How Come

How come in soccer the player that flops and pretends to be fouled does not take the shot when the foul is inside the penaly area? Talking to my friend, from India, across the street, he wondered why it was not like basketball, where the foul shooter is the player fouled. Great comparison--imagine the the best shooter on the team in basketball shooting all the free throws. Of course fouls in basketball occur continuously, whereas penalty kicks are fairly rare in futbol.

No matter why, Robben of the Netherlands flopped with two minutes remaining in added time, and the best striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, took the kick, and Mexico was eliminated again. I felt bad for Mexico. I thought the foul was an academy award performance, and that maybe the referee had an early dinner reservation or a date.