FIFA may abolish extra time at the World Cup with drawn knockout matches going straight to penalties, the federation's president Sepp Blatter said yesterday.

Blatter said that too many teams had played defensively at the June-July World Cup in South Africa and soccer'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."

Blatter did not discuss penalty shootouts themselves, which many feel are a lottery and devalue the sport, leaving a lasting stigma on the player who misses the decisive kick.

The FIFA boss said he was not impressed with the opening games in South Africa where the first 16 matches produced only 25 goals and included six draws, two of them goalless.

"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."