SEOUL, June 14: The World Cup moves into the last chance saloon of the knockout stages on Saturday and the gut-churning prospect of the penalty shootouts looms on the horizon.

Teams should start practising spot kicks now — the last three World Cup winners have had to survive the trial by penalties at some point on their way to lifting the trophy.

The brutal one-on-one to decide drawn matches can produce moments of pure drama.

Who can forget Italy’s Roberto Baggio handing the Cup to Brazil in 1994 by blasting over the bar?

Or England’s Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce failing to find the target in the 1990 semi-final, sending Germany into the final?

Shoot-outs have played a greater and greater role in deciding who reaches the final since their introduction 20 years ago.

That is perhaps inevitable as teams are more closely matched by the time they reach the last four, producing drawn matches. But few players ever profess a liking for the dreaded conclusion.

In 1982, France and West Germany contested the first World Cup match to be decided on penalties after a thrilling and controversial semi-final finished 3-3 in Seville.

In 1990, to the horror of purists, both semi-finals in Italy were decided by the dreaded spot-kicks.

Waddle put paid to England’s chances versus the Germans and hosts Italy lost out to Diego Maradona’s Argentine team.

But the only final ever to be decided by penalties was 1994 in the United States.

Is there any hope in sight for an end to the penalty lottery?

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said the governing body desperately wants to find an alternative. He says penalties detract from the essence of the sport.

“Football is a team sport. But when you have penalties it becomes an individual sport and that is not good for the spirit of the game and it is not good for the individual,” Blatter said, citing the 1994 misses of Baggio and Baresi.

“Look at how it affected them. Thankfully Baggio was able to go away and rebuild his career and put it behind him ... but I don’t think Baresi overcame his trauma so well. I think he is still suffering,” Blatter said.—AFP