words_Nick Engvall

The sport of soccer is highly criticized in the United States by many fans because of many reasons. One of the most talked-about things heard throughout the recent 2010 World Cup excitement was that it’s hard to get into watching a sport when you don’t really know when the end will come. The other, and more prominent was a general complaint about a lack of scoring.

According to the Associated Press, FIFA President Sepp Blatter is looking into changes for the 2014 World Cup that may address some of these concerns.

The goal of any future changes would be to discourage teams from running out the clock by holding the ball defensively and to create more sense of urgency for the offensive side of the game.

In the discussion of possible changes are removing the current rules around extra time. With extra time added at the end of halftime and regulation to accommodate for injuries, substitutions and other delays of the game, the actually timing is only kept by the referee. Putting an end to the extra time could possibly mean that the “golden goal” is brought back for games that would go into overtime. To us in the States, that’s the same as sudden death overtime, which is common in American football and in hockey.

At the World Cup in South Africa there were a handful of games in which it appeared that certain teams went out playing “not to lose” as opposed to playing to win, not a good thing for the fans of any sport. No matter where you’re from, you want to watch teams play to their highest capability.

Everyone wants to see their team win, but ironically, had these possible changes been in place before, Team USA would not have made it out of the first round.

Would these changes make the 2014 World Cup in Brazil better or worse?