The World Cup has been fun, but several annoying things about the game are holding it back. It all has to do with players trying to cheat to win instead of play fairly, which leaves every game with a sour taste. Sports are supposed to be objective, fair competitions. That's the entire reason for their existence. No more excuses, let the game decide who is better.
The first thing the game should do is institute a new 10-second rule. If any player for any reason falls to the ground and fails to get back up within ten seconds, he is immediately disqualified from the rest of the game and required to leave the field. I don't care if he's really injured or pretending injury, he needs to get off the field so the game can resume. If the 'injured' player's team has substitutions left, they can choose to substitute a new person in to take his place. If they don't they'll just have to play a man down for the rest of the game. This would end all the pathetic feigned injuries all the players are doing, rolling around and grabbing body parts that were never even touched. It's the most disgraceful scene any man has ever put on, crying and whining about every little booboo like babies.
The next thing that needs to happen is the line referees need to point directly to where a throw-in should be conducted, and no player throwing the ball in should be allowed to move from that point. If necessary a referee can put his hand on their back while they're throwing so they don't leave his hand. I'm tired of players getting yardage they didn't earn by just walking up the sideline before throwing the ball in.
The same is true of foul kicks. The referee needs to paint with his foam the exact spot where the foul occurred, and that's where the kick should be kicked from. There should be none of this nonsense where the player 'adjusts' the ball by rolling it forward to whatever place suits him. This is again stealing yardage that wasn't earned.
The next adjustment needs to be more red cards. I would make any tackling penalty, where a player grabs the other's jersey and pulls or pushes him down, clearly an event that has nothing to do with soccer, because in soccer you're not supposed to use your hands, should be an automatic red card. I would also give out a red card to any player who argues with a referee for any reason. I don't care if the players are right or not, authority needs to be respected. Furthermore, all these clamoring whining players demanding the referee change his call just wastes time because obviously no referee will ever change their call.
The World Cup should be about deciding which nation is the best in the world at soccer, not the best cheaters in the world. Soccer could be such a fun sport to watch, if only the sport was played in a sportsmanlike manner. When I was a kid and played soccer, we never played dirty like this. It's the professional players who are making a mockery of soccer. We need to return soccer to what it was always meant to be.
So long as these reforms aren't instituted, soccer isn't a top tier spectator sport. It will continue to lag behind football and basketball and gymnastics and figure skating. The World Cup is fun because it includes all the nations of the world and is a good way to compare peoples because everyone plays soccer all over the world. Nobody can make the excuse that 'we don't ski so this competition doesn't count.' Everyone plays soccer. This competition counts. Soccer is an innately fun sport because the action is continuous, there's no commercials, and the talent required to control the ball without your hands is spectacular. It also means the ball is always up for grabs, because nobody can get firm control of it, since the ball can only be batted around and not held. This creates a constant level of tension, where anything can happen in a very short amount of time. It could be such a fun sport to watch, if it only wanted to be. But as it stands, even this 'once in four years' event is less exciting than a regular weekend of football.
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