51 and counting.As if FIFA were not in enough hot water already over goal-line incidents.
In an interview with Germany’s Focus magazine, President Sepp Blatter made an extraordinary admission that football’s governing body was considering abolishing draws and extra-time in World Cup finals matches.
According to Blatter’s admission, penalty shoot-outs could replace ties in the group games, while, mirabile dictu, the ‘golden goal’ could make a return to the knock-out stages in order to spice up extra-time before another shoot-out, if necessary.
What has prompted this sudden revelation of another potential volte-face, following FIFA’s u-turn on technology last week?
Blatter is presumably reacting to the meagre 2.27 goals-per-game average from the 2010 World Cup, the second-lowest on record, narrowly beating Italia ’90’s 2.21 haul.
The opening round of two games per group yielded only 1.6 goals on average, with nothing beyond Germany’s 4-0 trouncing of Australia to write home about Togel Singapore. The tournament was dull in footballing terms, with the exception of Germany’s brief but fantastic foray to the semi-finals, which yielded a rich harvest of breakaway goals and sent the lumbering old battleships of England and Argentina spiraling to the bottom with aplomb.World Cup.
But a resoundingly negative final littered with bookings, gamesmanship and brutal tackles put an unhappy seal on what should have been a carnival of football. At the climax of Sepp’s big show, the watching world was left unhappy and even the winners Spain took their crown having netted fewer times (eight in seven games) than any previous champions. Blatter felt responsible.
South Africa after all was the President’s baby from the moment he first garnered African votes to win the top job in football with the promise of a World Cup hosting in return. Perhaps he is over-reacting to the bad impression the finals left on the field, or indeed looking to be a pro-active president as a re-election looms in 2011, although his throne looks safe.
With UEFA increasingly strutting its stuff and steaming ahead with its own innovations such as the extra …