How to make soccer watchable.

[Kaak]

Instant replay and Yellow/red cards for flopping. Seriously, after Kaka's ejection and the red card this morning against Switzerland, this is getting absurd. The ref's are blowing this whole tournament, but they aren't entirely to blame. Players being ridiculous should be punished as well. Acting is not a sport and sports should not have ACTING.

[MikeH]

When Rivaldo did his act in 2002 he was suspended for 2 games, I hope we'll see similar action against the players involved this time.

[Kitschum]

It's a much more glaring problem in the World Cup because of all the inexperienced third world referees. The Swtizerland referee is Khalil Al-Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia. The guy who took a goal away from the USA was from Mali. The simplest way to fix it is to just use European referees. (but this will never happen)

As for diving in particular, if FIFA really wanted to they could come down hard on it with very little disruption of the game as such (like say hand out fines and suspensions after video review when the match is over), but they're only interested in punishing fouls ever more harshly to protect their "artists" because they think "beautiful" goals are what gets them the TV viewers that make them money. Add the inexperienced and wildly uneven refs and the officiating in the world cup has been a standing joke for as long as I remember.

[MikeH]

That's true about the third world refs every world cup, and some of them have performed really well.

[Kitschum]

Yes, and the Spanish ref who hands out cards like they're candy is a joke too. Yet the standard of officiating is generally much higher in the European cups and the European championship. Another option could be to send a bunch of referees from all over the world into the European leagues and cups to gain experience.

[a.kitman]

When Rivaldo did his act in 2002 he was suspended for 2 games, I hope we'll see similar action against the players involved this time.

from what i remeber he only got a meaningless low fine.

[MikeH]

Motty lied to us?

[Barnabas]

South America is kicking ass, European ass

[Guynemer]

Another way to make soccer watchable:

Change that stupid ****ing retarded offsides rule. Make the penalty box the "blue line", like hockey, and be done with it.

[Snotty]

Another way to make soccer watchable:

Change that stupid ****ing retarded offsides rule. Make the penalty box the "blue line", like hockey, and be done with it.

[Wiglaf]

Why watch something racist

http://tedwilliamshead.com/2010/06/11/nigeria-germany-play/

[Kitschum]

Thanks Wiglaf. EA's new FIFA game looks pretty good. I just looked up some videos.

[duke o' york]

Change that stupid ****ing retarded offsides rule. Make the penalty box the "blue line", like hockey, and be done with it.

But that puts the onus solely on the attacker to avoid being offside, and the defence can't do anything about it. The 'offside trap' can be used by a supremely well-trained defence to catch the attacking team out and to win the ball back legitimately. For more details, ask C0ckney. But at the same time, if one of the defenders is too slow or too thickheaded to move up with his/her teammates, then the attackers will have a great chance to score against usually only the keeper or one defender and the keeper. It's a massive risk to play it, and when performed successfully it can negate a more potent attacking force. But when it goes wrong, it's hilarious, and justice is usually done.

To be honest, the offside rule is the same as the blue line, but the line moves between the halfway line (behind which it is impossible to be offside) and the last defender, wherever s/he may be on the pitch. That's why the linesmen have to have certain fitness levels, because they and the ref have to constantly move with play and anticipate what will (might?) happen. So it's an element of the game always in the back of the minds of both teams - attackers need to time their runs to get behind the defence, and the defenders need to decide whether to move up and catch the attackers offside, or follow the runner because they know one of their teammates will play them onside. An extra tactical dimension without which the game would end up with a goalhanger recruited from basketball/Spurs being marked by two defenders at the edge of the box and having no impact on the game unless the ball was near them, having been hoofed up at the earliest opportunity. It would take away the value of being able to pass or dribble through the midfield, and would reduce footballers to one of three kinds: keepers, enormous attackers, and equally enormous defenders who were able to hoof the ball straight at their attacking teammates. Six a side, maybe?

[Kitschum]

There's nothing wrong with the offside rule at all. It is working as designed.

If you'd want to avoid offside goals I'd sooner allow time out for video review, but it wouldn't be my first priority.

[Ben Kenobi]

Change that stupid ****ing retarded offsides rule. Make the penalty box the "blue line", like hockey, and be done with it.

The 'offsides trap' is what makes the 5-3-2 viable. You want to see attacking soccer, why are you taking away one of the tools that make attacking formations better?