I have a lot of affection for soccer because it was my main sport growing up, and it's a great sport to play. But I just watched the highly skilled Brazilian and French teams score a single goal between them in their matches today, and it's hard not to think that the "beautiful game" could be improved. I understand that the tradition-bound fifa feel no need to modify the sport that is by far the most popular on the planet, but if North America is ever to embrace "football", changes will be necessary.
In hockey, once you get over the line into the offensive zone, offside can no longer negate a great skater from breaking free from his check for a breakaway pass. Maybe I'm missing something, but why couldn't soccer create a similar rule involving say a 35 yard line, to prevent the offside rule from continually nullifying creative through passes?
The other thing I would do is allow unlimited substitutions. Anybody who has played forward on a very large soccer pitch knows that most forwards run out of gas before the defenders because they run a lot more than the defenders. I'm not talking about regular line changes like in hockey. More like they substitute in basketball.
And maybe the soccer goal could be a foot or two wider.
If a player must leave the pitch due to injury, he should not be allowed back on for 10 minutes. A lot of the dramatics that you see in soccer would stop.
They should not have shoes with cleets. they should have a blade bisect the shoes from heel to toe for better traction. And they should play on ice with sticks.
I don't know.. some of the World Cup matches have been pretty exciting even with how low scoring it has been. I don't think there's many rule changes they could implement without drastically changing the game itself.
What soccer "players" can learn is to stop falling down like they got shot and get up and get back into the play. It is absolutely embarassing watching some of these guys falling and not getting back up, only to be back into the play after a quick breather. One player was taken off on a stretcher, came back in and scored a goal...are you kidding me? This is suppose to be the biggest tournament in the world and these so called "pros" need a freakin stretcher?
Glen Wesley blocked an Oilers shot, fell to the ground in pain, got right back up and blocked another shot before he carried HIMSELF to the bench.
The other thing they can learn is to stop the clock when there are stoppages due to out of bounds or **cough** injuries.
the only people in the world that think soccer needs improvement live in North America. The other 6.5 billion people in the world think it's the best sport on the planet. Maybe the real question is what can hockey learn from soccer.
I like the game of soccer very very much, but I can't watch MEN's soccer because they pretend that they've been shot everytime they get tackled. I've played soccer...the ONLY way you can get hurt so badly that you writhe in pain for minutes on end is if you have a head on head collision. These guys are cheaters, and gutless.
I can watch women's soccer, because they tough out their injuries: they don't want to be seen as weak.
Make no mistake... rules aren't changed just for the sheer heck of it. Rules are changed in a fairly desperate attempt to bring in fans that a league isn't drawing, be it at the gate or television. Soccer doesn't need help.
The question to be be asked has to do with what a penny ante backwater sport with diminishing interest, ratings, and attendance like hockey can learn from a sport the rest of the world watches with avid interest. Hint: It has more to do with marketing than with mucking around with the rules that make a sport great in the first place.
I'm a hockey fan and only a very casual soccer fan, once every four years, but I can still count. Someone at FIFA is doing something right.
I really could care less about soccer, but for some reason I find myself watching all of the World Cup games. I don't know if it is just because the game is really well marketed, or if deep down in my sub-conscious I am seeing some hidden beauty that my eyes are missing, because I really cant attribute my interest to any semblance of excitement in the games.
To answer the question, soccer knows what it is doing. The only things it could learn from hockey would be what not to do.
Soccer doesn't need to learn anything from hockey. It's the world's most popular sport. Do you think soccer fans care that the majority of Canadians and Americans don't follow it that much? No. Whatever they're doing, it's attracting most of the world to it.
Embellishing/Diving is a big problem in soccer, though. While casual fans like us feel that a 1-0 game is boring, most soccer fans probably don't.
They really need to find a way to stop these girls from going down and acting like they are dying. I tried to watch a couple matches, and it was just unbearable. These guys don't even get touched, and they fall and roll around like they are on fire or something. Then they get carried off on a stretcher, and they're back in the game literally 30 seconds later. It's comical at first. But it gets tiresome and is one of the main reason I probably won't watch again.
Soccer players in general have to be some of the softest athletes in the world.
This has to be among the most NA-biased, ignorant thing I've read recently (go see the thread on the american "soccer" "article" in the other sports forum). I think it was just mentioned above, that it should be hockey that should take notes from soccer, not the other way around. Theres a reason why some teams are able to purchase single players for as much as an NHL teams entire payroll. Theres a reason a single club in England is as valuable as half the the entire hockey league. Theres a reason the world outside North America embraces that sport as a religion. There isnt a single country outside Canada where hockey is of such importance --not even Sweden, or Russia.
The world could care less whether North Americans embrace the sport. How about we change hockey to make it more suitable for South American audiences? Sacriledge you say? Well no one really cares about hockey except us.
Why stop the clock? So there are commercial pauses allowing you to get the bag of chips? One of the game's great traditions is the uninterupted airing of halve. Every second is valuable, and continuity and momentum is kept. There are no TV timeouts to spare the defence.
Substitutions? They have unlimited subs in youth soccer, where some kids are not conditioned as well as others. As someone who has played forward in soccer I see your statement completely wrong. Defenders run just as much, and wingers run far more, calculated at around 20 km a game. I've played wing and forward, and both positions require conditioning, but it is not acceptable to tire out when there are limited subs. How can professional athletes not take conditioning seriously? Substitutions are critical aspects of the tactical game. They're like timeouts. Precious, and with the power to change the entire game. What if there were unlimited substitutions in hockey?
The offside system in hockey and soccer are extremely different, and can't be compared. Its not perfect, it is complicated, but its fine the way it is. Part of the game is the mental aspect of beating the other guy on this rule, timing, even cheating. Speaking of which, going down easy (something I dont approve of, but herein speak from personal experience) makes sense. Many fouls in soccer are not awarded --the ref is human-- because the player is still able to get a reasonable chance off. I tried going down easy one game, and earned three penalty shots. My coach said it was one the best games I had ever played. A smart player over a dumb brute able to take the physical aspect will triumph.
With regards to injuries, please cast your youth soccer preconceptions aside. Its not that soft a game. You have to consider that there is no protection, and that these athletes are going full pace. As anyone who has ever run before, you know the precarious situation of the legs while that is happening. The tackles, though without the thunderous noise of a bodycheck against boards (that amplify noise...), are every bit as vicious. A cleats up tackle from behind between two 170 pound athletes going 25 km/h is not pretty. Theres a reason why soccer players, especially forwards and wingers have far shorter careers than hockey players.
As for the nets? Thats just ludicrous. On one hand you have people say theyre too big, on the other too small. Theyre fine the size they are, a well placed shot can still be scored from anywhere.
Finally, North America has embraced "football". Theres more youth players in that sport than hockey in Canada, and baseball in America. Granted, the majority of those are preteen girls whose mothers view it as a safe way to get excersice, but a group stage match between Trinidad & Tobago garners as much viewership in America as the Stanley Cup Finals.
I won't deny that there can be some pretty bad incidents in soccer, but good god it's blatantly obvious some of these guys are diving. I feel embarassed for the guy, and his country whenever it happens.
Please spare us. Just because soccer is more popular then hockey doesn't mean it is perfect.
There are things that hockey could learn from soccer and vice versa.
Soccer does not need to learn anything from hockey. The game of soccer is the most popular game in the world, which means that there is something that attracts people to it, Maybe it's the ease of picking up a ball, the simple 11 on 11, the simple fouls and 2 types of penalties (cards).
Soccer doesn't need to do anything to improve itself, it is already is the most popular sport in the world, and isn't that what all sports strive to be?
Like in hockey, there are dives. There is very little anyone can do about it, most dives are only noticeable on replay.
Soccer does not need to learn anything from hockey. The game of soccer is the most popular game in the world, which means that there is something that attracts people to it, Maybe it's the ease of picking up a ball, the simple 11 on 11, the simple fouls and 2 types of penalties (cards).
Soccer doesn't need to do anything to improve itself, it is already is the most popular sport in the world, and isn't that what all sports strive to be?
Like in hockey, there are dives. There is very little anyone can do about it, most dives are only noticeable on replay.
No, it doesn't have to learn anything from hockey. One has nothing to do with the other.
But it certainly has some issues. But it is the most popular, so they don't have to do anything. How 0-0 and 1-0 games = excitement to the world I'll never know. I like to play soccer, but I just can't watch it.
