By Matthew Holt

The LA Times said it best: John Terry’s late slip-up ruins night for Chelsea’s fans. Another perfectly good football/soccer match ruined by a penalty shootout. It used to be that important finals that ended in a draw produced a replay. Penalties were only used in tournaments when there was a need to produce a winner for the next round.
Now many, if not most, big finals are ended that way and it sucks.

It particularly sucks when the team I’ve supported since I was 5 — including all the way through the very lean years in the 1970s & 80s and long before any Russian billionaire bought it — finally gets to the European Champions League Final, and then loses on penalties. Especially when the player who is the local boy and the rock of the team misses the vital one.

So don’t expect much cheerieness around here today!