Eimear Ryan: The simple joy of a penalty shootout

DRAMA: Argentina's goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saves a kick of Steven Berghuis of the Netherlands during penalty shootout the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between the Netherlands and Argentina, at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. Pic: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

I’ve been trying not to get sucked into this World Cup. While I’m still a bit uneasy about the moral dubiousness of the whole enterprise, I haven’t succeeded in boycotting it entirely. And in all honesty, at this sleepy, restful time of year, I would rather be on the couch watching various entries in the Die Hard and Home Alone franchises with a drum of Celebrations than watching high-stakes soccer matches.

I am fascinated by soccer but it doesn’t have its emotional talons in me the way the GAA does. In a way I’m lucky, in that I won’t be torn between the World Cup final and the All-Ireland club hurling final this coming Sunday: it’s the battle of the Ballys for me, no question. But there is one aspect of soccer that makes me cackle and clap my hands like a kid on Christmas morning, and that is the penalty shootout.