Soccer and penalty shootouts: How hockey offers a new template

Soccer was a fascinating part of the Olympics. The US women won the gold medal, and the United States men’s team reached the quarterfinals. Internationally, field hockey captured audiences. That is pretty much what happened in Paris, as the Netherlands triumphed in the men’s edition and the women’s edition.

As always though, what was often more fascinating than just the results was the penalty shootouts. Towards the end of the competitions, India beat Great Britain in the quarter-finals and the Dutch men’s side beat the Germans in the final via penalties. 

In a way, the shootouts add an incredible amount of tension to hockey games. The restriction of time, the allowance of keepers to come out of their lines and the smaller goals add a sense of drama to the situation that soccer perhaps doesn’t have. There is a lingering feeling in the mind of the watchers that the player attempting the penalty might just run out of time before he takes a shot. It adds to the uncertainty, testing players and their ability to operate at the highest level.

Penalty shootouts in soccer are different. It isn’t to say they are inferior. Yet, with the direction in which the game has gone, this might be the time to potentially consider some changes.

Soccer’s becoming increasingly structured

The quality of soccer on offer isn’t necessarily going down but there is a big amount of focus on structure, control, and organization. Advancement in data has made sure that everything can be measured and controlled in an attempt to make teams better-oiled machines.

The emphasis on control and organization has led to a diminished focus on instinctive footballers being their true selves. Managers like Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti are largely rare, as they form systems around the strengths of players instead of the other way around.

Raw skill and long-range shots are now increasingly less common, as attempting shots from close by gives a higher chance of scoring to teams. The entire system is devised to do just that.

Penalties themselves are studied acutely. Goalkeepers are generally aware of where the taker would place his spot-kick based on his previous data. The idea that they are simply a single kick and not an entire phase makes it easier to figure out the data, as there is a lesser amount of instinct involved.

Stakeholders seeking more audiences?

Not too long ago, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez had been public about how soccer is losing out on younger audiences, who don’t watch full games anymore. They generally consume highlights of the key moments of the games and make judgments from those.

Their answers to the questions revolve more around what helps them earn more, adding more entertaining aspects to it can attract younger audiences more often.

Penalty shootouts like the ones in hockey are drastically more multi-dimensional. The addition of the clock adds higher tension to the situation. Hockey shootouts are a combination of many different facets. Players are time-bound, taking the ball forward, beating a charging keeper and then putting it into the net. There is considerably more to do in it, as compared to how things are in soccer.

As a result, there is also more uncertainty about those shootouts. In other words, there is a lesser chance of data-nailing stats for every player. That uncertainty would most definitely make the result random and difficult to predict.

Soccer is no stranger to new ideas

This is the sort of era in soccer where changes are being accepted more readily than before. Offside rules and handball regulations to the new Champions League format, newer ideas aren’t as looked down upon as they used to be many years ago.

The goal, in essence, is to make soccer attractive to newer audiences through which stakeholders earn more. A drastic change in how penalties are taken would raise eyebrows and considering how a similar penalty shootout method was used in the MLS in the 1990s, the American audience would most definitely be attentive to the modification.

It isn’t as if soccer has never derived inspiration from other sports. The VAR is quite similar to how the Decision Review System (DRS) is used in cricket. Many of Pep Guardiola’s ideas have been drawn from ice hockey and basketball. These have helped soccer evolve and move from being a traditional sport to a modern sport. That transition needed to happen eventually.

Change to soccer penalty shootouts can satisfy all parties

Those fans who believe that the game has become over-structured and that is removing individual art from soccer would definitely be appeased by a modification of the penalty shootouts. 

The stakeholders, or those who run the game, would realize that the rule change would attract more audiences. Consequently, it could seek more success in the increasing Americanization of the sport. More audiences mean more money for them and that is what stakeholders generally want.

But the uncertainty these hockey-like shootouts would add is an exciting element. The regular fan would enjoy something like this with the randomness and the time aspect. 

It would be an experiment for the game to incorporate but soccer has seen much worse. And perhaps, this idea won’t at all be the worst.

PHOTOS: IMAGO