Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Tell that to the American women. They missed two penalty shots. One was blocked but the other was poorly kicked. It knocked them out of contention for the first time in, well, forever.

I believe that goalies study the tendencies of the people who are most likely to take penalty kicks so that they can make an educated guess as to where the shot is going to go. But I hate penalty kicks. They should keep playing until one team scores a legit goal. I get that it is a long match and there is a lot of running but you can allow for an extra sub with each new over time period. Penalty shots suck and need to go away.

And yes, I played soccer. Not at the professional level but enough to know how badly it would suck to play longer but the penalty shots are a cheap way to end a good match. Basketball games don't go to free throws and football doesn't go to field goal kicks. Just keep playing until someone scores.