindfolded, and asked to draw lots. The stadium is plunged into a deafening silence. After a moment, the boy holds Spain’s name above his head, and the artists in London begin photoshopping Hodgson’s face into a root vegetable for the next day’s front page. England are out; Spain are through. And they were so close.

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t11 months ago

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  1. poznan-in-my-pants reblogged this from afootballreport
  2. hiranom20 reblogged this from afootballreport
  3. leeisted18-com reblogged this from afootballreport
  4. getfitnesspt answered: hmmm how bout after extra time you keep playing but with 9 men each, then 8,7,6 less players after every 10min lol
  5. el-cientifico reblogged this from afootballreport
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  8. droppedonjupiter answered: “As a neutral, there can be nothing worse than a late winner in extra-time.” I personally think the converse is true.
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  16. This was featured in #Football
  17. thesubstitution answered: I believe the ice-hockey style shootout was used for a while seven or eight years ago, perhaps in America.
  18. punya313 answered: I’d change the penalties from being a kick to a one-on-one with the keeper - like in Ice-Hockey. That would allow players to showcase skills
  19. jay-low reblogged this from afootballreport
  20. apingaround reblogged this from afootballreport
  21. thesubstitution reblogged this from afootballreport and added:
    Imagine this for a moment. In little over a month’s time, England, having finished as runners-up in their group at the...
  22. sometimecynic answered: I dunno, it’s still quite a bit of luck for the goalie to guess right. It takes the team aspect out and reduces the game to individuals. idk
  23. thepiratecreed answered: Great article. It really brings to light the added emotional rollercoaster that penalty shootouts are. Personally, I like them. They’re fair.
  24. bubliya answered: I do argue luck would still be a factor (one of many factors) if the goalkeeper somehow guesses correctly and saves a shot. just my opinion.
  25. afootballreport posted this