Posted on 07/02/2014 9:55:48 AM PDT by PoloSec
Actually several games have had "Hydration Breaks" after about 30 minutes in each half. I can see that becoming the soccer version of a "TV Timeout"
They should have the Academy Awards for Soccer. Great Acting.
NFL & college football are all about unnecessary delays.
Time outs. TV time outs. Penalties. Instant replay. Almost a minute between plays.
15 minutes of actual action during 3+ hours time.
That’s only in this World Cup, and only if the temp goes over 38 C (I think that’s the criteria).
They didn’t have any breaks yesterday in the US-Belgium match cuz it didn’t get hot enough.
But I think the networks are going to realize the potential income stream of allowing ads to run during the games and will demand FIFA make them a permanent fixture.
At the rate we're going, in another 20 years the NBA will have stripped its players naked and will be awarding five points if you do a flip before shooting.
Spanish speaking fans do not use equivalent terms when talking about football, or soccer as we call it. By the way, please don't give me that “it's’ football, not soccer” nonsense. Soccer IS a British term. It's short for Association football,” to distinguish it from “Rugby football” (or the “kicking game from the “carrying game”) in Britain in 1863.
In Spanish soccer is played on a “cancha” which means court of field, not pitch, or “campo,” which means field. The score is "uno a cero," which is one to nothing, not "nil."A “side” is “equipo de fútbol,” or “football team.” A side would be “lado de fútbol” which doesn't even make sense.
Do these announcers take the elevator or the lift when leaving the ESPN studio? Do they lift the bonnet or the hood to check their Jaguar in the parking lot when it won't start? This is the worst kind of false snobbery like Obama bowing to every foreign head of state and it makes me crazy!
What's the big rush to talk like a Limey? Didn't we learn anything from the Piers Morgan fiasco?
If you find soccer so boring, I would strongly advise you to not watch it.
Problem solved.
You’re wrong on almost every point. Soccer could use adjustments but not any of those ones you propose.
{{ Adjustment #1: Dramatically shrink the size of the field. Make the field about half the size it is now. This will help increase the action in front of the goal. }}
2 bad things will happen if this was done.
—1. the game would become “Goalie Wars”. Goalies lobbing the ball back and forth hoping the opposing goalie makes a mistake and the ball goes in. The length of the field is very specific to avoid goalies being able to score on each other from their “drop kick”.
—2. You don’t want more action in front of the goal. The more people and it becomes a scrum where the goals are accidental. No skill, just a bunch of wild kicking. The most exciting shots in Soccer are the long shots.
{{ Adjustment #2: Increase the size of the goal. }}
The width of a regulation goal is 18ft. A man standing in the middle can jump to either side and have a slim but possible chance of reaching either post. This encourages the wild and exciting jumping saves. Making it wider would change goal tending for the worse. More defenses packed in the goal to make up.
However increasing the goal height by 6” might be possible. It would encourage more jumping by the goalie which is exciting. It would also encourage more long shots, also exciting.
{{ Adjustment #3: Put sideboards up around the field so the ball doesn’t go out of bounds so much. }}
No, No, No!.... Walls discourage teamwork and discourage running. Walls also allow the ball to be “trapped” leading to a lot of time where the defender and offensive player pretty much just stand there in a stand-off. MMA also suffers from this with their cages.
{{ Adjustment #4: Allow hitting in soccer, like in ice hockey and lacrosse. }}
Sports that allow hitting require pads. Pads hurt running and skill moves. Soccer doesn’t have pads and because there are no pads there aren’t problems with concussions that can end careers and lives.
... You need to learn what “Stoppage Time” is.
... You need to learn what “Set Plays” are.
... You need to learn why games ending in ties can be just as exciting as games ending in a win/loss.... [hint: world cup scoring is done as a tournament - you get points even for the ties, not win/lose like the playoffs or NCAA]
Mexico fans know all about "Dos a Cero" ;)
I believe that Rossini’s description of a Wagner opera applies to soccer: “Beautiful moments but awful quarter hours”. There may be some exciting moments when a skilled ball handler or goal scorer is on the loose, but then everyone spends a few minutes kicking the ball around midfield catching their breath.
It’s like boxing, mostly jabbing and moving around, with only a few significant punches being thrown.
They know about “Dos Equis” two and I have been studying to catch up.
Allow unlimited substitutions. If you are down more than 30 seconds you have to sit out for 15 minutes.
Make that “Dos Equis” TOO, though I have been taking two classes at a time.
Because the author is closed-minded. There is something to appreciate about virtually every sport.
I don’t care for basketball but I appreciate its grace and athleticism. I’m a huge baseball and hockey fan and love to play golf. I can even appreciate NASCAR, though I would prefer not to watch people drive 500 miles a weekend making no right turns. But I don’t post crap about their sport during the Daytona 500, like people who hate soccer seem to think it’s fun to do during the World Cup.
But I also love soccer, which I have played and coached for close to forty years. Scoring means something, it is a very difficult game to master and there is absolutely nothing wrong with either the rules or the dimensions of the goal. Rules don’t change every year like they do in the NFL, and what on earth is wrong with wanting America to beat the world at its own game?
Oh, well. Carry on. Your kids are playing my game. You may as well get used to it.
100% agreement about NBA basketball… As an example, one or two slam-dunks might be palatable, however as a steady a diet is just about as interesting as stuffing a shopping bag at the market.
It was fun playing the sport into college in intramurals, and the NCAA game was always much more interesting, but even tweaking that with a ridiculously close 3-point line among our other changes have kind of ruined the appeal.
Actually the limited substitutions makes soccer a bit more challenging, tactically. I’d hate to see that aspect go, because it would make things too easy to adjust - if you think it’s low-scoring now, imagine being able to sub in an “all out defense” lineup as soon as you go up 1-0.
I do think however in Extra Time, they should waive restrictions on substitutions and play on until somebody scores.
I really don’t understand why they don’t go with The Golden Goal.
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