FIFA mull World Cup changes
Football’s governing body Fifa is considering scrapping drawn games from the group stages of the World Cup.
BERLIN:
Football’s governing body Fifa is considering scrapping drawn games from the group stages of the World Cup.
The organisation’s chief Sepp Blatter wanted to put an end to defence-minded teams playing to get a draw in the early games of the tournament.
“We’re considering doing away with draws in the first round and ending extra-time,” said Blatter. “If there’s no winner at the end of 90 minutes, we’d proceed to penalties.”
Another possibility would be to revive the “Golden Goal” scenario whereby if a match is drawn, the first team to score a goal would be the winner. This was used in the 1998 competition in France.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2010.
Football’s governing body Fifa is considering scrapping drawn games from the group stages of the World Cup.
The organisation’s chief Sepp Blatter wanted to put an end to defence-minded teams playing to get a draw in the early games of the tournament.
“We’re considering doing away with draws in the first round and ending extra-time,” said Blatter. “If there’s no winner at the end of 90 minutes, we’d proceed to penalties.”
Another possibility would be to revive the “Golden Goal” scenario whereby if a match is drawn, the first team to score a goal would be the winner. This was used in the 1998 competition in France.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2010.