Penalty shootouts in football are the worst way to decide a knockout match, and I think it's time we admit that. Watching my team lose in a shootout last season felt less like defeat and more like a coin flip, not a test of who played better over 120 minutes. Some argue penalties are fair because they reward composure, but that ignores how much luck is involved in guessing the right direction. So should we replace shootouts with something else, like repeated overtime periods or a skills-based tiebreaker? For me, the answer is clearly yes—we need a format that reflects actual football ability, not just nerve and chance.