Soccer coaches and players around the world don’t like
penalty kicks.
On Nov. 23, the UCLA women’s soccer team played Texas
A&M in a third-round NCAA tournament match. The Bruins outshot
the Aggies 21-0 in a game in which their opponent rarely got the
ball on the Bruins’ side of the field.
However, the game went into penalty kicks, where Texas A&M
won, outscoring UCLA 3-1 on penalty kicks.
“What’s ringing in my ears right now is what (Aggie
head coach G. Guerrieri) said to me right after the match, which
was “˜life isn’t fair,'” UCLA head coach
Jillian Ellis said after the game.
“It’s unfortunate that we won without taking a
shot,” Guerrieri conceded after the game.
Both Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil head coach during the 2002 FIFA
World Cup, and Germany head coach Rudi Voller went on record saying
they hoped the World Cup final wouldn’t come down to penalty
kicks.
Yet penalty kicks still exist today, used by international,
professional and collegiate soccer as a tiebreaker.
“Penalty kicks are a crap shoot,” UCLA men’s
soccer head coach Tom Fitzgerald said. “A lot of luck is
involved.”
Under current NCAA rules, If teams are tied after the end of
regulation, two 10-minute overtime periods are played, with the
team that scores first winning. If no one scores during overtime, a
tie is given during a regular season game. However, in a tournament
match, there cannot be a tie. A team must win to go on to the next
round, and penalty kicks are used to quickly determine a winner and
prevent injuries.
Critics say that winning a penalty kick shootout doesn’t
prove which soccer team is truly better.
However, Nelson Bobb, Athletic Director at UNC-Greensboro and
the chairperson of the NCAA soccer rules committee says
otherwise.
“The rules are the rules,” he said. “As long
as it’s by the rules, it’s a win.”
Prior to this season, an NCAA tournament game could go into four
10-minute overtime periods before resorting to penalty kicks.
However, that was changed to two.
“We switched to two overtimes because of the welfare issue
for student-athletes,” Bobb said. “With the
players’ fatigue level, the game has to stop and go to
PKs.”
Still, many players would rather have the game end with a
goal.
“Penalty kicks aren’t right,” UCLA freshman
forward Iris Mora said after the loss. “They need to change
the rules.”
Like them or not, players realize that penalty kicks must
exist.
“Penalty kicks are a tough way to go down,” Bobb
said. “But is having two teams with no legs in the best
interest of soccer? Also, teams may have to travel after the game
and play somewhere else the next day.”
For some, logistical reasons don’t necessarily mean
penalty kicks have to be embraced.
“To have teams play until someone scores is on my wish
list,” Fitzgerald said.