Huang Jianxiang: Switzerland vs Italy should have a penalty shootout before the match for more excitement and intensity

On the early morning of June 30, the round of 16 matches at the European Championship will commence. Ahead of the game, Huang Jianxiang shared his thoughts on social media, suggesting that Switzerland and Italy should have a penalty shootout before the actual match, with the losing team in the shootout needing to win the match to overturn the result.

Huang wrote, “In the knockout stage, defense becomes even more crucial. In the first round of 16 fixture, Switzerland against Italy, this is a match where both sides will find it extremely difficult, very difficult, to win. There’s a high possibility that extra time or even a penalty shootout will be needed.”

“To prevent a dull and uninteresting match, I jokingly recall a suggestion from the 1990s, after several consecutive major tournaments saw boring matches ending in penalty shootouts. The football world proposed that teams play a penalty shootout before extra time, and if the team that loses the penalties wins in extra time, they could overturn the penalty result. If the teams draw or lose in extra time, the team that won the penalties would advance. This way, at least one team would fight hard in extra time, avoiding both sides defending passively and producing a dull match.”

“Following this idea, for Switzerland’s match against Italy, why not start with a penalty shootout to see who, between Sommer and Donnarumma, saves more, and then play the match. The team that loses the penalties would have to win the match to reverse the outcome of the shootout… That way, the match would surely be intense, lively, and entertaining.”