Add a 2nd tier goal 6 feet higher and the same width etc on top of the 1st tier goal (present goal no changes to it). Change points to 3 points for the 1st tier goal and 1 point for the 2nd tier goal. The top goal height is now 14 feet. The goalie will still be able to block a lot of 2nd tier goals up to about 10-12 feet. The new 2nd tier goal will allow long range scoring shots. This is like a field goal in American football. If a game ends in a tie, then have an overtime period and: allow a sudden death victory score like American football or allow the winner to be determined by a final score at the end of the overtime period like American basketball. Allow free substitution like American basketball since a fresh body plays at a higher skill level. No other rules changes needs to be made. This should be tried first in a semi-pro league funded by the professional association.

I agree about pk’s, but I don’t think the solution is permanent sudden death. Maybe something like what was used in the MLS for the first few years of its existence–a hockey style dribbling penalty kick that requires more diverse skills that just a shot from the kicker.

I haven’t read all the comments yet on this post, I’m only on number 9, but already I think it’s awsome how a physics blog on soccer can inflame virtual comments almost as much as plays on the green turfs of Germany.

Sean, I wanted to tell you, thanks for posting this. I manage to watch a few select games downloaded in low-res to make it through the low south-pole satellite bandwidth and there are a few soccer fans down here. We get a kick thinking that South Pole is still represented at the World Cup (I’m french and the QUAD winter over is german) and we laugh like idiots imagining and historical France-Germany final.
In any case, cheers to all soccer afficionados.

Denis

In soccer, the attacker cannot receive the puck if past ALL DEFENDERS.

Completely and utterly wrong. A player is offside if he is closer to the goal line than both the ball and TWO DEFENDERS at the moment of the pass. See, it is not even arcane.

And offside trap is an effective tactic? Please. There’s a reason why it is called the “dumb line” in Brazil. Refereeing mistakes always happen with it, both for and against, and using it against a team with players who are intelligent, fast, and/or skilled is suicidal. I had to pick my jaw off the floor when I saw Ghana playing with a very high trap against Brazil, a team that has players with all three characteristics.

And before you mention Adriano’s goal in response: watch the tape and you’ll see the first wrong call was against an unmarked, just-the-keeper-to-beat Ronaldo, when the score was 0-0 and he was onside by a light-year.

Most football fans remember famous shoouts, like…France-Brazil…1986

Yes, I do remember that, it’s one of my first footballing memories and the second most traumatic. The other is the surreal 1998 final, and those are the reasons I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s match.
And I don’t agree with criticism of the shootouts. It is the ultimate test of fitness and emotional stability, it’s exciting, and not a bad idea if your team has Taffarel or Dida in the goal.

Here’s hoping for a score of, say, 4-2 (which was quite common in World Cup gaimes before 1970 …).

It would be fun if FIFA would try staging some exhibition games with alternate rules to see how things go. Not that I expect this to happen.

Meanwhile I look forward to tomorrow’s thrilling 0-0 tie between Germany and Argentina …

I think the offsides rule is good because it allows defenders to come up on offense more often. If you changed it, even to something like the NHL-style rules, I wonder if the more conservative play of the defenders might more than cancel out any breakaway-type plays by the strikers.

Given that watching out for a potentially receiving player being in an offside position is the main task of one of the assistan referees (the one that is supposed to stand at the line of the last defender) it should not be too complicated to realise if that condition still holds when the ball is kicked. But I agree, offside is the hardest rule to decide in real time.

With a full 30 min extra time, you can still equalise and even win.

Penalties make perfect sense as an ultra-condensed form of what should also happen during normal play: in both, you win if your players can keep their heads and shoot straight into the net.

I’m not going to defend the refereeing!!

That was the old NHL. This is the new NHL.

You can use a blue line, but then the space between the two blue lines will basically be empty, since footballers will just stand on the blue line, and wait for long passes to come.

Umh, no. A pass which crosses either blue line and the center line (a “two-line pass”) is also an offside in hockey.

I take Mark’s point about making the offside rule depend on the locations of the opposing players.

I was defending the idea of an offside rule in general — which I think is necessary in a sport like soccer/hockey/…