Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

[FrediKanoute]

I watechd the Champ's League final last night on TV and was wrapped it went to Penalties. I love the drama, the agonby and the extacy of a penalty shoot out and last nights was no exception. The stuttering run of Ronaldo who penalty was saved and the look on his face when he realised that his showboating may have finally cost his team dearly to the agony that was John Terry.....sending Van Der Sarr the wrong way, but failing to keep his shot on target.......love them!

[Mantis]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

John Terry must still be on suicide watch.... As the English captain (I think he is??) it must be necassary to slip over as you go to take the penalty. (alas Becks)

On this game the starting time was 10.30pm local time (In Russia) so that it was beemed back into central Europe at a more appropriate time. Imagine the outcry if the AFL ever did something like this.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Don't have a thread on this already don't we?
Ronaldo deserved to miss, his arrogance isn't going to kick it. I my opinion a great player but its this sort of stuff that means he is below elite level.
Terry - well slipping is the excuse but I'd say it was more choking.
Van der Saar - looked like he was never going to save one. Missed 2 relatively easy chances earlier.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Ronaldo is below elite level --

Are you serious? He is currently THE elite level. He will win the upcoming Ballon D'or, and has already won every individual award available to him this season.

42 (!!) goals from a wing, a level previously unthinkable (to give you a comparison, Torres, who is an out and out striker, has scored a record 33, which is phenomenal in itself), scoring every which way, from headers, left foot, right foot, free kicks, backheels, flicks, volleys, mazy runs etc. (Did I mention he is also deadly with the head?). And his team has just won back-to-back Premier League titles AND the Champions League, AND he scored the team's only goal in the final, which they won. What more can the poor lad possibly do? (...and before you say 'he missed a penalty', the greats of the game have all missed crucial penalties: Maradona, Zico, Socrates, Platini, Baresi -- just to name a few -- all missed their kicks in penalty shoot-outs in the latter stages of World Cups, but that hardly disqualifies them from the 'elite').

Two, three years ago I would have also said he was more style than substance, but he's definitely cut back on the show and added a heck a lot more of a finishing touch to his game, and deserves credit where it is due. He is a gun who already is the complete package, and the showboating adds the entertainment value to the game that brings people flocking to watch the game, and with Old Man Ferguson on his back, he will only get better as he matures (he IS still only 23).

---

ps. And I'm not even a Manchester United fan.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Bit harsh comparing Ronaldo with Torres.

Torres does not take free kicks or penalties. Many of Ronaldo's goals have come this way.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Ronaldo is great at club level. Whats he done at international level yet?

What more can he do? I say perform for Portugal at the standard. He gets his chance soon.
100s of great club players can't be elite stars since they did bugger all for their country.
English players like Beardsley and Barnes spring to mind. Del Piero is another, even though he redeemed himslef a little at the last WC.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Wasn't comparing their relative merits, was just using Torres's incredible stats as a barometer to show what a season Cristiano's had (rather than comparing him to a mediocre player). Of course I'm saying precisely what you are, TCD, that Torres is a wonderful player as well.

But 42 goals in a season from a winger is outrageous, and only 5 were from penalties (he missed one from open play as well, against Barca in the Champions League semi). And the fact that he scores regularly from free-kicks (6 this season) is not a matter to be scoffed at. Scoring from free-kicks in soccer is not a given (the opposite, if anything), and the fact that he is deadly from them is surely to his credit.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

How many goals would he have scored if he was playing for Derby?

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Ronaldo is great at club level. Whats he done at international level yet?

What more can he do? I say perform for Portugal at the standard. He gets his chance soon.
100s of great club players can't be elite stars since they did bugger all for their country.
English players like Beardsley and Barnes spring to mind. Del Piero is another, even though he redeemed himslef a little at the last WC.

Good point, and a fair one. But there are some exceptions: Bestie springs to mind. Surely he was a great. Di Stefano never had a chance to play much international football either.

The rule doesn't hold so much for players who come from traditionally second-tier soccer nations like Northern Ireland for Best, and Portugal for Ronaldo (although admittedly Portugal have been knocking on the door in the last ten years). The rule is skewed towards players from your traditional international powerhouses -- Brazil, Germany, Italy. Thus, a relatively good player at club level like a Baresi or Dino Zoff, will have a greater chance of being a 'great' because of World Cup success with Italy, likewise Klinsmann or Voller with Germany or Bebeto, Romario, Cafu and plenty of other top-tier Brazilians who are yet surely not in the same class as Best and Di Stefano, or Cruyff, who never really tasted a heck of a lot of success with Holland (one World Cup final).

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

How many goals would he have scored if he was playing for Derby?

Not forty-two.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

Good point, and a fair one. But there are some exceptions: Bestie springs to mind. Surely he was a great. Di Stefano never had a chance to play much international football either.

I think Best had a chance of being better than he was given some half decent talent around him when at international level.
Di Stefano played well at international level for Argentina and Spain. 29 goals in about 40 appearances. Real Madrid at the time was practically a national team anyway.

The rule doesn't hold so much for players who come from traditionally second-tier soccer nations like Northern Ireland for Best, and Portugal for Ronaldo (although admittedly Portugal have been knocking on the door in the last ten years). The rule is skewed towards players from your traditional international powerhouses -- Brazil, Germany, Italy. Thus, a relatively good player at club level like a Baresi or Dino Zoff, will have a greater chance of being a 'great' because of World Cup success with Italy, likewise Klinsmann or Voller with Germany or Bebeto, Romario, Cafu and plenty of other top-tier Brazilians who are yet surely not in the same class as Best and Di Stefano, or Cruyff, who never really tasted a heck of a lot of success with Holland (one World Cup final).

I wouldn't put Zoff, Voeller, Bebeto, Romario and Cafu in the elite level though all great.
Cruyff proved himself at international level. I don't think you have to win a WC to be elite, consistency and influence on the team are greater factors.

[Topdog]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

I too love the penalty shootouts. It really annoys me when people say they are a lottery.

It is a skill, it is pressure and the ability to overcome it and there is a reason why some goalkeepers save many penalties...It's not because they are lucky.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

I too love the penalty shootouts. It really annoys me when people say they are a lottery.

It is a skill, it is pressure and the ability to overcome it and there is a reason why some goalkeepers save many penalties...It's not because they are lucky.

Its only a small and rare select set of skills in soccer.
And they aren't the skills which mean its a soccer match.

They are a lottery most of the time. Being a great keeper doesn't mean you are good at saving penalties and the best players miss too.
Keepers shouldn't save penalty but usally do because they guessed correctly, the player stuffed it up or they moved early.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

I've always thought soccer had the perfect opportunity to have the most exciting and fairest way to tiebreak - start extra time with 10 men each, then take off a player each every 10 minutes until there is a result.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Why I Love Penalty Shootouts.....

I've always thought soccer had the perfect opportunity to have the most exciting and fairest way to tiebreak - start extra time with 10 men each, then take off a player each every 10 minutes until there is a result.

Yes. A war of attrition which makes for exiting soccer not exciting penalty shots.