Big Question: Have there been too few goals?

We need to go after the fans with whistles, there have been times when the players stopped thinking it was the ref blowing the whistle. Lets throw them out of the stadium!

Here are my ideas to improve soccer:

1. the red/yellow cards are now pretty silly, giving the referee too much power and influence over the game and we have little basis to trust their impartiality (everyone has his price.) I would recommend a penalty box, for which a player would receive escalating time off the field, depending on degree of foul and number of fouls committed (5, 10, 15 minutes.) Tell me this, would a player dive if he thought he might them spend the next 15 minutes thinking about it on the sidelines in the “sin bin?” Simple to enforce, very punishing and more directly punishing to both player and team. Successive fouls (dives) impact player and team substantially

2.No gloves for goal keepers. Look back at games 20-25 years ago, keepers were fortunate to stop any decent shot on the goal. Many wore no gloves. Do we really want it to be easier for keepers to make saves? The answer is no.

3. 2 referees, just like the old time US style referee system used in high school and college. Benefits: 1. seeing the fouls missed, no “Hand of God” occurrences 2. Harder to bribe the refs (and more expensive if they are good negotiators!)

Would welcome comments….

Posted from  United States

So what? Goals alone don’t make for a great game. Some of the more memorable games have been low scoring. Germany-Argentina, Germany-Italy, England-Portugal. Don’t cheapen the worth of a goal. The look of sheer ecstacy on Grosso’s face celebrating his semi final goal should tell you that.

Posted from  United States

Thank you Paul! I was getting backed into a corner here…

Anyway, I just wanted to add to my previous comment by sharing a link to an analysis by Graeme Le Saux on Eurosport. It backs up the whole “active defense” without sacrificing offense angle mentioned above.

Enjoy:
http://eurosport.com/football/worldcup/2006/sport_sto921861.shtml

Posted from  United States

I too miss the days of a 3-2 or 4-3 semi-final. I would like to see the total elimination of the offside rule. Some of these offsides are a question of inches. There is no way that a linesman can keep an eye on the kicker and at the same time look 20 yards or more downfield to see if the player is onside or offside. If the player is a yard or more offside it’s no problem but it becomes as problem when the difference is just inches or less. Also 3 yellow cards before you miss the next game might help too. I also agree with the idea of having a quick restart after a foul. If the defense can’t set up their wall fast enough then let them be punished for it. We don’t need to waste 2 minutes of playing time for a free kick near the box.

Posted from  United States

ARE YOU SERIOUS MR. Blatter???? I THINK HE JUST SAID THAT BECAUSE THAT WHAT HE THINKS PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR. I HAVE BEEN MORE THAN SATISFIED WITH ALL THE GOALS IN THE WORLD CUP. LISTEN IF YOU THINK YOU THE WORLD CUP NEEDS MORE GOALS FOR YOU TO WATCH YOU SHOULD NOT BE WATCHING IN THE FIRST PLACE, TO ME THE GOALS DETERMINE THE OUT-COME BUT THE JOY IS WATCHING THE GAME, THE INTENSITY, THE CLOSE CALLS, THE GOALS THAT ALMOST WERE, YOU KNOW, THAT’S FOOTBALL. TO ME SOME OF THE BEST GAMES ARE THE ONES THAT DRAW ZERO-ZERO. SO COME Sepp Blatter THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY BEFORE YOU SAY IT. FOOTBALL IS FINE, THE WORLD CUP IS THE BEST, AND I THINK I’M THE BIGGEST FOOTBALL FAN EVER AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF THE WORLD CUP, SO TAKE THAT Sepp Blatter, FIFA SHOULD FIRE YOU FOR SAYING THAT, LOL. NO, REALLY THEY SHOULD.

Posted from  United States

I agree that an intense 0-0 match can be a delicious dish. I actually think the Sweden vs T&T match was one of the most entertaining ones of the first round.
Now, having said that, I do miss those all out 4-2, 4-3 scores that were common place in olden times. Mexico 1970 anyone???

I think the biggest problem is the defensive minded formations that every one uses now a days. I guess they are a result of the “total football” revolution but everybody and their aunt seems to be playing a 4-5-1 nowadays, hoping to score an early goal and then defend it like crazy. I wonder if any coach will ever again have the guts to come out with a 4-2-4 formation and adopt the “let them score one, we’ll score two” philosophy.

Perhaps another tweak to the offside rule will improve things - make the player onside as long as some part of his body is in line with the last defender - even if it is just the heel of his boot. That change would greatly simplify the linesman’s job - he will have to see clear daylight between the players before raising his flag - and get rid of 95% of the controversial calls, but I think the endemic reason is mainly associated with coaches that are afraid to take any risks.

Posted from  United States

Oh, and add to that the infuriating increased enphasis some attacking players have on diving. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are sacrificing what could have been an excellent goal scoring opportunity just for the sake of impressing the ref and maybe getting a penalty or a card for the defender. In this cup, I have counted at least 20 clear chances that were wasted by the attacking player just because they opted for flopping like a salmon out of water, intead of making the little extra effort and staying on their feet.

Posted from  United States

Futahaguro, as sexy as your recommendation sounds, I’d hate the idea of the players sliding into the goal instead of the ball. What outfit would you recommend for the goal?

Posted from  United States

does anyone here feel that over the years the players have lost ball skills and the sheer magic touches of a Pele or a Maradona or a Cryuff? To me that seems to be the most glaring aspect of football over the years. I mean,years from now, we really won’t be gushing about Beckham or Figo or Ronaldo or Pirlo, will we? They all seem as mortal as the next man in line at times. Much more than they look like heroes, i ought to say.

Players everywhere are getting more physical, even Brazil or Argentina. More crosses than dribbling across the centre of tghe field and fooling defenders left and right. Will we ever see another vintage goal like Maradona’s 86 strike against England?

I think its this aspect of the game that’s central to the riddle of why there are less goals nowadays, not only in the WCs but even in club football.

Posted from  India

I think with the coach becoming wiser(are they?) and getting more technologies into the training…goal scoring has become a tough affair…n as the match become mmore important..like World Cup..they are more concerned with defending and sitting back for a mistake from the opponent…most team these days are relyin on 4-5-1..n the days of revolutionary..4-2-4 r gone except for Brazil..I think a different version of soccer shuld be lauched .It would be like a counter part to ONE DAY INTRNATNLS n Cricket..let there be 7-8 players each with saller grounds…n more subs

Posted from  India

The thing of carefull note is that there were many more goals in the group phase when a draw wasn’t enough and the teams who came to win WON.
France had this same lineup but couldn’t win a game because the opposing team would settle for a draw(Swiss & Kore) and they almost went out because of this. Italy also played with 2 strikers then, so did England, Spain Brazil, even Ukraine (Veronin, Rebrov). Portugal never played well (penalty against mexico & Booed against Angola).
In the knockout rounds the 1 strikers came out and the tendency was on counterattack. That the reason for Brazil’s demise (luck too in Roberto Carlos had no moment of stupidity it would have been penalties) and Argentina too (Requelme for Cambiasso allowed Germany to move up the pitch, and Messi should have come on for Crespo).
These teams new if it came to 1-1 or 0-0 they still had penalties as long as they weren’t behind. That’s why we have had so many extra-time matchs. Case in Point Italy only added another striker in extra time, Portugal never really did, Simao is a winger and Postiga isn’t a center-forward and needs to play-off someone like Pauleta. England was a complete joke.

As for the yellow cards FIFA made a point that it was to minimize injuries - It worked! I remember only one player having to go off because of a “bad tackle” - Cristiano Ronaldo diver extraordineer. Marco Van Basten, German great Sammer and so many times Ronaldo have been often cut down by these takles. Now players dive more than they get kicked.
Yes some yellow cards were unwarranted but for all the sliding tackles from behind, tugging of jerseys and elbows yes they are warranted. If anyone saw Totti’s injury this year you will remember the player did the exact same tackle from behind moments before and didn’t get carded one the second occasion when he broke his ankle he didn’t get carded either. If he was in this world cup he would have gotten a yellow card the first time = no second tackle = no broken ankle.
Tackles from behind are used by defenders to make up for bad positioning and desperation and rarely get the ball. Ask yourself this: how many Italian defenders have missed games for 2 yellow cards? There is a reason why they are known as the best defenders in the world not one has been so out of position in this entire tounament. The players who get the yellow cards are simply naive and not up scratch and probably couldn’t cut it on the Italian team (Materazzi is second choice for club & country - straight red, De Rossi is a moron like Rooney - straight red)
I have an idea though, if the sending off of a player kills the game don’t send him off - give the opposing team a penalty! keep the player on kick him out the next match and if he gets a red or yellow card again - another penalty! Then you might see coaches take agitated players off so they don’t give the game away. The last defender would not Kick down an attacker that would allow them to score anyway! Let me know what you think, I think something similar is done in basketball

Posted from  United States

The solution is simple. Goalies have gotten bigger, so make the goal bigger. Presto, more goals.

Posted from  Canada

Chris, I agree with your points 1) and 3). The goalie needs the gloves in case someone steps on his hands.. ouch.. my thought at least. 2 refs is good, but your best point is numero uno. that is a great idea.

Posted from  United States

How about two goals for each team. If you miss one, you might get the other..

Posted from  United States

Please!! a penalty box?!, more referees?!
Football has been spectacular many times without all that North American sports rules. Don’t try to change it. Football is football, if you want to go and invent another sport then go on. We have seen brilliant games in this WC and we have seen bad ones too, but that’s just football, it can’t be perfect otherwise it wouldnt be fun anymore.
I do believe that defensive soccer has become popular overcthe past years, Greece won the Europe’s Cup! a great showing of discipline and defence was all they needed, but it makes the game a bit less fun to wacth sometimes.
In the end we still live and our hearts still beat for this sport and I think the sport goes trhough many tactical changes and maybe someday we will go back to the old 3-3-4 or more offensive styles that existed in the early stages of this sport. Football is football! leave it be!

Posted from  Ecuador

If Blatter is of the opinion that “there aren’t enough goals - and when there are too few goals, the public isn’t very enthusiastic….the essence of the game is goals”, then this can be solved in a stroke of the pen. Get rid of the offside rule. It will open the game up to a level never realised, more goals, faster play and extreme defensive play will be obselete because the quick breakway can be launched with no fear of offside.

Posted from  Australia

My measure would be a lot simpler without changing the ruloes, dimensions etc. : make 0-0 draws worth zero points. SCore draws 1 point. This should apply to all competitions.
This would make coaches chase at least one goal per game, increase the number of attacking players in every squad and competition. It would reward the attacking minded African teams, penalise the defensive ones and change the culture of football.
I cannot argue with the loosening of the offside rule to amke it wasier for officials, or the use of technology. But if you don’t want to tamper with rules, just change competition point scale.
And anyone who believes 0-0 draws are exciting… there is little I can say to change your outdated minds. Yes, T&T v Sweden was great, but how mnay of those are there compared to boring 0-0 draws. Here in Oz, we need to attract fans from other codes and 0-0 draws do not do this.

Posted from  Australia

The low score soccer game definitely need to change. How many times have we seen the scores being 0-0, or 1-1, and had to rely on penalty kick to decide the winner. For those who claim that score isn’t important, I have to ask, “why are we playing a competitive game? May be we ought to do ballet with the ball instead if we’re only interested in the skill and technique !”

My suggestion to improve the game:
1. Offside rule should only apply when the offensive player runs into the penalty area.

2. Make it difficult for defensive players under attack to just kick the ball away by:
a. Any ball kicked by the defensive player crossing his own goaline results not a corner kick, but a free kick at the corner of the penalty area (18 yards from the goal), and all players except the goalie must stand outside of the penalty box and away from the kicking lane.
b. Any ball kicked by the defensive player crossing the sideline within 18 yards from the goaline results not a throw in, but a corner kick. For corner kicks, at most 2 offensive players and 2 defensive players(excluding the goalie) are allowed inside the penalty area.

3. All penalty resulting in a yellow card must accompanied by a free kick as in (a) above.

4. All penalty resulting in a red card must accompied by a penalty kick (12 yards from the goal).

Posted from  United States

I think we need more goals.

FIFA can make the goals bigger and/or change the rules of offside.

More goals is necessary to avoid deciding a game based on penalties, or the flip of a coin, which kills the spirit of an emotion-loaded game.

We don’t need basketball-like scores in the 100’s, but a 5-4 victory of Italy over France (or vice-versa) would have been much better than 1-1 the anti-climactic penalties resolution.

Screaming OOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!! a few more times during a game is way more exciting; but too many goals would steal the emotion of the close-calls.

Posted from  United States

Scoring is the name of the game. Without goals you can’t win.

I disagree with many of the writers who support 0-0 games.

Football, or soccer as we call it (because we have to be different), has been on a steady decline since the mid-80’s. Money has entered the game on a level that is unprecidented. For coaches this has lead to fear on many fronts. Keeping your job and keeping your high priced talent happy became the order of the day. Somewhere along the way they forgot that fans generate the income and you are meant to entertain them…

That said let’s look at history. In the World Cup of the 50’s Teams like Hungary and Germany produced 26 and 25 goals in 5 and six games respectively. This year’s winner, Italy, produced just 12 goals in 7 games. This was an especially high scoring year for Italy as well. [In each of their cup victories they scored 12 goals with the exception of '38 with 11 goals (in 4 games).]

Look at how scoring averages have dropped and continue to plumet. Watch as playmakers no longer fill rosters. With Zidane leaving the game you are seeing one of the last of his kind, comparable to Platini, Maradona, Cruyff, Pele and Puskas. Look at all the modern teams and what history has told us is a playmaker is missing. Captains like Beckham playing on the wing?

FIFA has struggled in recent years with rule changes engineered to speed play in the hopes of more goals. Even recently making changes to the offsides rule with even no longer being off. Changing the ball is another wild goose chase. The new ball only seemed to hurt scoring.

All of this while the solution that eludes them is right in front of their eyes, but difficult for them to control.

The problem is coaching, pure and simple. There are no coaches that play with an offensive mindset. The closest we came in this Cup was Klinsmann who when he made defensive decisions saw bad results. Even van Basten who I would have expected more from ran his forwards into the ground chasing balls played into 2 and 3 defenders. And lastly, Arena who when he needed an all or nothing win chose to start with 1 forward against Ghana.

The “modern” coach plays with 1 or 2 forwards, 4 or 5 midfielders and 4 or 5 defenders. What a ludicrous system if you want to score goals. How can you run 1 or even 2 forwards against 4 or 5 defenders. Defenses make mistakes when they are tired. How will 1 man tire out 4.

Another simple concept is that the ball tends to be where players are. If you have all your players in the defensive 2/3 of the field, where do you think the ball will be.

On a corner kick why are there 20 players in the box? If a forward goes back to defend a corner he brings another attacker with him.

Well, I could go on and on, but I have a suggestion for FIFA. All of these coaches must obtain licenses through this governing body. Thus they can exert some influence. Here are my suggestions:

1- Start to use history to teach coaches about attacking offensive soccer. Plant the seeds now so that they can take root in a new generation. No license without this lesson.

2- Avoid changing the rules of the game. Involving referees as much as they have is choking the game. Players are becoming soap actors. Leave the rules alone, except for possibly adding 4th official replay to strike fear into player/faker hearts.

3- Get the money out of the looker room. The situation that companies like Nike created for Brazilians should be the writing on the wall.

4- Publicly criticize coaching when it is to defensive. The public will hear it and so will the coaches.

5- Launch promotional campaigns directed at todays youth. Help to create playmakers and goal scorers. Don’t forget this generation of players watched the 1990 World Cup when they were 8,9 and 10. That was the lowest scoring cup ever (followed by this one). Kids are sponges, teach them.

Make these simple changes and a movement towards better football will begin. Playmakers will come back and entertaining play will come back on the field instead of in the commercials.

Goals will be scored…

Posted from  United States

Re: John Thelian’s comments
“without goals you can’t win”
What about Germany v Argentina? You can win on a PSO.

“The problem is coaching, pure and simple. There are no coaches that play with an offensive mindset”
Most coaches used to. But the game has changed so much in recent years that any coach playing to the old styles would be be sending out his team to almost certain defeat at the top levels of football.

Its futile to blame coaches and players for negative play. Their job is to get results. Even 1-0 and 0-0 results will do.

Ultimately its down to FIFA and its rule making arm IFAB to adjust the rules to stem the falling goal rates worldwide. Possible remedies are 1) bigger goals. 2) changes to the offside rule eg no offside from a free kick. There is already no offside from a throw -in 3) Use of video evidence to crack down on the cheats. 4) 10 minutes off the field with every yellow card. 5) Automatic yellow cards for certain offences such as shirt pulling.

Posted from  Australia

I should have said Portugal v England above. Portugal won without scoring a goal. I’m not counting PSOs.

Germany v Argentina finished 1-1

Posted from  Australia

the purists out there love to say ‘football is good as it is’ so don’t change it. The problem with this argument is that football is a continually evolving entity, in particular changes in the laws occur routinely (usually to encourage attacking or non-dangerous play) while players fitness and proffessionalism have improved continuously over the last 50 years. People say ‘more goals doesn’t mean a better game’ but they ignore that the low number of goals scored is a result of very few serious attempts on goal.

Why so few quality goal chances in games? Basically defending is now too easy when the defence has time to set itself. The best way to break down a defence is from broken play when players are out of position (beating a man or a great pass is less effective these days). As a result the optimal way to play the game is either to do a greece: defend and score from set pieces, or do an Italy: defend and score on the break.

Changes to the goal size or offside rule on freekicks won’t change how easy it is to defend generally and so won’t lead to more of the kind of goals that people want to see. Removing the offside rule might work, however might lead to just boring long ball play. Reducing (or increasing) the number of players on the field might work or might not, only a trial would tell.

Anyhow, my point is that 1) there is a problem, 2) the problem to solve is that defending is too easy, simply trying to get more goals won’t necessarily lead to good football.

Posted from  Australia

“Changes to the goal size or offside rule on freekicks won’t change how easy it is to defend generally”

Why not? How do you know this? The truth is that no-one knows for sure what will work and what won’t. I agree with FIFA/IFAB that we should be very cautious about changing the rules. However there’ve been lot good suggestions, made since the borefest that was Italia90, for rule improvements that could well be trialled out in one or two of the better semi -pro leagues around the World.

The least that FIFA /IFAB should do, is sanction a few experiments. Let’s find out what works, and what doesn’t.

If you think this WC was lacking in goals, remember that the scoring rate in the KO stages of the 2005/2006 European Champions League was a a magnificant 1.3 per game.

Posted from  Australia