The best thing they could do to make soccer a better game would be to simply make the goal bigger so that the scoring rate is three or four times higher.

More goals can only be a good thing, can't it?

You'd then get a much better correlation between the better team and the winning team, whereas with the absurdly low scoring rate as it exists now, luck has got a whole lot more to do with it than talent or skill.

Mind you, 4 - 0 presents a pretty convincing corelation between the better team and winning team!

Sadly, sport has degenerated into the same kind of formulaic procedure as war and life have. One does not attempt anything outlandish; the thing has been thoroughly studied and it's safety first, statistics second and logic dictate the play---and of course the theatricals. The only way to make it more interesting is to inject a random element, which, of course, for purists is unthinkable. It is curious that we (some of us) still queue up for sporting events when "how you play the game" is such a quaint cliche, and who wins or loses is predictable. All the blowing of horns and waving of flags will never compensate for the empty feeling that attends the guffawing.

Ludwig,

Good idea, more points might reduce supporter violence too.

No goalie.

Also:

- Get rid of heading the ball - multiple slight concussions (practice and game) could result in memory loss and other problems.

- Get rid of those Bombay Bloomers.

Absolutely Cornflower, they do whinge and moan about the referees a lot... especially because one mistake can cost the whole game.

Complaining about referees is pretty standard through all codes of football...but in the other games it is far more difficult for 1 bad decision to decide a whole game.

I absolutely believe that the low scores is often the cause of all the violence. Imagine going to a game all hyped up to achieve a nil all draw, after a few sherberts...good plan...frustrated drunks 101.

And what about the added chance of game rigging such a low scoring game can allow. One keeper slip up and money for jam.

When I was younger I used to watch British Soccer and I thought they were better games than the world cup. The games seemed to swing from end to end with lots of attacking - not much scoring - but lots of attacking.

Just to illustrate my earlier point, did you see the looks on the Aussie rules players faces today, when Melbourne and Collingwood played a draw.

No-one was happy with the draw...and at least there was a whole heap more scoring to entertain the fans.

In soccer they seem to cheer a near miss as something wonderful...lol

"I'm not exactly a sports fan, but I love the World Cup."

CJ, same here. OLEEEE OLEEEHaaaayyyy!

The only thing that annoys me are those horns. I much prefer to listen to the supporters sing: Ole Ole Ole and "Hup Holland Hup!"

I never watch the extremely boring AFL because you need no skills whatsoever. Tackling people and jumping others- I'm so over that, been there done that when I was a 3-year old.

They should try to play REAL football and play the ball only with the feet and no body contact and see how far they get without picking up the ball and running away with it.
I mean, picking up a ball and running away with it... how easy is that!

But I find REAL football very exciting. Men with real shoulders, not fake.

Of course I support two countries: Australia and the Netherlands (woooo-hooooo 2-0 against Denmark. Thank you Denmark for being so generous, lol.)
I'm not as fanatic as my husband, who would get up at 4am to watch a match life.

As I type, my nails are polished orange and I've decorated my house in ORANGE.

Oh and for the ones who were sooooo worried on the other thread a couple of weeks ago about gay footballers in your team, I have a solution: join REAL football - it's a no-contact sport :+)

Naughty naughty sorry CJ but I couldn't help myself and my orange nails typed the above before I could stop them...

'Fess up, you've been drinking the orange hooch again, admit it. Damned alcopops!

No-one, just no-one goes down like a soccer player.