Extra time and penalties (attn: anthony)

Pistols at 60 yards!

who can make the best vegan curry and oh can i be a referee?

if it's a draw BOTH teams get knocked out

They should have a freekick competition like in subbuteo, say 5 free kicks for each team at different angles (about 25 yards out). And then once the ball is kicked there is 2 minutes of play allowing goals to be scored on the rebound or even for the defending team to break away and score (which is worth double).

Yep - no other way. I can't stand them, and saw an interview with someone who said that they hold the equivalent fascination of a car crash, which I thought was spot-on. However, I can't see any other way, and it is related to two fundementally basic skills - striking the ball cleanly with accuracy and being able to maintain that skill under pressure - both, it seems to me, absolutely vital prerequisites for top-flight footballers. It isn't easy to do, but by the same rule, it isn't a lottery either. They can be practiced in the sense that you can improve technique, so when the pressure of the real thing is added, the kicker has upped the odds in their favour simply by knowing that they have the ability to accomplish the task successfully, and the issue comes down to doing it.

I hate the Golden Goal rule too. Kills the game (obviously...) but there's something unfair about not giving a team a chance to pull it back. For example, one of the best matches I ever did see was France- West Germany in 1982. That was 1-1 after 90 minutes, and to have been denied the drama of that game would have been a mistake. Similarly with Sunderland-Charlton in the 1999 1st Division Play-off Final.

I think there's a new interpretation of the rule coming in whereby if a gola is scored in the first period of extra time, the game ends after that period if the other team haven't equalised - basically, if a team is winning after 15 minutes, the match ends. Don't know whether it applies this time, or whether it's just UEFA who've brought it in.

Admit it! My idea is great!

As d.boyle says, the Golden Goal is getting replaced by this modified extra time thing. I don't think it's happening for this tournament, though.

Yup, the golden goal is still in effect. Possibly used a sledgehammer to crack a nut in checking this.

can I just say YEEEHAAAAA BELGIUM WON! We were jumping up 'n' down in the shoppah today. Okay back to normality. :-)

― nathalie, Friday, 14 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I suppose the most interesting alternative I've heard suggested in the past is taking a man off each side every five minutes or so.

N. - now can we have the penalty kicks procedure "laid down by the International Football Associations Board and published by FIFA" please? ;)

The Rules of the Game as laid down by said International Board. Interestingly, four of the 8 members of this body are from the 4 'home countries' - England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

I heart that drawing on page 37 showing where everyone's supposed to be!