FIFA Consider Re-Introducing The Dreaded ‘Golden Goal’ Rule?

Chris Wright

9th, September 2010

5 Comments

By Chris Wright

“…I’m loving angels instead. And through it aaaall…”

It is an inescapable fact that the majority of the games at this summer’s World Cup were really quite turgid affairs and FIFA, in their thankless quest to make life a little better for each and every one of us, have set about trying to do something about it.

President Sepp Blatter has revealed that football’s governing body are considering ways to rejuvenate the knock-out phases of the tournament amidst fears that, with so much riding on results, teams (especially the well-drilled ‘lesser’ nations) are now prioritising ‘not losing’ above actually attempting to go for the win.

It would appear that the various FIFA think-tanks have produced two possible solutions so far, the first being the scrapping of extra-time altogether (and heading straight to penalties) and the second being the re-introduction of the ‘golden goal’ rule – which was initially scrapped in 2004.

Blatter told FIFA.com;

“We have to try to find a way to encourage free-flowing football in tournaments like the World Cup, with teams playing to win. We plan to take the opportunity to look at the concept of extra-time as well.

Often we see teams set themselves up even more defensively in extra-time, in an attempt to avoid conceding a goal at all costs. To prevent this, we could go directly to a penalty shoot-out at full time, or reintroduce the golden goal rule. We’ll see what emerges from the committee meetings.”

Do it. Do it now.

Blatter also admitted that he had noticed many teams were playing for a draw from the first-whistle in South Africa, a tactic he would like to see undermined by the new rule changes;

“Football has become such a strategic game, with teams moving as a unit. It can be an impressive sight; gone are the days of simple tactics where you attacked then defended.

But in the first few matches of the group stage in South Africa, we witnessed some teams that went out to avoid defeat, that were playing for a draw from the outset. This is a topic that I would also like to discuss at upcoming Football and Technical Committee meetings.”

Posted in International football, World Cup

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5 Comments

  1. tottenblog says:

    I prefer the silver goal rule. The team that jas just conceeded a goal has the remainer of that half of extra time to get a goal back or they are out. Less heart breaking and will make for up to 15 minutes of ever increasing tension.

  2. Meji says:

    Doesnt sound that bad if you put it that way

  3. J says:

    Evermore tries to make the matches even more instantaneous.

    They should be considering playing a best of 3-match final instead.

  4. Batnasan says:

    Don’t see how these rule changes would work. If you scrap extra time surely and ultra-defensive team would still just sit back and defend, except they’d only have to do it for 90 minutes, not 120. Also the Golden Goal rule could see teams getting knocked out of competitions because of fluke goals or dodgy penalties that they won’t have the opportunity to respond to.

  5. Hirsty says:

    I always liked the Golden Goal rule. It’s how everybody the world over plays on the park or street. Next goal wins. Simple.

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