OT: World Cup

[ZooCougar]

I think I'm saying if it is an obvious goal scoring opportunity, that's the case for a penalty. It's more relevant than whether they are in the box or not. As for sending them off, soccer could use a Hockey style send off. Yellow card tackle from behind on a breakaway, even at midfield? 5 minute major.

Currently there's a pretty strong incentive to foul often and it mucks things up.

Nowhere near as bad as basketball which is unwatchable at times.

 

[meyers7]

I think I'm saying if it is an obvious goal scoring opportunity, that's the case for a penalty. It's more relevant than whether they are in the box or not. As for sending them off, soccer could use a Hockey style send off. Yellow card tackle from behind on a breakaway, even at midfield? 5 minute major.

Currently there's a pretty strong incentive to foul often and it mucks things up.

Sooo, you think taking away PKs for fouls in the box (that don't DOGSO) is going to reduce the number of fouls in the box? And open up play more?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sooo, you think taking away PKs for fouls in the box (that don't DOGSO) is going to reduce the number of fouls in the box? And open up play more?

If you award free kicks at the spot of the foul? And take a player off for X minutes? It would be fine. I'm not saying not to call them. I'd like to see any player who lays on the ground long enough to cause a stoppage has to stay off the pitch for at least 3-4 minutes as well. End the flopping. You're hurt or you're not. If it's just pain then get up.

 

[meyers7]

If you award free kicks at the spot of the foul? And take a player off for X minutes? It would be fine. I'm not saying not to call them. I'd like to see any player who lays on the ground long enough to cause a stoppage has to stay off the pitch for at least 3-4 minutes as well. End the flopping. You're hurt or you're not. If it's just pain then get up.

All pretty bad ideas.

 

[Waquoit]

All pretty bad ideas.

Americans think they can "fix" soccer. As if anything they can think of hasn't been considered already.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Americans think they can "fix" soccer. As if anything they can think of hasn't been considered already.

I know it's not realistic.

 

[UConn990411]

If you award free kicks at the spot of the foul? And take a player off for X minutes? It would be fine. I'm not saying not to call them. I'd like to see any player who lays on the ground long enough to cause a stoppage has to stay off the pitch for at least 3-4 minutes as well. End the flopping. You're hurt or you're not. If it's just pain then get up.

Not sure about this one. I’ve heard arguments against penalties for fouls in the box that did not take away a clear goal scoring opportunities (i.e., when a guy is fouled with his back to the goal). There’s some logic to that argument, but giving even more discretion to officials worries me, too.

One of the “American” ideas I actually like for soccer is awarding a penalty (similar to hockey, but your team plays down a man for 4-5 minutes) when someone intentionally fouls a player in transition. While players typically get a yellow card, those fouls take away so many potentially exciting plays. I’m not completely sold on it, but it would be fun if they tested it in a lower league to see what impact it has before rolling it out to EPL or major tournaments.

 

[UConnRock]

What France has done for in this World Cup is even more impressive when you look at the injuries to key players that aren't even on the WC roster. Pogba, Benzema, Kante, Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez, and Nkunku are all out. It would be a totally different, and better/deeper team with these top players available.

 

[LIuconn]

A team of those injured would be in the semi finals. Unreal talent & youth.
This is why I don’t think the US will win one in my lifetime

 

[ZooCougar]

If you award free kicks at the spot of the foul? And take a player off for X minutes? It would be fine. I'm not saying not to call them. I'd like to see any player who lays on the ground long enough to cause a stoppage has to stay off the pitch for at least 3-4 minutes as well. End the flopping. You're hurt or you're not. If it's just pain then get up.

You’re not gaming this out. If you take away PKs in the box then you will see less attacking and even less scoring.

Soccer is a defensive sport. The rules and the nature of the sport favor the defenders.

PKs are one of the few things offense has going for it.

 

[Waquoit]

I have a double sawbuck on Argentina at 10.5-1. I was thinking of throwing some the other way but screw it. I'm rooting for Messi.

 

[shizzle787]

I have a double sawbuck on Argentina at 10.5-1. I was thinking of throwing some the other way but screw it. I'm rooting for Messi.

Not only that, Argentina are due. Nobody has won back to back in 60 years either.

 

[meyers7]

A team of those injured would be in the semi finals. Unreal talent & youth.
This is why I don’t think the US will win one in my lifetime

This? This is why???

 

[HuskyHawk]

You’re not gaming this out. If you take away PKs in the box then you will see less attacking and even less scoring.

Soccer is a defensive sport. The rules and the nature of the sport favor the defenders.

PKs are one of the few things offense has going for it.

I'm just still butt hurt over that lame penalty they gave Argentina. I know it's defensive, so awarding a penalty for something that was more or less irrelevant to the run of play is extreme. My main point was that a free kick in midfield isn't a sufficient disincentive to fouling, especially if it stops a break/counter. Like what @UConn990411 said above.

Here's one I just thought of. Award a free kick at the spot, but all defenders who were behind the ball at the time must align behind the ball. you don't get to foul to set up your defense.

Every sport has rule and rule enforcement problems. I know they won't change it.

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm just still butt hurt over that lame penalty they gave Argentina. I know it's defensive, so awarding a penalty for something that was more or less irrelevant to the run of play is extreme. My main point was that a free kick in midfield isn't a sufficient disincentive to fouling, especially if it stops a break/counter. Like what @UConn990411 said above.

Here's one I just thought of. Award a free kick at the spot, but all defenders who were behind the ball at the time must align behind the ball. you don't get to foul to set up your defense.

Every sport has rule and rule enforcement problems. I know they won't change it.

If the foul is that egregious they get a yellow card.

 

[meyers7]

If the foul is that egregious they get a yellow card.

And the attacking team has the option (sometimes) of a quick restart. They don't always have to wait for the defense to set up.

 

[Kolumbo]

Argentina 3-2. I'm not overly in for either squad but I think Messi winning would be a great story. France my just be too overpowering though.

Messi has 11 World Cup goals, 5 this year alone. I think PKs should be a separate stat

I know there are reasons for playing the semis on different days so Argentina has 4 days off and France has 3. Is that a significant difference? It seems so to me.

Argentina Top goalscorers[edit]

Rank	Player	Goals	World Cups
1	Lionel Messi	11	2006 (1), 2014 (4), 2018 (1) and 2022 (5)
2	Gabriel Batistuta	10	1994 (4), 1998 (5) and 2002 (1)
3	Guillermo Stábile	8	1930
4	Diego Maradona	8	1982 (2), 1986 (5) and 1994 (1)
5	Mario Kempes	6	1978
6	Gonzalo Higuaín	5	2010 (4) and 2014 (1)
7	Seven players	4

 

[Waquoit]

I'm just still butt hurt over that lame penalty they gave Argentina. I know it's defensive, so awarding a penalty for something that was more or less irrelevant to the run of play is extreme. My main point was that a free kick in midfield isn't a sufficient disincentive to fouling, especially if it stops a break/counter. Like what @UConn990411 said above.

Here's one I just thought of. Award a free kick at the spot, but all defenders who were behind the ball at the time must align behind the ball. you don't get to foul to set up your defense.

Every sport has rule and rule enforcement problems. I know they won't change it.

Do you want them to get rid of offsides, too? It would really open up the game.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

If offense is what you are looking for lets just go ahead and change it so each goal is worth 7 points like in the NFL...no more "low" scores that way.

Completely joking, I actually do not think anything about soccer should be changed. I actually prefer top level soccer to any level American football. Much more action and drama.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

A lot of what I see here reminds me of an article I read nearly 30 years ago.

Leading up to the 1994 WC in the US, a number of reasonably prominent people, from many areas (politicians, sports and non-sports journalists, etc) were asked how to get Americans to become more interested in soccer.

There were many suggestions (including somehow making scoring easier) and my favorite was a suggestion to actually stop the play clock when play was stopped instead of adding time back at the end of each half.

The (unintended) conclusion of this excercise was that they (allegedly) needed to make the game more American for Americans to gain interest.

This falls both under the categories "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "arrogant Americans feel everything should be catered to them".

The people who have been running the sport for the roughly 1 1/2 centuries since association rules were formally codified know a bit more about it than we do. While I'm confident there is still a good amount of graft and corruption within FIFA, I think it's safe to say they have a better handle on what fine tuning may need to be done to improve the sport than any of us do.

 

[superjohn]

As others have pointed out soccer doesn't need to be Americanized, they're always doing just fine being the most popular sport in the world. A lot of Americans think it sucks, a lot of people around the world think American football sucks.

I don't watch a ton of soccer but I love the World Cup and other major events. I love the strategy/chess match nature of it and the drama. There aren't many goals but when they happen it's usually a brilliant play.

 

[Kolumbo]

I wouldn't make many if any changes to soccer. We ruin our American games with rules up the yin-yang, especially in football.

The thing with soccer is that it is incredibly difficult to score but PKs are fairly easy to score. The flopping is the absolute worst aspect of the sport to the point it's embarrassing. They literally fall to the ground screaming very often with no contact at all. Giving out a PK in some of these cases is just a gift.

Can't remember which game but the analysts commented how the yellow card foul at mid-field was smart because it stopped a huge break-away goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card - shmellow card.
Found it. USA vs Wales. At about the 4:25 mark Acosta basically tackles Bale.

 

[LIuconn]

Taking France 3-1

 

[BlueMAB]

The only "fix" I'd suggest would be to stop the clock if someone goes down. Don't add time. Stop the clock, once play resumes, start the clock again. Not throw-ins, not corners, fouls, or subs, but if someone goes down with an injury, stop the clock.

If they aren't really hurt, and there's no advantage gained by wasting time, the hope is they'd stop faking injuries to kill games.

 

[ZooCougar]

The only "fix" I'd suggest would be to stop the clock if someone goes down. Don't add time. Stop the clock, once play resumes, start the clock again. Not throw-ins, not corners, fouls, or subs, but if someone goes down with an injury, stop the clock.

If they aren't really hurt, and there's no advantage gained by wasting time, the hope is they'd stop faking injuries to kill games.

I actually preferred what they did in this World Cup where they actually added all the time wasted with the grabass to the end and we saw 8-10 minutes of added time or more.

It really cut down on some shenanigans since all that added time can come back to bite you.

Stopping the clock isn’t the only way to accomplish the goal. Americans just need to chill with the rule change suggestion box.