Blatter: FIFA to consider axing extra time

Blatter said in an interview with FIFA's website that too many teams had played defensively at the World Cup in South Africa and football's governing body would look at ways of encouraging more attacking tactics.

"We plan to take the opportunity to look at the concept of extra-time," said Blatter, whose remarks differed slightly from an interview he gave to the German magazine Focus last month when he said penalty shootouts could even be used after drawn group matches.

"Often we see teams set themselves up even more defensively in extra-time, in an attempt to avoid conceding a goal at all costs.

"To prevent this, we could go directly to a penalty shootout at full time, or reintroduce the golden goal rule. We'll see what emerges from the committee meetings."

Since then, football has reverted to using the traditional extra-time system in all major international championships, although in South America's Copa Libertadores and Copa America, it is generally not played.

"In the first few matches of the group stage in South Africa, we witnessed some teams that went out to avoid defeat, that were playing for a draw from the outset," he said.

"This is a topic that I would like to discuss at upcoming football and technical committee meetings. We have to try to find a way to encourage free-flowing football in tournaments like the World Cup, with teams playing to win."