As much as I love soccer — and I believe that it's one of the most thrilling sports out there with fans more passionate than any other — I have to admit, it's not perfect. Not that any sport is perfect, but there are some changes to soccer that are so simple to make and that could improve the game so much that it's almost inexplicable why they haven't already been implemented. Of course, other people have proposed all of these ideas before, but I thought I would make a list of the top three changes that would be made to the game in a perfect world:
1. Replay Technology
Video replay technology is something that has been implemented in almost every other major professional sport — baseball, football, basketball, hockey, tennis, rugby; the list goes on and on. Because of that, there have been increasingly loud calls for it to be implemented in soccer, and with good reason. Every goal that is incorrectly awarded or not awarded is followed by another round of lambasting FIFA (and rightfully so) for being so change-averse and refusing to remove the ambiguity and human error from the game.
Which brings me to my solution. Here's what to do: Employ a fifth official for every game as the "video replay official," and have him buzz down to the referee every time there should be a review. But here's the critical part: only have replays for goal calls, penalties and yellow/red cards.
The reason for this is simple: let's say the replays covered offside calls, and in a game, the referee blew for offside but a replay was conducted, showing the play to be onside. What would you do then? There's simply no way to recreate the play exactly as it was before the offside was called.
The standard would be the same as in the NFL — there has to be indisputable visual evidence to overturn the call on the field. And the system would actually save time, because players would really have no leg to stand on in arguing with the official, and any player who did so would get a yellow card. Replay would improve soccer as a whole, taking the ambiguity and controversy out of the game, and leading to a better quality of play for all.
2. Celebration Reform
This one's really easy, so I won't spend much time on it: change the rules to stop giving players yellow cards for taking their shirts off during celebrations. This nonsensical rule has led to numerous players being sent off; it also makes no sense, because referees tolerate almost every other type of celebration, from jumping into the stands to kicking the corner flag. Stop punishing players for emotion — no one really cares if they take their shirts off, we just want to see them play the game.
3. Get rid of those penalty shootouts
This is probably the most controversial of my suggestions, but here goes: Stop having penalty shootouts to decide games in major tournaments, especially the World Cup. A shootout really says more about luck than about who was the better team; it's like deciding a thrilling basketball game with a free-throw competition. I know it creates a lot of drama, but wouldn't continuing to play extra time create more drama? And here's a suggestion to stop the game from going on forever: after one 15-minute period of extra time, if no goals are scored, each team will be reduced to 9 players. That will create more open space on the field, and more chances that a real goal is scored. In the end, fans want to see the best team win, not the team that happens to score the most goals in a shooting competition from 12 yards away.
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David McIntyre is a junior majoring in political science. He can be reached at David.Mcintyre@tufts.edu.
