Does playing 30 minutes of overtime really have that much of a negative effect on teams playing another 3 or 4 days later?
Maybe. Maybe not. But, as ekweizn points out, if they had to keep playing until someone scored, it definitely could have an effect.
In actual World Cup action, Spain and Portugal are underway, with Spain having a few good shots on goal early on. The ESPN commentator, discussing an incident when three Spaniards went up together for a header, described it as “too many cooks spoiling the gazpacho.” Very droll.
Someone in another thread posted what I think is a brilliant idea. You play one period of extra time. Then you go to PKs. The winner of the PKs gets half a goal. Then you play another period of extra time. So the PKs basically say “well, if it ends in a tie, this team is going to win” so force the other team to go crazy attacking, but the final whistle will still happen on people playing soccer, not just kicking PKs.
They’re still playing the game, not switching to a coin toss. Penalties deciding the world cup itself is atrocious. The final match should go to golden goal and they should play until one team wins
Interesting idea, though perhaps before the first period instead.
I think this is the best solution I’ve ever heard. Brilliant is the word.
I agree. The only weakness is that the team that wins the penalties has incentive to sit on the ball and waste time, as we saw Ghana do against the US. But this sounds like the least of the evils.
Yes please! <3
I’m sure that would be better than both teams sitting on the ball afraid of doing anything. This is a big reason why I prefer Champions League to World Cup. Too many of the late WC games boil down to neither team wanting to make a mistake and can get pretty boring. Thanks to the away goals rule, far fewer CL games end up with overtime or PKs and much more action.
I could even say dispense with the first OT. Regulation - penaltykicks - OT to decide it. LOVE this idea.
A gold medal to whoever suggested PKs between the two halves of extra time. I could have sworn I’d seen that suggestion somewhere before, but it’s so simple and elegant I can’t believe that I wouldn’t have remembered where it came from. It so neatly cuts out a lot of the issues so many people have with PKs (and, because you always have PKs in the middle, you know when the game is going to end!)
Though I like Del Bosque, his stubbornness is starting to get on my nerves. Everyone and their mother can see that Torres is simply not match fit – yet he insists with his infamous 4-2-3-1. Simply not admissible for a coach of his experience. Particularly when you have players of the caliber of Cesc, Navas, Matas and Pedro, who’ll not only widen the pitch but give us the acceleration needed for the last through ball. Possession we’ll almost always have, verticality is what’s sorely missing from this squad.
In short, don’t mess with success: we play the 4-1-4-1 likely better than any team in the world but we’ve yet to seen him use it. Maddening! 
A por ellos anyway!
Gol Gol Gol Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool de Villla!
1 zip!
Vamos!
What took you so long?
Ricardo. The Bastid!
Well, Spain deserved the win. If not for Eduardo, Portugal could have conceded 3 or 4 goals.
More poor refereeing: Costa got sent off after Capdevila totally fabricated being punched in the face - he never even got touched as far as I can see from the replays.
Also, the ref blew the final whistle bang on 3min of injury time, despite the fact Spain played a time-wasting substitution during the three minutes. He should have added on 30 seconds.
I believe that it’s the first time that Portugal have ever lost a competitive match with Eduardo in goal - you can see why…
Grim
[del]Congrats[/del] Felicitaciones Red Fury!
Just seen the replays again - what a filthy cheat Capdevila is! Costa was nowhere near him. Disgusting behaviour and I hope he gets action taken against him.