Blatter calls for alternative to penalty shoot-outs
FIFA President Sepp Blatter attends a news conference in Rabat April 30, 2012. — Reuters pic BUDAPEST, May 25 — FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called on Germany's World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer and his panel of football experts to try to come up with an alternative to penalty shootouts to settle drawn matches.
Blatter was speaking to delegates at the FIFA Congress on Friday less than a week after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League final.
"Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks. Football is a team game when it goes to one against one football loses its essence," Blatter said.
"Perhaps Franz Beckenbauer, with his Football 2014 group, can show us a solution, perhaps not today but in the future."
Beckenbauer, among the delegates at the congress, was not immediately available for comment. — Reuters
