Thursday, September 9, 2010 — FIFA will consider going straight to penalty kicks and scrapping extra time, according to a Press Association report.

“We have to try to find a way to encourage free-flowing football in tournaments like the World Cup, with teams playing to win. We plan to take the opportunity to look at the concept of extra time as well,” Batter was quoted as saying.

“Often we see teams set themselves up even more defensively in extra time, in an attempt to avoid conceding a goal at all costs. To prevent this, we could go directly to a penalty shoot-out at full time, or reintroduce the golden goal rule. We’ll see what emerges from the committee meetings.”

Too many negative World Cup games, where some teams just played for extra time or penalties, has led FIFA to reconsider how the game can be made more attractive to viewers, and more importantly, sponsors.