In the last two weeks, I have watched three full soccer games. I watched the US/England game with curiosity and enjoyed it. I followed the score online for the Slovenia game and was shocked to see the US come back from a 0-2 deficit to tie the game. I recorded the Algeria game and successfully made it through my work day without finding out the final score. I came home and watched that game with a combination of excitement and tension. It was an exhilarating game and I was really excited for yesterday’s game against Ghana. I had World Cup fever.
Against Ghana, US fell behind early and tied it midway through the second half. The game went into extra time and Ghana once again scored early. The US had 25 minutes to tie the game and send it into Sudden Death. It should have been an exciting 25 minutes of soccer, instead it was 25 minutes that reminded me why I can never love soccer.
If you are unfamiliar with soccer, the clock never stops. The game is divided into two 45 minute halves and once the clock starts – it doesn’t stop until the end of the half. So, when you see highlights of soccer players running around celebrating after scoring a goal, the clock is still running. If a player gets injured, the clock still runs. Officials try to make up for lost time by adding stoppage time to the end of each half. From the soccer games I’ve seen, this is about 2-4 minutes.
In the US/Ghana game, it went into extra time. This means both teams would play another two 15 minute halves. Once Ghana scored to take the lead, they did everything in their power to waste time so that US couldn’t tie the game. On corner kicks or throw ins, Ghana would make a switch or take their time getting the ball in. All the while, the clock runs. On one of their substitutions, the Ghana player went from one side of the field all the way across to the other, shaking the hand of every single one of his teammates. The clock continues to run.
Since the clock also doesn’t stop for injuries, Ghana did everything they could to feign injuries. Throughout the final 25 minutes, play was stopped as a Ghana player laid on the ground. At one point, a player laid down until a stretcher was brought out to help him off the field. Replays showed that no one had touched him. He simply fell to the ground and laid there. Once he was removed from the field of play, he jumped off the stretcher and started walking around. And the clock continued to run.
Now, from what I’ve seen and heard, this is a normal occurrence in soccer. Teams get ahead and will do anything they can to milk the clock and keep the lead. This is a huge problem with the game of soccer. It’s not fun. It’s not entertaining. It doesn’t require any sort of skill or talent. And most of all, it wastes time. Not just the viewer’s time, but the actual time in the game. It’s a problem that needs to be remedied if I (or America) will ever become a serious fan of soccer.
One of two things must happen for this change to take place. The obvious one is to stop the clock. If the ball isn’t in the field of play, the clock stops. It’s not that difficult and it makes sense. I’m not sure how soccer purists would feel about that idea, but it would make for a better game.
The other option is soccer needs a shot of machoism. If a player fakes an injury, he should be mocked and called weak. Players should be embarrassed to act the way I watched Ghana act in the World Cup game. Fans and the media should tear them apart.
Some of you might think that I’m over-reacting, but I disagree. I watched a player fake an injury so that a stretcher could take him off the field. I’ve never seen anything like that in a professional sport. The closest thing I can think of is pro wrestling, and that is scripted.
So, unless there are any changes – I’ll never be able to love soccer. I’ll probably tune in to the World Cup four years from now to watch the US, but I doubt I’ll watch much soccer between now and then.
It’s the biggest problem in the game, but your solutions are ineffective. It’s a problem that I don’t believe can be fixed. Guys that do this stuff are mocked in the media if they’re big enough stars (Ghana has very few recognizable players), but it doesn’t stop them. Cristiano Ronaldo was pretty relentlessly punished in the media four years ago for getting Wayne Rooney sent off. They were teammates at the time, Rooney stamped on him, but probably didn’t make a lot of contact, and Ronaldo milked the pain and implored the ref to give him a card. He continues to dive and roll about at every opportunity.
As far as the actual time, perhaps you could use a digital timer and stop the clock to make yourself feel better. The referee looks at his watch and calculates time for long stoppages. Most of the time wasting took place in the second half of extra time, and the ref added four minutes. He made the half 27% longer due to the time wasting.
Further, I would submit that the end of a close basketball game has similar problems. Watching the final 30 seconds of a basketball game for 25 minutes as players are intentionally fouled and time out after time out is called is not very entertaining. Admittedly, this doesn’t involve the fake injuries, which is the most despicable part of the sport.
If it’s a big enough problem for you, that’s fine. None of us like the time wasting, but the big fans like the rest of it enough that we deal with it. The decision makers in soccer are very reluctant to make changes to the game. It probably embraces its old school feel and traditional rules more even than baseball does. There are plenty of sports that I only enjoy on the biggest stage, very occasionally, and that’s okay. I’m glad you had some fun watching the games.
I am not sure why stopping the clock would be “ineffective”. Clearly the ref does not add back in all of the actual time wasted. That is why players fake injuries. If the clock actually stopped when the ball was not in play then the incentive to fake injuries would be greatly lessened.
It would not go away entirely, as getting a yellow card called is an incentive and trying to get a free kick or penalty kick is also an incentive. But for the complaint here, wasting time and the end of the match, it would be very effective.
I’m for stopping the clock only when injuries occur, or at least making sure time is added later. If a player *is* injured, better for all to hope he gets whatever attention is needed, then just that he’ll get off the field.
As for the lying and deception, that’s hardly new to sports; there’s one quasi-sport where that’s about all it consists of.
I’m sorry Tim, you are correct. I will rephrase.
Stopping the clock during the game will never, ever happen, so I didn’t even really consider it as a realistic solution in my response. It’s a unique/quanit aspect of the game that the soccer powers that be absolutely love, so I didn’t even consider it as an option. Also, it would be kind of crazy. The ball is out of play an awful lot, and the final fifteen or so minutes of every game would probably be pretty terrible if a game in which only 3 subs are allowed truly went on for a full 90 minutes of action. But you’re right, it would be one way to handle it.
I do think the ref added in enough time to take care of the fake injuries in that extra time though. Four minutes added onto a 15 minute period of time is an awful lot. He also made guys get off the field (calling for the stretcher early), so Ghana played with ten men for quite awhile as well. It’s annoying and despicable, but it’s really not all that effective. Elite teams don’t really do it for that reason.
I think you are missing a potential solution…
The real problem is that these people writhe around on the ground for minutes at a time, get taken to the sideline, pop up, and are let back on the field almost immediately.
The real solution here is if you have/fake an injury for which the game must be stopped and you are ordered off the field, you must stay there for at least 2 minutes (power play!). If you have/fake an injury such that you require the stretcher, you should be off the field for 4 minutes. In either case, if you are actually injured, that would be the amount of time you would likely miss anyways trying to get better enough to get back on the field. Also, if they are really injured, allow an immediate substitution so that it does not penalize teams whose players are actually hurt. The substitution will take no extra time since the bulk of that time is generally getting the substituted player off the field in the first place. If you fake an injury to waste time, you’ve just given your team a disadvantage. I think this should be enough of a disincentive to prevent this kind of behavior. If not, just start incrementing the penalty 1 minute every year that this behavior goes on.
I just don’t think is a great topic for you to be writing about. You’ve watched 3 matches and have already figured out what needs to happen to “fix” the sport? You’re talking about stalling that took place only during the last 20% or so of the match..and this is enough to make you not watch the sport in the future? That’s pretty weak. If you don’t like it, or watch too many other sports already, fine. Just admit it. I didn’t have time for soccer until I stopped watching NFL. But to pick on such a minor issue like this? Sorry. It isn’t going to change. It’s wildly popular all over the world. You should write a blog entry about your inability to love baseball because of the stalling tactics that happen when a reliever needs a few extra pitches to warm up.
@adam d I think you bring up a pretty good solution in regards to a “power play” aspect to soccer.
@jimbo Point taken and I tried to make it clear that I’m a casual fan. My ultimate point though is I believe that the MLS would like to have soccer popular in the states. I’m the type of casual fan that they should be targeting, so I think it’s relevant to point out why it ultimately fails in the US.