Famous Quotes
What They Said about the Shootout
“Penalties are to sport what Love Island is to Romeo and Juliet.” 47
Simon Jenkins
Writing in The Guardian
“When you go into extra time, we’re talking about drama. But when we reach the penalty shootout, it’s a tragedy.” 48
Joseph S. Blatter
Former FIFA President
“A football match should be decided by an action of play. Not some contrived process whose end result is to mark a fine player such as Bossis, Baresi or Baggio for the rest of his career.” 22
Michel Platini
Former French Player
“You know players miss penalties all the time, but you still feel guilty.
I would rather we lost in extra-time.
I’ve never taken another penalty since then.” 23
Maxime Bossis
Former French Player
“At a certain point it gets too much. You are forty-five but people still see you as missing the penalty. I had difficulty finding a job because they said, ‘That one is unstable.’ And all that has come from this missed penalty kick.” 23
Didier Six
Former French Player
“It affected me for years. It is the worst moment of my career. I still dream about it. If I could erase a moment, it would be that one.” 49
Roberto Baggio
Former Italian Player
“My heart shrank to nothing and I was psychologically destroyed.” 23
Bruno Conti
Former A.S. Roma Player
“It is loading a bullet into the chamber of a gun and asking everyone to pull the trigger. Someone will get the bullet, you know that.
And it will reduce them to nothing.” 22
Christian Karembeu
Former French Player
“So far, penalty shootouts have been used.
When or if someone clever comes up with something more interesting, something the players will find more alluring or psychologically more demanding,
perhaps we can change the current system.” 50
Antonin Panenka
Former Czechoslovakian Player
“It (NASL shootout) makes the game more emotional.” 51
Carlos Alberto
Former Brazilian Player
“I don’t think you can give anyone advice for penalty shootouts.” 23
Gianluigi Buffon
Former Italian Goalkeeper
“Penalties don’t necessarily mean the best team came out on top.” 52
Claudio Taffarel
Former Brazil Goalkeeper
“I thought it (NASL shootout) was fantastic!
I still think in Europe they should try it.” 51
Johan Cruyff
Former Dutch Player
“The NASL shootout is unbelievably exciting.Can you imagine Lionel Messi against Tim Howard, or something like that? It would be unbelievable to see that, fantastic. FIFA’s extremely reluctant to change and it’s crazy.” 53
Winston DuBose
Former USA Goalkeeper
“The main factor in a penalty shootout is luck again. You need to stay calm and focussed, but the biggest thing you need is luck.” 54
Peter Shilton
Former England Goalkeeper
“It is neither fair nor right to decide a match on penalties.” 55
Miguel Munoz
Former Manager of Spain
“Penalty shooting is always an uncertain affair because there is a lot of luck involved.” 56
Franz Beckenbauer
Former Manager of West Germany
“Everyone knows it’s unfair to have games decided by penalties.” 52
Gerardo Martino
Former Manager of Paraguay
“Penalty shootouts have nothing to do with football.
It’s like shooting poor wee ducks at a fairground.” 22
Alex Smith
Former Manager of Aberdeen
“We can walk away with our heads held high.
I don’t have a reason (to resign), we only lost a game on penalties.” 41
Roberto Donadoni
Former Manager of Italy
“We ought not be subjecting people to this kind of pressure. Penalties put too much strain on one player. It could ruin his career if he’s not a strong character. If you feel for the rest of your life that everyone could of had a winners’ medal but for you, it’s a hard thing to get over.” 22
Terry Venables
Former Manager of England
“We realised we could not really beat Marseille unless they made a mistake, so I told my players to be patient and to wait for penalties.
We practiced penalties a lot in our closed training session on Tuesday and it paid off.” 57
Ljupko Petrovic
Former Manager of Red Star Belgrade
“Every manager would like to see a match decided in 90 minutes. Because I don’t think there’s any way you can prepare for penalties.” 52
Joachim Loew
Former Manager of Germany
“One does not remember the winners.
One remains haunted by the losers.” 58
A.S. Byatt
Writing in The Observer
“The penalties are always a lottery.” 59
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Former Manager of Portugal
“Penalties are not football. They are not even as television people keep telling us, great drama. They are cheap melodrama.” 22
Simon Barnes
Writing in The Times
“If they have a better solution, let them tell me.” 23
Yosef Dagan
Former Israeli Football Administrator
“So the 15th World Cup was over, the championship decided in favour of Brazil by penalty kicks, which was the equivalent of taking Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson off the Augusta National after 72 even holes and ordering them to settle The Masters at the Putt-Putt miniature golf course.” 60
Ian Thomsen
Writing in The New York Times
“I do not want any match to go to penalty kicks.
It makes no sense to play 120 minutes of football and then to decide a winner in such a manner.” 22
Enzo Bearzot
Former Manager of Italy
“I am happy that we have penalties now, of course.
Everyone is enthusiastic and no one is against it.” 61
Karl Wald
Former German Referee
“We don’t consider we lost on football but to a circus turn.” 22
Jock Stein
Former Celtic Manager
“I don’t want any match to go to penalties. It makes no sense to play 120 minutes and then to decide a winner in such a manner.” 22
Enzo Bearzot
Former Manager of Italy
“I did not volunteer to take the penalty. Nobody does. It is roulette, but you have to accept that before you step up to take the penalty.” 22
Clarence Seedorf
Former Dutch Player
“Of course coaches like shootouts because they can say that defeat was not their fault. But the people who run the game should take the long-term view.” 22
Michel Platini
Former UEFA President
“My great-grandfather invented the penalty kick, but it was FIFA who weaponised it.” 62
Robert McCrum
Author and journalist
“Penalties are awful, unfair, but what else is there?” 22
Laurent Blanc
Former French Player
- Jenkins, Simon, How to improve the World Cup? Scrap penalties and move the goalposts.The Guardian, 4 July 2018[↩]
- Soccer: Blatter against shootout in final. The New York Times, 27 September 2006[↩]
- Slater, Steve, Penalties will put World Cup players on the spot. Reuters, 27 May 2010[↩]
- Wyatt, Chris, The art of taking a penalty. BBC Sport, 5 June 2008[↩]
- Crowder, Paul, and John Dower, Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of The New York Cosmos. Passion Pictures/Cactus Three/ESPN Original Entertainment/Greene Street Films, 2006[↩]
- Baxter, Kevin, In World Cup, penalty shootouts kick up controversy. The Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2010[↩]
- Plenderleith, Ian, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer: The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League. Icon Books, 2014[↩]
- Shilton, Peter, I wanted to be a goalkeeper from the moment someone put two coats down in the playground. Men’s Health Forum, 8 June 2006[↩]
- There Must Be A Better Way Than Penalty-kick System. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 24 June 1986[↩]
- Wilner, Barry, Argentina’s Maradona too much for England. The Deseret News, 23 June 1986[↩]
- The joy of six: inspired tactical switches. The Guardian, 10 July 2007[↩]
- Byatt, A.S, Lie back and think of Europe. The Observer, 29 June 2008[↩]
- Herman Miller, ‘Wayne should not be vilified.’ The Guardian, 2 July 2006[↩]
- Thomsen, Ian, For Soccer to Win American Hearts, It Must Create Some Heroes. The New York Times, 20 July 1994[↩]
- Atkins, Mike, Father of shoot-outs puts Swiss, English on spot. The Times of Malta, 6 July 2006[↩]