First off, I am a soccer fan. I’ve coached youth soccer for over 20years. I love the game as it’s supposed to be played. I hate the game that’s played at the world level. I hate the game that’s played at the World Cup. I believe the reasons why I hate that game is the main reason why the game hasn’t been, and won’t be for a long time, adopted by America.
Americans are a Country of rules. We have a constitution. We have a Bill of Rights. We have laws that are enforced. From traffic rules to insider trading to rules regarding caloric content at fast food restaurants we are a country of rules. Our sports are sports with rules. Football has four downs, a 40second clock to get plays off, a 60minute game clock, rules regarding penalties, delay of game, replay which tries to get things right. Baseball and basketball are similar. Their rules are enforced. One sport that hasn’t received full support in the US besides soccer is hockey. I’m convinced it’s because Americans that didn’t grow up with the game don’t understand why punching someone in the face in the last minute of a close game is different from doing it in the first minute. They don’t understand why interference is a penalty but is rarely called. They get confused by the inconsistency of referees and turn the TV off.
Soccer, however, is different. It’s a sport where almost every game you are faced with dives. Players rolling around on the ground attempting to influence the referee to call a foul. It’s a sport where someone is going in on goal and gets pulled down from behind but because it’s outside the box it’s only a direct kick rather than a goal. What other sport would put up with what happened in the England v Colombia game today when Colombia was called for a foul on Kane and a resulting penalty kick? For five solid minutes the referee was berated by the Colombia team for making a clearly correct call. For five solid minutes Kane tried to avoid the Colombia players who were trying to provoke him and his teammates into a retaliatory foul. The referee withstood this verbal abuse for five solid minutes. There was no consequence to Colombia. There were no players thrown out. Rather 5minutes were added onto the clock at the end of the game. Just enough for Colombia to score the game tying goal. And what happened then? The Colombia player who scored ran into the crowd and celebrated for two and a half minutes while the clock was running and while England stood and waited. No other sport uses a running clock. No other sport allows this conduct to go unpunished. No other sport allows the unmitigated diving and embellishments to go on without retribution. Have you ever watched a throw in? The player is supposed to throw the ball in from where it went out of bounds. The thrower many times moves 20-30feet forward before making the throw. The rules are enforced at youth soccer. You don’t see diving and players rolling around on the ground as if they’d been shot in youth soccer. You see it every game at the World Cup. The players know the refs are almost powerless to call the game by its rules so they gra, push, trip and foul at will because there are no consequences unless it occurred in the box.
We are a country of rules. Soccer at the world level is a sport of abusing rules.
