4 Ways to Improve Football

I've been known to defend the game against fellow sports fans, particularly in the United States where it has not caught on in the mainstream the way the NFL and Major League Baseball dominate. I've defended it almost to a fault, ridiculing any changes that which would "ruin the game." However, this past World Cup and this current season, it has become obvious that there are some changes needed to soccer, and perhaps the MLS, as a new soccer nation, could experiment with these rules to determine their practicality. No, these rules are not as drastic as the suggested "Make the goals bigger" or "reduce the number of players on the field to 10 to open up more lanes." These are minor changes that should have a more dramatic effect. So without further adieu, here are this soccer fan's 4 ways to improve soccer for the better, WITHOUT changing the game.

PROBELM AREA #1: FEIGNING INJURY
Many teams, especially on the international level (COUGH! THE ITALIANS! COUGH! THE DAMN PORTUGUESE!!!) seem to think that the best way to wear down an opponent is through an extended series of set-pieces, brought on by an extended series of free kicks brought about by fouls. Players will roll around on the ground, screaming in pain, the match is stopped, and a few seconds later, the player who couldn't even stand up is flanking around for a winning header.
Suggestion: Allow the match to continue while a player recieves medical attention. This is a common practice in rugby, a sport that descended from soccer and likewise has a running clock. One team simply continues play with the number of players being 11 vs. 10. Is this unfair? Perhaps, but because of this numerical disadvantage, 1.) There will be no incentive to fake an injury, as it will leave your team vulnerable to counterattack, 2.) Players who actually are hurt will be taken off the pitch quickly so as to avoid risking further disadvantage to the team, and further injury to the player.

The game already continues with this disadvantage when the player receives medical treatment off the sidelines, but only after a stoppage in play, disrupting whatever flow or momentum was present in the game. If the player is in the middle of the field instead of near the sidelines, perhaps have the trainer bring a flourescent orange flag or something to plant in the ground by the injured player, so as to avoid being involved in the play while the injured footballer is attended to.

If a player moved out of bounds if his injury was close to a touch line, he could re-enter at any point in the match, but could not be the first player to touch the ball following his return.

An added benefit here is that it would reduce or even eliminate the need for added time at the end of each half for injuries.

PROBLEM AREA #2: GOAL REVIEW
Sometimes goals are controversial, and in a sport where scoring means so much, officials should get it right. Liverpool's goal in their 1-0 Champions League victory against Chelsea in 2005 was...with all respect to Liverpool fans, questionable. Likewise, Michael Ballack's obvious handball on the USA's goal in the 2002 World Cup ended the Americans' run.

Solution: Instant Replay for goals
Ice hockey, Basketball and American football have employed instant replay to confirm the accuracy of their officials in scoring. Each coach would be given one challenge per match (we could even use the same red flag, or the coach could indicate his wish to the fourth official, or both).

If a call is overturned, then that coach will recieve another challenge for that match, but no more than 2 in a match. If the coach is wrong, then he will lose a substitution (coaches are only allowed three). If all three substitutions have been used, then a coach must take a player off the field.

Coaches may challenge only on the "reviewable" grounds that a goal was scored but was not ruled one, a goal was ruled to have occured but did not cross the line, offsides, or an illegal touch (Handball, first player to touch the ball having come from out of bounds). As in football, the call on the field will be upheld unless there is indisputable visual evidence that it should be overturned.

PROBLEM AREA #3: DIVING
One of the biggest complaints that is heard from fans and detractors alike is that there is too much diving in soccer. This was painfully on display at the last World Cup, especially with the Italians. Their Round of 16 tie with Australia where the Socceroos had them on the rack in the closing minutes, heading for extra time, only to have an Italian felled by an invisible hit, and deliver the winning penalty kick as time expired. As long as there is incentive to cheat, players will try to gain advantage. They are competitors.

Solution: Extra officials
In a sport with a field as wide as soccer's, and the direction of play changing constantly and often over long distances, it is impossible for the officials to keep pace with the game in a way that would enable them to be on top of every play. As a result, players often oversell or dramaticize contact in hope of drawing a foul and that the official will be too far away from the action to make a difference. Basketball uses three officials and only has 10 players on a small court. Soccer has 22 players on a large field and only has one official whose job it is to call fouls (the linesmen are responsible for out-of-bounds plays)

Ideally, I would call for at least one additional referee on the field to patrol one half, while the other official patrolled the other half of the pitch. I would even go so far as to add two extra officials who would remain stationed behind the goal line to ensure that diving in the penalty area did not affect the outcome of the game.

PROBLEM AREA #4: BUNKER MENTALITY

They say that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in soccer. A single goal by the trailing team gives them the momentum needed to score the tying goal. As a result, many teams enter a bunker mentality as soon as they score the goal to put them up by two. They look to protect their net at all costs, often resulting in ugly play. Many Premiership matches end by 2-0 scorelines as teams refuse to push forward and risk giving up momentum or their secured three points.

Solution: Offer bonus points for a win of 3 goals or more in league play
Rugby currently offers bonus points in league play for a team that scores more than 5 tries, and for a team that loses by less than two scores. This keeps games interesting and exciting even when the outcome has been decided. I would propose offering 1 bonus point for a win by 3 goals or more, so a 2-1 win would earn a team 3 points in the standings, but a 4-1 win would earn four. FIFA has already altered the point format in league play, from 2 points for a win to 3 in the 1990s, and this did serve to help alleviate many draws. With this new scoring system in place, English Premiership second-place side Chelsea could pass leaders Manchester United in 2 matches instead of 3. This would make for more exciting league title chases and more exciting group play in international tournaments.

The Joy of Becks

David Beckham will not bring MLS to EPL-level popularity. David Beckham will not kill MLS. Settle down, people.

The dust has begun to settle on the biggest blockbuster move in Major League Soccer's history, with David Beckham leaving Spanish giants Real Madrid for the greener pastures and faker breasts of Southern California. They say that history repeats itself, and in the minds of many sportswriters who don't spend the majority (or even a slim minority) of their time writing about soccer, the move has drawn comparisons to Pele signing for the now-defunct New York Cosmos in the now-defunct North American Soccer League in the 1970s. Just this morning passing by a sports bar, I saw Becks and Pele on Sportscenter. Oh, brother.

Are there similarities? Sure. Both Pele and Beckham are both icons that transcend their sport. They both played a sport that was/is looking for a foothold in the crowded national sports landscape. For another example, not many Americans follow skiing with the passion of a Packers or Red Sox fan, but I bet a lot of people would be able to tell me who Bode Miller or Picabo Street is. Same with golf and Tiger Woods, or Tennis and Andre Agassi. Likewise, Beckham's move could mirror Pele's by bringing more star talent to America's top flight. Pele's name lent instant credibility to the upstart North American Soccer League, which helped lure players like Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, and George Best. Today, the MLS offseason rumor mill is flying with word of Ronaldo (Brazil), Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic), Claudio Reyna (USA), Luis Figo (Portugal) and Jared Borghetti(Mexico) making the jump to MLS by this time next year. Beckham's signing bought the league more free advertising in a day than it has probably had in its previous 11 seasons.

But the comparison between Beckham's arrival in 2007 with Pele's in 1975 is a faulty one. It looks similar on the surface, but the reality is anything but. The two players enter two completely different teams in different leagues in different eras with totally different standing in the sports mindset.

Major League Soccer is not the NASL, Becks is not Pele.

For starters, soccer, while still definitely the 4th or 5th sport in a 3-sport country (Depending on where you place hockey in the national consciousness,) is in a much better position now than it was in the 1970s. The 2006 World Cup Final drew more viewers than the World Series in 2006. That never would have happened in the 1970s, regardless of who was playing. Pele's arrival was a last gasp for a league on the verge of folding. Beckham's arrival at Victoria Street is the logical next step in a league that has survived its financial childhood and is maturing into a legitimate, stable, long-term league.

Stemming from this relatively increased popularity, Major League Soccer actually has the money to afford to pay Beckham without bankrupting the league like the Cosmos's All-Washup-All-Star team did in the 1970s. The NASL had no salary cap, and no league-wide structure to ensure that payroll expanded correspondingly with financial growth. The end result was a player-salary arms race between the New York Cosmos and Los Angeles Aztecs. Any game not involving those teams was more or less irrelevant. Teams regularly folded like socks.

MLS on the other hand is organized in a single-entity structure, and has alotted only one "Designated Player" slot per team (13 league wide). The slots are tradeable, but no team can have more than two. New York has two such slots since trading Honduran international and team captain Amado Guevara to CD Chivas USA in exchange for their DP slot. RBNY can now sign two players, for whatever salary they want, with it only counting as $450,000 against the salary cap. This structure allows even the small-market teams like Kansas City Wizards and Columbus Crew to avoid repeating the fate of their predecessors, teams like the Tulsa Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Rowdies, who simply could not afford to keep pace with the wild spending of the Aztecs and Cosmos.

So where's this money coming from? Well, for one, ESPN has just signed an 8-year deal with MLS, marking the first time that rights fees have ever been paid to the league. Next summer, if you turn on ESPN2 on Thursday nights expecting to see a baseball game. Sorry to disappoint you, but you will be watching the best soccer teams in America (and one in Canada) square off. By contrast, the first NASL game to be televised on ABC, went to commercial breaks. Yes. Commercial breaks in a soccer game. But the players kept playing, and during the break, the first goal of the game was scored. Soccer's come a long way since then.

The money that MLS has that the NASL never had also comes from teams having control over their revenue streams by playing in their own stadiums. The idea that the NASL was widely popular in the 1970s is a stretch at best, and a farce at worst. The NASL average attendance never hit 15,000, and even during Pele's reign, leaguewide attendance only averaged about 8,000. Even teams in big markets like the Chicago Sting and Toronto Blizzard struggled to draw 5-digit crowds. Many tickets were just given away. Sure, the Cosmos may have been the league's highest-drawing team, and were popular in the era of Studio 54. However, even the Cosmos couldn't fill half the seats in Giants Stadium even in their Pele heyday. Likewise, they still had to pay rent to play in a stadium that did not belong to them. A few seasons later, attendance dropped, fan interest fizzled, and the Cosmos were relegated to the sports nostalgia scrap heap.

Fast-forward to 2007. This season, Major League Soccer will have 13 clubs in 12 cities. Of those 13 clubs, 7 will play in stadiums designed for Major League Soccer. One more (New England) plays in a stadium its owner (Bob Kraft) owns (Woohoo! Free rent!). New stadiums in New York and Salt Lake have already broken ground. New stadiums in Kansas City and Washington, DC are not far off. In addition to not having to pay rent, MLS owners can fill dates by booking other events, such as lacrosse, high school and college sports, international matches, other sporting events, and concerts, which bring in the most money. Having control of this revenue is what will enable Anschutz Entertainment Group (Owners of the LA Galaxy) to pay Beckham. It also offers a more aesthetically pleasing game than watching a perfect cross headed into the back of the net with "BRONCOS" painted across the front of the goal mouth.

In addition to new money coming in through local investment (MLS has had 6 new ownership groups come into the league since 2005), MLS is also attracting more foreign investment to help fund its growth. It has a 10-year, $252 million deal with adidas. The New York club was bought by Red Bull last year along with their to-be-built stadium for more than $100 million. Salt Lake sold ad space on its jersey to European juicemaker Xango for $500,000 a season. That's about a quarter of their team salary paid for before they sell a single ticket. Another AEG-owned team (believed to be the Chicago Fire) will be selling ad space on its jersey much like many European giants in a deal rumored to be in the millions. The NASL never had that kind of coin lying around. MLS is slowly making money thanks to the slow-and-steady approach advocated by Commissioner Don Garber since 2002. The NASL had a "Let's be the NFL next week" approach that just was as realistic as it was financially feasible.

Today, MLS teams are actually reporting profits instead of hemorraging cash like the NASL did. Beckham's drawing power only opens new revenue streams for the league that the NASL didn't have. Just think about how much e-commerce has evolved since...well...since it was created, which was likely after the NASL's demise in 1984. I imagine gold and green David Beckham Galaxy shirts are flying off the e-shelves from Orange County to Okinawa (Becks is huge in Asia, possibly leading to foreign broadcast rights fees to be paid to the league), and in fact, Los Angeles Galaxy is planning a tour of Asia in 2008. MLS teams didn't tour untill now. NASL teams never toured. European giants tour America. Now it's on the other foot, and Los Angeles Galaxy and MLS can develop its brand around the footballing world.

The other difference between Beckham and Pele is the players themselves, perhaps something that even the media is underestimating. While much has been made of Becks making the turn stateside because wants to be a movie star, or because he hasn't been able to crack the starting lineup at Real Madrid, that doesn't mean he's a washed up pretty boy. He's still a hell of a footballer. Staying in the first team for a club of Real Madrid's calibre is hard to do for any player. Becks is 31. Pele was 35 when he signed with the Cosmos. Beckenbauer still played with the Cosmos when he was 38. While Beckham is definitely past his peak, he is still in his prime. Becks could be a marquee name for MLS for a good 4-5 years. And this is in a league where the talent pool is much deeper than anything the NASL ever produced, largely due to the fact that more kids played soccer in the 1980s and 1990s than did in the 1950s and 1960s.

I would be hard-pressed to find any area where the NASL was in better shape at the time of Pele's signing than MLS is today. If you can, let me know, but untill that time, any surface comparisons between Becks and Pele will be just that. Comparisons that are relevant on the surface.