Why I Hate Soccer
In a great sport, the ending is marked by the greatest achievement—Maxi Rodriguez's left foot in overtime against Mexico the other night, a dream goal. Letting a great competition drain off into the stultifying gutchurning spectacle of Penalty Kicks is as demoralizing as, say, letting a baseball game be decided by a home run derby contest with coaches from each side throwing batting practice. Or letting a football game be decided by a field goal competition. Or a basketball game come down to a competition from the free throw line.
Please change this game. Give us endless substitutions, so the world can see Messif, and Ballack is not crawling up and down the field, and the score is 3-2 or 2-1, not 1-1.
Soccer fans, tell me why I'm wrong.
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Mondoweiss,
Yes, penalty kicks are bad -- but they're not used so often in "regular" soccer, i.e., in the various leagues around the world. During the season, the teams simply tie.
But in an elimination round of the World Cup, there can't be a tie. Only one team can move to the next round! So we soccer dilettantes get all up in the soccer world and tell them they don't know how to run their games, when what we're seeing is the exception, not the rule.
Still, yes, it's a demoralizing ending; the question is: what's a good alternative? After a full _two hours_ of soccer with extra time, the players realistically can't play for much longer. Baseball is a leisurely stroll compared to soccer, so you can continue extra innings indefinitely -- plus you have a bigger dugout of reserve players to draw from. Maybe at least the limit on subs should be killed in soccer during extra time, so players don't have to have a heart attack.
Me, I think they should eliminate the offsides rule _completely_, which will create more goals. It'd be much more exciting.
Mate I completely agrtee with you and have been saying this for years.
I say take a player off every 2 mins that way there will be a result.
Or better still, world cup should be based on consistency not just who wins on the day. Increase the size of the squads and play a round robin style format. That way the team that wins is the one that is the most consistant. + think of all the extra revenue that that horrible FIFA will earn.