This post isn’t about whether American football is better than what the rest of the world calls football. The sports have more differences than similarities, and both can be appreciated for what they are.
Still, American football is currently globalizing in an effort to achieve (in time) the kind of worldwide popularity soccer has enjoyed for decades, with the U.S. finally coming around over the last three or so. But no matter how popular American football gets, it will never have the thing that makes soccer under certain circumstances more riveting than any other sport’s spectating experience.
It’s the shootout that caps 90 minutes, plus another 30, of typically low-scoring action that end in a deadlock. Penalty kicks, five per side.
On Monday alone, two of three World Cup games in the round of 32 hinged on shootouts. From the moment that specific phase of win-or-go-home action commences, the tension spikes. And the anxiety continues to increase with each attempt until it’s decided.
Even with no rooting interest in Paraguay-Germany or Morocco-Netherlands, watching the shootouts was mentally exhausting. And thoroughly thrilling.
Part of the anxiety flows from the stakes. It’s the World Cup, for Pete’s sake. The ultimate international soccer tournament, played once every four years. Not used in the group stage, where sister-kissing is closer to rule than exception, the shootout happens only in the single-elimination phase.
Regardless, there’s nothing like it in any other sport. (The NHL uses a shootout to decide regular-season games; playoff games theoretically can last forever.)
The NFL, which has plenty of tense moments driven by specific situations, simply doesn’t create the kind of extended and sustained sphincter-tightening that happens during a World Cup shootout.
Several years ago, we suggested a two-point shootout (with the action ping-ponging between the two end zones) as a way to resolve ties. Although the USFL, and now the UFL, embraced a version of that approach, the NFL regards it as too gimmicky because it’s not part of the normal flow of the game.
Penalty kicks aren’t part of the normal flow of a soccer game, either. And many would prefer World Cup knockout games to be decided through endless play until a goal is scored.
Regardless, everything about the World Cup shootout oozes drama. And it’s not as if the penalty kick isn’t part of the game; they happen, from time to time. When they happen at least six at a time (if one team makes the first three and the other team misses the first three, it’s over), the shootout creates an experience that is hard to forget.
Imagine how hard it is for those involved to forget. Whether it’s a missed kick (especially one that clangs off the post) or a failed save (especially when, as happened last night, the save is made and the ball trickles over the line), those who couldn’t deliver with so much riding on the outcome will be haunted by those moments for the rest of their lives.
The simple reality is that, for as great as American football is, the NFL will never create the kind of prolonged anticipation and fascination that happens during a World Cup shootout.
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