Future world cups: should bookings be kept as the ultimate tie-breaker? If not, what alternatives?

I would vote for anything before a coin loss, since the other things are things that the teams have some control over and, more importantly, can devise their tactics to take into consideration. Personally, I would go with total shots on goal, then the most goals from run of play and the not the penalty spot, fair play points, and then corners earned. If everything is tied even then (very unlikely), I would still go with total shots. I hesitate to use possession stats as they are mostly determined by tactics and score-line but even that is better than a coin toss.

 

I don't really like the total shots on goal thing because that could just end in teams taking wild shots on goal in the last 15 minutes just to up their tally. Could make for a very strange scenario. Anything, anything, anything but the coin toss. I'll take yellow cards any day over coin toss. Total possession is another one which I kind of like. Would discourage bunkering.

 

I like the fair play. Not enough is done to prevent teams from taking cynical yellow cards so I like that there’s a possibility that once in a blue moon, it bites hem on the ass on a tiebreaker. Things like shots and possession sound nice since they’re usually indicative of who controlled a game, but they’re also very subject to manipulation. The last thing in the world I want to see is a team repeatedly shooting from 50 yard and out or just holding on to the ball in their won end to try to win a tiebreaker. Besides, I don’t think teams should be punished for the strategy they choose.

 

Would have been funny had they got a yellow card for time wasting and Senegal leapfrogged ahead of them.

 

I voted shootout, but it doesn't have to be on the next day. You could hold it at the end of every drawn group game. (Not necessary for games that aren't drawn, because head-to-head record then decides it)

The shootout doesn't decide that game winner, it only decides the tie-break if needed after all group games complete.

Some shootouts won't have been necessary, but there were only 9/48 tied group games. You could even skip them if not necessary in the last round of games (Spain-Morocco, Portugal-Iran). A little more entertainment for the fans, too.

 

The difference was 2 yellow cards, so 1 more for Japan wouldn't have hurt them.

The problem with possession is that different websites have different possession. For example, in Real Madrid 1-3 Juventus in the Champions League Quarterfinal second leg, http://www.espn.com/soccer/matchstats?gameId=509296 says Real Madrid had 62%, https://us.soccerway.com/matches/20...al-madrid-club-de-futbol/juventus-fc/2758436/ says Real Madrid had 63%, and http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...ound=2000883/match=2021703/index.html?iv=true (which is official because it's UEFA) says Real Madrid had 58%. Imagine if you were trying to compare Real Madrid to a club with 60% possession in a different game. Furthermore, in 2017-2018 La Liga, Atletico Madrid was 3 points ahead of Real Madrid, and I think it's safe to say Real averaged a lot more possession. Imagine if a tie after a long season was broken by possession. This would be rare because it's extremely unlikely for clubs to be tied on points, goals score, goals allowed, and head-to-head; but if a tiebreaker would be ridiculous to use in a league, it shouldn't be used in the World Cup. Even shots, which I think should be simple to count, sometimes varies between websites. Imagine if shots were a tiebreaker and a team that loses a tiebreaker finds a source that gave them more shots than FIFA has for them, the team convinces FIFA to watch a replay to be sure, and FIFA changes who won the tiebreaker a day or two later.

I don't like the idea of shootouts being done after every game that could affect who advances just because of the potential for ties at the end of the group. Furthermore, I'm a USA fan, and it was an accomplishment to advance over Portugal in 2014. If the Group Stage draw had gone to a shootout and Portugal would have won, Portugal would have advanced over USA.

 

I think the proposal was to only use the penalties as a tiebreaker in the event that the teams were tied on points, goal difference, and goals scored, and head-to-head record. The USA had a better goal difference than Portugal in 2014, so they would have advanced anyway and it wouldn't have gone to this final tiebreaker.

 

Head-to-head is already the second to last tiebreaker, meaning the fair play tiebreaker is only used in the event that the tied teams draw their match against each other, as in this case. One thing you could do is have the teams play extra time and penalties. If the teams in question are playing each other on the final matchday, this can be done right then. If not, they can do this the next day (at a venue determined in advance for this possibility). It would essentially be like continuing a match that was interrupted for whatever reason wherever it left off. I suppose playing another half hour a day after playing for 90 minutes might be undesirable in terms of rest for players, so the one change I would make to normal rules (unless the two teams are both on the pitch together on the normal final matchday) is that teams don't necessarily have to field the same lineup that was on the pitch in the final minute of the original match, so managers could field their bench players if they wished. I would also have the knockout stage scheduled (as in from the outset, not just in the event that this tiebreaker is necessary) to begin a day later than it does now to accommodate for this possibility. It's possible, of course, that this tiebreaker is not needed, in which case teams just have an extra day of rest before the knockout stage (although this would have to be compensated later in the tournament).

Edit: Maybe disregard the bolded portion. We can't have the World Cup Final on a Monday, and we shouldn't reduce all knockout stage participants' rest (because adding another rest day before the knockout stage begins means cutting a rest day somewhere down the road, when it's probably more important). Not convenient for the teams involved in the tiebreaking extra time, but if you have to play an extra half hour on a day you thought was supposed a rest day, you only have yourself to blame for not doing enough to advance without a tiebreaker.