The Women’s World Cup is front and center in Australia and New Zealand, and the defending two-time champion United States women have advanced to the knockout stage despite surprisingly disappointing performances in its three group stage games.
Only the left goalpost saved the U.S. women’s team from an embarrassing loss to Portugal in the final group stage, which would have sent the U.S. team packing and not advancing to the knockout stage for the first time since the 1991 inception of the Women’s World Cup.
Ana Capeta’s shot in the first minute of extra time hit the post and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
The U.S. squeaked through as the second place team in its group behind The Netherlands as it scored a dismal four goals in its three games, with three coming against World Cup newcomer Vietnam.
So far in the Women’s World Cup, 107 goals have been scored in the 42 games. That is an average of 2.55 goals per 90-minute game.
Twenty-three games have featured two goals or less, including 17 with just one goal between the two teams.
The lack of goals has always plagued soccer at all levels, and a lot of people find it extremely frustrating.
The English Premier League is considered the world’s best men’s pro league and, last season, the 380 games produced an average of just 2.85 goals per game.
But there are some tweaks to the rules that could produce a lot more scoring chances and goals without altering the game significantly.
If you are a soccer purist and say the thing that sets soccer apart from other sports and makes it unique is the fact it is difficult to score, don’t worry. FIFA, the world’s governing body for soccer, is the most conservative of all the world’s ruling groups.
These changes will never be implemented in our lifetime, if ever.
But just think if they were.
Amend the offsides rule.
The offsides rule is the rule that is the primary culprit for keeping the scores down.
The way it reads is that if any part of an attacker’s head, body or feet are nearer to the opponents’ goal than the ball and the second-to-last defender — the goalkeeper is considered the last defender — then that player is offsides and the defending team receives a free kick.
Arms and hands are not included because you can’t score with your arms or hands.
So many goals have been called back because the attacker leaned forward or his foot was half a stride ahead of the second-to-last defender.
How about making it so that there has to be clear space between the second-to-last defender and attacker?
That way, if the opposing players are running and the second-to-last defender’s front foot is parallel to the attacker’s back foot, that would be considered onside.
Eliminate offsides for free kicks.
Under current rules, the attacking team can be drawn offsides by the defending team when it takes a free kick. Why should that be?
One of the attacking team’s players has been fouled, but now you are allowing the team that committed the foul to line up across the field and draw the other team offsides when the kick is taken.
No offsides on a free kick, as long as it is taken 10 seconds after the foul is called. That 10-second rule would prevent a member from the attacking team from taking a quick free kick to a teammate who is 6-yards offsides.
The other advantage to this tweak is that it would discourage fouling.
Move the defensive wall.
As it is now, a team defending a free kick can set a wall 10 yards away from where the ball is placed for the free kick.
Many free kicks are blocked by the wall. It is difficult to launch a free kick around, over or through the wall.
Moving it back 2 yards to 12 yards would make it a little easier to negotiate the wall.
And, again, this would also discourage fouling and enhance the flow of the game.
No offsides for rebounds.
There shouldn’t be any offsides if an attacking player scores off a rebound that is either saved by the goalie or glances off the goalposts.
The way the rule is now, if an attacker is in an offsides position when their teammate takes a shot, even if they don’t interfere with the play, and the rebound comes over to them, they are ruled offsides.
No offsides on an over-and-back call.
The way the rule is now, if a player is in an offsides position when their teammate launches a pass to them, they are still offsides even if they have to come back for the ball and they receive it in an onside position.
If they receive it in an onside position, play should continue.
Just a little food for thought as the soccer season rapidly approaches.