By: Emily Byers

Friday, July 2, 2010

Why the World Cup is no substitute for football

In theory I am a huge fan of soccer.  It seems to be a uniting sport that can be played on fields in the most impoverished areas.  It's not, really.  As in other sports, the biggest wealthiest countries typically win.  The wealthiest countries in South America are the real contenders, as are the countries of Western Europe.  One might argue that the USA is the wealthiest country, but soccer isn't catching on as quickly as people anticipated ten years ago.

My own inability to get through these games without a litany of complaints proved to me once and for all that soccer has fundamental problems.  Most obviously, its ability to end in a tie.  While I'm all for tie scores in tee ball for the eight-to-ten set, tying in a bracketed competition seems flawed.  Furthermore, the idea of watching a game for ninety minutes end in a 0-0 tie makes me understand rioting on a whole new level.

Second, soccer has no incremental progress.  Though football can potentially be a low scoring game, the ability to measure progress in ten yard increments allows the viewer to celebrate milestones short of actual points scored.

Stoppage time is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever witnessed.  If a player is truly hurt then stop the clock.  If he is flopping, eject him.  It is unsatisfying to see teams in their "two minute drill" only to find out after the game that another three minutes will be played, and not even counted down at that.

Third, and most insulting for the American democratic tradition, is the ultimate power wielded by referees.  Without instant replay or coaches' challenges, it is entirely up to the referee to make judgement calls in the heat of the moment.  That I can accept.  However, after the game the referee makes no effort to justify his calls, and in these games when the referees confer following a bad call, they do not change it.

It is great to see the spotlight on Africa and unfortunate that Ghana could not advance, but it is obvious that people who advocate soccer as the greatest sport have never experienced the drama, melee, and excrusiating "game of inches" that is football.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Rule changes that would make soccer better:

1) A 10-second violation - get the fing ball across the midfield line.

2) A back-court violation - once the ball is across the midfield line, don't let the team pass it all the way back to the goalie and start the horrible process of bringing it forward again.

3) No ties. - no one wants to sit through 120 minutes of a game to see it end in a tie - Unless one is from a country where a tie is better than average, see e.g., France.

Basically, if soccer was college basketball, I would watch it, instead of commenting why it sucks and being annoyed at my friends who seem to enjoy watching for some reason once every 4 years.

Unknown said...

4) Also make the field about 20 yards shorter... there is way too much midfield play and not enough "red zone" action.