Football is changing along with the world. We are already starting to forget what it was like without VAR. We no longer remember what it was like when the goalkeeper took the ball into his hands after passes from his teammates with his feet. Any change is aimed at making the game more interesting, dynamic and objective. Until the 1970s, there were no penalty shoot-outs at major tournaments. The USSR team at Euro 1968 lost in the semi-finals to the Italian hosts after a draw thanks to a coin toss!
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There are only three matches left of Euro 2024! Who will win the tournament?
It seems that the time has come for another revolutionary change in football: the abolition of extra time. The matches at the current European Championships are even more convincing of this. At Euro 2024, five playoff games ended in extra time: more than 90 minutes were not enough for England in the battles with Slovakia and Switzerland, Portugal with Slovenia and France, Spain with Germany. In the end, three matches ended in penalty shoot-outs, and the Spanish and Germans had one foot in the hole. Mikel Merino scored the winning goal just minutes before the final whistle.
Most of extra time is overly cautious football, a boring rolling of the ball. Teams are more afraid of losing than trying to win. They are thinking about the penalty shoot-out. You lost on penalties and it seems you were unlucky. Exhausted players absolve themselves of responsibility, because you can always say that a penalty is a lottery. At worst, the media and fans will blame the coach for picking the wrong hitters or in the wrong order.
Great, spectacular and productive football in extra time is a rare ray of light in the darkness. Perhaps in major national team tournaments, such extra time is happening less and less often. As there are more and more games during the season, players go into the summer simply physically and emotionally exhausted. An extra 30 minutes during a schedule as complex as Euro 2024 only increases the risk of injury for tournament participants. The idea of extra time was appropriate when players did not play many games during the season and fans had not yet had their fill of football. Now a giant company is squeezing all the juice out of professionals and consumers of the product they create, which means appropriate changes are required.
Business squeezes all the juice out of professionals
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By the way, it’s a shame that the “golden goal” rule in extra time has been abolished. With it, emotions were at their peak: every attack was perceived as the last. Yes, even then teams were afraid to take risks, but did it become more fun after returning to the classic 30 minutes?
What a blessing that Copa America matches, which are played late into the night, do not have extra time! Watching the matches of this tournament strengthens the desire to get rid of extra time as a relic of the past. Three quarter-finals (Argentina-Ecuador, Venezuela-Canada and Uruguay-Brazil) ended in a penalty shoot-out after 90 minutes. For example, the Uruguayans and the Brazilians played the second half almost without any chances. Another half hour of football like this would be a mockery of all living beings.
Win in 90 minutes, like Holland in the Euro 2024 playoffs, so you don’t complain about your fate later.
Incidentally, former England striker Gary Lineker shares the same view.
“I’ve been wondering lately how players are coping with extra time,” Lineker recently told the BBC. “The incredibly difficult football season is coming to an end. I think this is one of the reasons why perhaps at Euro 2024 we saw so many tired players. If they are asked to play more games, this could probably be compensated for by doing away with extra time. Because all the spectators watching the games at home still want to see the penalty shoot-out when extra time starts!”
It seems that everyone is tired of extra time in football. Perhaps the old format still works for the final. And in European competitions, extra time is an extra 30 minutes of home play for the team playing the second leg at home. It’s not entirely fair either.
