Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sports

IS THERE anything more cruel in sport than football's penalty shoot-out?

Sport's version of walking the plank creates more goats than heroes and magnifies the disparity between the joy of victory and agony of defeat.

Wednesday's European League Championship final between English giants Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow was a classic case in point.

After 120 minutes, a 1-1 deadlock could not be broken and the players went to the spot to decide the best team in Europe.

The shoot-out is as arbitrary as it is humbling for both the 'keepers (in this case Chelsea's Petr Cech and United's Edwin van der Sar) and the shooters. And, oddly enough, there's probably a little less pressure on the 'keepers than the marksmen.

Accurate guess

All the goalie has to do is predict, or perhaps more accurately guess, which way to dive and go with it. You save, hooray; you miss, too bad.

The shooter, meanwhile, has to 'guess' which way he thinks the 'keeper will go while selecting from high right, low right, high left, low left or straight down the middle as the path of his strike.

That plethora of options plus the enormity of the situation seemed to weigh on United's all-world star Cristiano Ronaldo, who stuttered and missed his crucial strike, the fifth of the shoot-out, in torrential rain. Boy, did Russian Roulette take on a whole new meaning then or what?

The marksmen then held serve and it was up to Chelsea's skipper, John Terry, to seal the deal and give his side one of the most coveted prizes in the game. He stepped up, slipped on his butt and the shot flew wide right.

In sudden-death, the lanky Dutchman, van der Sar, guessed right, dived to his right and parried away Nicolas Anelka's blast to seal the deal 6-5.

Tears of joy?

Van der Sar was swamped by his teammates; well, all except one. Ronaldo, who headed United's goal in regulation time, was prone on the ground weeping. It was impossible to tell if they were tears of joy or tears or relief for his penalty miss reprieve.

There was no mistaking, further down the pitch, the origin of the tears streaming down Terry's face. The man who bleeds Chelsea blue was disconsolate over the fact he blew his team's best shot at the crown.

That, incredibly unfairly, is something that will now haunt him for the rest of his playing days and beyond.

Fans won't remember how wholeheartedly he played for 120 minutes or how he volunteered to take the all-important fifth kick for his team.

They won't remember Anelka's missed stroke or Didier Drogba's foolish sending off which ultimately forced Terry into the first five of shooters.

They will remember Terry slipping on his derriere and Terry bawling like a babe.

That's so unfair; that's penalty shoot-outs.

Later

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com