20 JUNE 1976,FINALS OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Czechoslovakia vs West Germany

After a nail biting finale,which ended 2-2 it was the time for the first ever penalty shootout in a European Championship.The pressure was on. The first seven kicks of the shootout had been successfully taken and the score was now 4-3 to Czechoslovakia’s way.Then stepped on West Germany’s fourth penalty taker, Uli Hoeneß,who ballooned his shot over the bar. Antonín Panenka was the next kicktaker for the Czechs .He famously chipped the ball in the middle of the net while the German goalkeeper dived to his left,making his team the champions of Europe.

WAS IT ONLY THE GERMAN’S BAD LUCK THAT LOST THEM THE CUP OR PANENKA’S PRESENCE OF MIND ?

3 JULY 1990,SEMI- FINALS OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP

Italy vs Argentina

The Azzurri had won all of the five previous games without conceding a goal and were the favorites to go through to the finals and win the cup, while on the other hand Argentina had been struggling from day one.Italy were the favorites as they had a good record and a strong team on paper,but remember matches aren’t played on paper.The match ended 1-1 and now was the time for the penalty shootout.Both the teams scored the first three penalty kicks successfully.The Argentine goalkeeper trapped the next two shots by the Italians while Diego Maradona scored his penalty and made Argentina one of the most undeserving finalists in a world cup.

WERE THE ARGENTINIANS REALLY UNDESERVING AND WOULD THE ITALIANS BE IN THE FINALS IF IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ANYTHING ELSE THAN A PENALTY SHOOTOUT ?

In the above two matches the undeserving team beated the favorites and shocked the whole world.If there wouldn’t be any penalty shootout there were big chances for the favorites to progress.

But for that there need to be a suitable alternative.

There has been a debate since a long time on the alternatives for penalty shootouts. Many people have come up with different ideas but none has been as good and effective as the penalties. In this article, I am also giving my idea for the replacement of penalty shootouts.

The alternative for penalty shootouts is penalty shootouts. Yes, you read it right! It is penalties itself, but with a twist!

The Twist: Instead holding penalty shootouts after 120 minutes, they should take place after 90 minutes. But you would be thinking what will be the difference?The match would not end after the penalty shootout,but the winning team would get a 1 goal advantage in the 30 minute extra time which would be held after the shootout.

The Format: If the match ends as a draw after 90 minutes of play there would be penalty shootout or a sudden death penalty shootout,the first team to miss a penalty would lose the penalty shootout and the winning team would get a 1 goal advantage in the extra time.

Pros: The pros of this are that even if team loses the penalty shootout due to bad luck,they would still get a chance to show their talent and score 2 or more goals to win the match.

Cons: The cons of this are that if the match after the extra time also ends as a draw,there would be penalty shootout again and there wouldn’t be much difference to the original format.