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We've seen the big teams go through in this situation so many times in a variety of competitions all over the world. The most recent of these matches occured only yesterday - when Ireland met Spain in the World Cup 2nd Round.
Thanks to a very late cooly taken penalty by Robbie Keane, the game was going to Extra Time. It was a great match overall - and Ireland were by far the better team who deserved to win, with their persistance in each of the 4 periods before the shoot-out.
Spain took off BOTH Raul and Morientes before the end of time just to show how much they underestimated the Irish! FOOLS!!
I still can't believe that Ireland are out, and there's no way that they deserved to go out after yesterday's performance!
They worked their socks off in Extra Time while Spain just basically sat back, WAITING for the penalties to come.
Why were they doing this?? Because they knew they could win it.
Wether it was because of the player like Mendieta and Valeron they still had on the pitch, or because Ireland ONLY had Robbie Keane and Matt Holland as a threat, I don't know. But it was just wrong!
Any other team would have sent a full on-slaught onto the Irish back-line rather just sit back and let them tire.
We all know Ireland played the better of the 2, while Spain just sat back and took it easy.
That's what I don't like - the way the REAL team of the match can be knocked out by a few dead ball's put away neatly by the big players!
Penalties aren't all about hard work and blood and sweat, all you have to do is focus on kicking it properly and concentrating.
Big teams like Spain are good at doing this, and they can be almost impossible to beat in a shoot-out situation.
God I hate them!! I now fear that they will now go-on to win the bloomin' thing with more games of less than 50% effort overall during the entire 90 minutes and maybe more!
Ireland should be through know, and not them!
But it's not all about hard work in football, it's down to the team that scores the most goals on the day.
How didn't they score more!!
Farewell Ireland, you have a great time and done a great job.
But you don't deserve to be on your way!
You help your kid overcome his problems, and you like football! :)
My 9yr old boy plays Sunday football and his team were knocked out of a semi-final on penalties - and he missed the all important kick. The lad cried all the way home and would not talk for several hours. When he eventually got himself together I put on a Stuart Pearce video which showed Pearce missing the semi-final spot kick in 1990 - and also having the bottle to 'lay the ghost to rest' by scoring spot kicks (TWICE) during Euro '96 - including in the semi-final. OK it was a learning experience but no 9yr old should have to go through that - and not many of us have the courage of Stuart Pearce !!.
My 9yr old boy plays Sunday football and his team were knocked out of a semi-final on penalties - and he missed the all important kick. The lad cried all the way home and would not talk for several hours. When he eventually got himself together I put on a Stuart Pearce video which showed Pearce missing the semi-final spot kick in 1990 - and also having the bottle to 'lay the ghost to rest' by scoring spot kicks (TWICE) during Euro '96 - including in the semi-final. OK it was a learning experience but no 9yr old should have to go through that - and not many of us have the courage of Stuart Pearce !!.
Seems like the FIFA thing to do, given you can earn European places for Fairplay in domestic football.
Wouldn't exactly be exciting though, would it?
> They always seem to keep extensive match stats - maybe they could do
> it on other aspects, such as most shots on target? After all, tables
> are decided on goal difference... would shots on target constitute who
> played the more attacking game? I dunno...
Couldn't they have like a judging system, a bit like in boxing. It would be much fairer after extra time and would give the game to the side that was the most aggressive and best defensivily.
> They seem to be cruel more times than they rewarding, but I can't
> really think of anything else that could settle a match.
Well, the fairest would be a replay... but as is obvious, there isn't time in such tournaments as this.
They always seem to keep extensive match stats - maybe they could do it on other aspects, such as most shots on target? After all, tables are decided on goal difference... would shots on target constitute who played the more attacking game? I dunno...
But Spain didn't work hard enough to earn that place!!
That's when it becomes unfair.
I also hate penalties on their own during a match. But they're onlyunfair if the descision was wrong, leading to the team winning unfairly.
Penalty shoot-outs are exciting, and full of drama. At least if you go out that way you haven't lost the match, and you can go home proud of getting so far, and not having been beaten in the match itself.
Anyway, I didn't want Ireland to do better that the England team, so maybe it's better they went out at this stage.