# It's time, once again, for Americans to tell the world how to fix soccer. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 14, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742 "2014-06-14T00:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/281 "2014-07-24T15:49:15Z")
That’s a rather ironic jibe, considering that I was simply standing up for my right to speak freely about the problems I as an American see with soccer, defending my doing so on the basis that it is after all the topic of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/282 "2014-08-11T16:37:06Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I, personally, would like to see more rapid transitions (the decline in same in basketball is one reason I no longer follow that sport), which, natch, would lead to more goal scoring. The issue is I am not sure how to make it more appealing to players/coaches to try that, without radically changing the game overall. In the WC, I saw some attempts at transitions/long passes back downfield, but not as many as I would have liked-players seem very reluctant to try the bomb pass, and probably with good reason, since the forward has to clearly beat the defenders (but also avoid the goalie coming up and saving the day) for it to have more than a ghost of a chance of providing you with a scoring opportunity. If it fails, the other team will easily take possession. You are advocating “long ball football” - the term is a slur that most managers try to avoid being accused of. It is just another version of anti-football - deskilling the game for the sake of expediency. It is generally the resort of teams that cannot complete on skill. Rapid counter-attack football, using a series of shorter passes between pacy breakaway forwards is a different matter - it needs the team to press the ball generally which carries risks of it’s own. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/283 "2014-08-19T15:49:21Z")
My opinion is that there should be more scoring with less 0-0 1-0 games in soccer. YogSogoth makes some good points. They would probably just need to widen the goal by something like 2 feet (1 foot on each end). I wouldn’t adjust the height. There’s often so very little scoring that I change the channel to something else out of boredom, return to the game an hour later, and it’s still 0-0. All of that running around and diving for nothing. Often they’ll go 10-15 minutes without even a goal attempt. I’m sure it’s good exercise for the participants, but not too meaningful for the onlookers. The only real negative of adjusting the goal size is that it would be hard to compare current, after-change play to pre-change play. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/284 "2014-08-19T19:44:41Z")
I would increase the width of the goal just enough to bring the average final score up to 5-6 points per team. I don’t think they need to score in the double digits on average to make it interesting. I don’t watch basketball anymore because it’s too easy to score, but the games strangely quite often end going down to the wire. My conspiracy theory is that the refs subconsciously try to keep the game close for the spectators entertainment. If soccer games were scoring 5 or 6 goals a game average per team, it would reduce the number of times that you get bored watching a goal-less game, change the channel, then return an hour later to find the game still tied 0 to 0. Also, historically, have soccer games always been so low scoring, or did the scores gradually decrease somewhat over time as the goalies have become maybe more skilled or maybe the defense strategies have become more sophisticated over time? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/285 "2014-08-19T20:39:01Z")
Did we already cover cutting back on semi-meaningless tournaments and exhibitions during the course of a league season? “Well, we got too fatigued playing those extra games to win the league championship, but at least we were first runner-up at the Inter-Pan-American-Eurasian Tourney and won the Athletic Supporters’ Shield for fewest fans injured in riots.” ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742/286 "2014-08-20T05:21:21Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I just want to point out the the offside rule, or its equivalent, exists in just about every sport that involves getting an object into an opponent’s goal: soccer, hockey, lacrosse, etc. > > The reason is the same for all those sports. The game becomes very boring without the rule, because a team can keep an offensive player right next to the goal all the time. Not all sports. Field Hockey used to have an Offside rule (identical with soccer), but it was dropped in the 1990s. There are the usual opinions as to whether the game is better or worse - what no one disputes is that the game is now _ **different.** _ Different tactics, different game flow. An offside rule has a huge impact on how a game is played. If you remove it, what you have is a different game. It may well be a worse game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-once-again-for-americans-to-tell-the-world-how-to-fix-soccer/690742.md?page=14)