LogFAQs > #904680383

Hardcore_Adult posted...

Ulti not liking penalties, quelle surprise!

But he has a point, they are kind of cruel!

If it's a cup game and the job can't be done in 90 mins or 120, there's no other way.

After I heard that England's win on penalties was their first in World Cup history, I couldn't quite believe it and went back to look at past world cups, when I learned something I really never knew - penalties to determine the winner only first showed up in 1982, and before then a game ending tied after extra time would literally be entirely replayed, and even that only happened rarely (once in 1934 and a bunch in 1938 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_FIFA_World_Cup#Replays).

After 1938, no replays happened because no elimination games ended tied after extra time.

Literally I just counted it up, there were 37 knockout games 1950 through 1978, 44 if you count third place games (though I assume the "replay" rule wouldn't apply to them). What are the chances that 0 out of 37 games ended tied after 120 minutes, that seems mind-boggling since we get 3 or 4 each world cup nowadays...

Edit: after a little more reading, it looks like after 1938, the replay would only apply to a tied final and "drawing of lots" would occur for ties in non-final elimination games. Which makes a penalty shootout look a lot more appealing, than basically putting your fate in a coin flip... and still doesn't negate the point of none of those 37 games needing 'drawing of lots' or replays, either.