A Modest Proposal
Now remember, I'm on your side now, soccer guy. I've seen fourteen World Cup Matches in a row. I'm reading The Miracle of Castel di Sangro (which is fantastic, by the way). When I read today that an Italian prosecutor wants Juventus demoted to Serie C "or lower," I know how earthshaking that would be.Before the World Cup started, here was my list of favorite sports:
1. Pro Football
2. Pro Hockey (playoffs only)
3. College Football
4. College Basketball
5. Pro Basketball (playoffs only)
6. Baseball
117. Soccer
I've pretty much got a five-sport limit in terms of what I can follow. And soccer's #5 now, pushing pro basketball into relegation. It's in the rotation and it's not leaving anytime soon.
One thing really bothers me, though: great athletes play soccer, but they only rarely get to display their greatness. And that's a problem.
A game that goes through 120 minutes of play tied 0-0 and gets decided by penalty kicks is a problem.
And because of the tiny amount of goals scored, the referee's tremendous power is a problem.
So, in typical American know-it-allness, here are three rule changes I would like to see to create more scoring chances. Each change is consistent with the existing philosophy of the game, and none of them are large enough to disrupt the game's core. Also, they would be easy to call and easy to enforce.
1) The defense cannot pass the ball back to the keeper unless it is an uninentional deflection.
Bailing out defenders by letting them kick the ball back to the keeper whenever they feel threatened is weak. This would encourage forwards to press, it would create more one-on-one situations, and it would open up the field because forwards would not drop back so quickly.
I know that the rule was changed so that the keeper can only kick the ball (not use his hands) if it's passed back to him, but the existing rule still bails defenders out in situations that should be very dramatic.
2) When a defender kicks the ball out-of-bounds, a free kick is awarded at the spot of the kick.
Here's another situation where defenders get bailed out. If they don't like the looks of a developing attack and the ball comes to them, they can just kick it out of bounds over the sideline. Again, right when things begin to look exciting, play gets stopped. With this rule change, if a defender kicks the ball to the sideline from near the center of the field, the free kick is awarded from where he kicked it. So he can still get momentary relief, but the resulting play is much more potentially dangerous, and it's a free kick, not a throw-in.
3) Move the defending wall back two meters on free kicks.
If I remember correctly, the wall's already been moved back at some point in the past, but moving it back another two meters would make free kicks much more dangerous. And it's also easy to enforce, just like the other two changes.
These rule changes complement each other at times. So if a defender feels pressure and would normally pass the ball back to the keeper, he now has to kick it over the sideline instead. When he does that, though, the attacking team gets a free kick from the spot where he kicked the ball, and that free kick is going to be taken with the wall moved back an additional two meters.
If he keeps the ball in play and passes it forward, though, he might well be rewarded, because with the opposing forwards pressing to regain the ball, downfield is more open. So the risk-reward goes from being totally in favor of defensive play to something a little more balanced.
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