When football turned to penalties to end 'cruel' system

[Trigger]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cr71enxvrd3o

BBC article about the first shootout.

I had no idea it was so relatively recent, always just thought penalties shootouts had been around a lot longer.

[19bluebirds27]

Re: When football turned to penalties to end 'cruel' system

Got me thinking about the coin toss element of it to decide first which end and second toss to decide who is first.

For me the advantage to gain is going first as that way you are more than likely to actually take 5 pens. Wales lost both tosses and only kicked 4 pens to B&H taking all 5. The 5th penalty had the least pressure on him with the cushion they had.
The pressure to convert would have been much more had say we scored to make it 3-3.

Perhaps a better way to decide rather than coin tosses would be on the discipline within the game - least yellows/reds and then fouls.
They bang on about fair play and respect the referee etc - perhaps make it count somewhere in the game.

[NYCBlue]

Re: When football turned to penalties to end 'cruel' system

Of course penalties are better than the random toss of a coin. At least the players have an impact on the outcome. I think the bigger problem is the addition of needless playoffs for the entertainment of non interested parties. Points gained, goal difference, goals scored could all be employed to avoid teams going through extra hurdles to gain the reward for their previous endeavors. Wales gained 16 points in the qualifying group. Sweden gained 2 and are now going to a playoff final.