SOME BONA fide brethren, good enough to even be called 'mi breddas', and I, were arguing about whether Christopher 'Kemo' Nicholas should have taken the penalty kick for Tivoli Gardens in the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) match that Portmore United went on to win 1-0 at Edward Seaga Stadium on Sunday.

If you didn't, by now you'd have realised that he missed the penalty or there wouldn't have been that argument.

Additionally, he had just entered the game as a substitute. That was the moot point.

They believed that because he had just entered the field of play, some other player on the team should've taken the penalty because Nicholas wouldn't have been warm enough and his touches not as smooth.

Reference was even made to a similar miss by that great Brazilian maestro, Zico, when handed a penalty kick after just entering the pitch during their World Cup semi-final victory over France at the 1982 finals.

My argument is that like the great Zico, I had no problem with Kemo taking the penalty kick, even with the game goalless.

Strategies

You see, teams plan all sorts of strategies for each game. Some of the plans do not go according to the script because they are also dependent on opposing forces.

However, there are some plans that are definite that nothing can change, like set plays. For a corner kick on the right, John will take it; and when it is on the left, it's Tom's. Goal kicks, free-kicks with different people assigned when the ball is at a designated spot, throw-ins and the sort fall into the same category.

It's the same for a penalty. Only one person can take it and it is very important that everyone knows who is the one person on the team who will take the penalty, especially as it is a prime goal-scoring chance that every one will want.

Tivoli Gardens' coach, Calvert Fitzgerald, was clear when stating that Nicholas "is our designated penalty kicker", as he defended the choice of Nicholas taking the penalty.

Number one penalty taker

It was also very clear that all the players on Tivoli's team knew that Nicholas was the designated penalty kicker as no one else made a challenge. He is the team's number one penalty taker and had scored numerous penalties before.

The fact that he had only just come on to the field was neither here nor there.

In football, at all levels, even the World Cup finals, when the key football matches and others are on the line and headed for a penalty shoot-out, people are even brought on close to the final minute just because of their penalty-kicking quality and strike rate.

Many of them get their first touch of the ball just when they bury the spot kick into the back of the net.

Strangely, two other players missed penalties in separate NPL matches Sunday. Naggo Head's Layton Barrett missed with his team trailing August Town 1-0 at the 39th minute, and they went on to lose 2-0.

Seba United's Wilfred Smith missed a penalty at the 50th minute with his team trailing Arnett Gardens 1-0. They, too, went on to lose 2-0.

Guess it falls right in line with Fitzgerald's thinking.

"Another player could've taken it and missed as well. You score some and you don't score some," the Tivoli coach said. It's all part of the game.

Bona fide brethren and 'breddas', I hope that settles the argument.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com