League rules stipulate that every draw goes straight to penalty kicks, a rule that has had a major impact in MLS Next Pro and beyond
Every single week, MLS Next Pro side Carolina Core have a routine in training. They finish a session of set piece work: corners, free kicks, long throws – the works.
And then, at the end of practice, the squad is split in half. Both teams line up, facing the goal. Sometimes, there’s crowd noise, pumped through on speakers. But every time, the fundamental ritual is the same: the whole squad simulates a penalty shootout.
This is not an uncommon thing in soccer in tournament play – or when knockout matches are on the calendar. But week in, week out? It’s unusual. Yet it’s also vital in MLS Next Pro. The second division of North America’s flagship soccer organization has, from day one, implemented a system in which every draw in the regular season will end in a penalty shootout – with the winning team taking home one extra point.
From the outside, it might seem gimmicky, or even a parody of what “real” soccer looks like. But for the league, the players, and the coaches, it might yet be a crucial part of development – and the kind of rule that gives American players an edge on the biggest of stages.
“We’ve had a lot of success with it. Players are getting these development opportunities, which is healthy and that's good,” Ali Curtis, senior vice president of MLS Next Pro, told GOAL.
Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesDeveloping something new
There are all sorts of aspects to player development. Most teams, in most leagues, focus on the minutiae, the tiny stuff that has to be developed with rep-after-rep: scanning, receiving the ball on the correct foot, knowing when to execute an offside trap, or how to bend a run behind an opposing defense.
Those things have to be honed on a daily basis. They can’t be taught as much as learned. But they are invaluable in molding a soccer player.
Penalties, meanwhile, are a different beast, and something the rest of the world has been reluctant to touch – at least, in a practical sense. Shootouts, we are told, come down to a psychological battle, a player taking on a goalkeeper in a meeting of minds. It’s all about having a plan, doing your research, and executing it.
There are thousands of studies, some of them written by real-life goalkeepers, that turn a simple, isolated moment into a complex mathematical equation.
MLS Next Pro’s response to that? Integrate penalties into as many games as possible – and see what happens.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Some of the critical moments'
Curtis was there at the beginning. He has a fine resume in the scope of American soccer. An MLS vet who has either played or spent time with five clubs, he took part in the original discussions as to how, exactly, MLS Next Pro could work.
Their central thesis was that they wanted to piece together a league that focused on player development. Sure, there was money involved, and fans to entertain. But they wanted to train youngsters to reach a higher level. A slew of rules and regulations were tossed around. But one that stuck was the rather simple idea that every single tie should end in a penalty shootout.
“Those are some of the critical moments that a game can come down to. And we thought that for a couple of different reasons, one from a player development perspective, but then also from a fan experience perspective,” Curtis said.
And there’s logic to this thing. Penalties had become mathematics. Around 85 percent of penalties are converted during regulation time. That figure drops to around 75 percent in shootouts. Roughly 10 percent – shootout or otherwise – are saved. The remainder are basically shanked.
But those numbers, fun as they might be, are entirely abstract. MLS Next Pro wanted to make them a little more human, a little more tangible.
“It’s really hard to train for a shootout. It's hard to develop,” Curtis said. “It's the type of thing that you don't really get unless you have real reps in meaningful competition. It doesn't matter how much you train for them, or you practice for them, you don't really get good at them until you just are part of them in a meaningful game.”
Imagn'We had some reservations'
There was a bit of hesitation, though.
“To be honest… we had some reservations because we were launching a new league, and you want that league to be authentic and for people to view it as good for the game,” Curtis said.
Still, after debate, the idea of innovation is what stuck. Soccer, more broadly, is resistant to change. For a long time, for example, goalkeepers were allowed to use their hands to pick up backpasses. Offside is tweaked all of the time. Golden goal, handball rules, goalline technology have all been met with some version of resistance.
MLS Next Pro admitted that there would be some pushback. But they knew that evolution – not wholesale change – could only be a good thing.
“Whenever you're trying to adjust or modify a game that's rich in tradition, you want to ensure that you're not changing it. You're just kind of evolving it to what kind of makes sense,” Curtis said.
IMAGN'It does something for the fans'
It helps, too, that fans are guaranteed to see the ball hit the back of the net with increased regularity. It has long been a complaint among American soccer detractors that this sport is boring. Scoreless draws don’t happen in any other American sport. At all. Even lower-scoring sports – hockey, for instance – finish in Golden Goal overtime.
That is a stereotype that has faded with time. This country has embraced the sport more. There is a broader understanding that 90 compelling minutes can still bring about an enthralling scoreless draw. Goalkeepers have good days. Woodwork gets peppered.
But the thrill of seeing the ball hit the back of the net – especially for a match-going fan – cannot be replicated. It’s something you can’t quite see from home, Core coach Donovan Ricketts said, but the specific moment of ecstasy – or dread – brought about by seeing your team either score or concede isn’t felt in the same way from a couch.
“It does something for the fans, because the fans look forward to it. They like the shootout,” Ricketts said.
There’s just something satisfying and compelling – knowing you’ll see successful strikes – as well some occasionally dramatic saves.
“It's always exciting to watch a goal hit the back of the net. And from that perspective, I think that that's been a bonus… it's also a really nice element from a fan engagement,” Curtis said.