I'm worried that an overly simplified message is being communicated when I state that I long for an average score of 5-3, or when The Soccer Sage Paul Gardner takes on soccer's overly defensive mentality with verbiage such as:
Source: Soccer America magazine, August 2004 issue, page 23
I'm worried that the knee jerk reaction is to just run right out and make the simplest changes to increase goal scoring. But the world's number one game deserves a little more consideration than that.
So once you embrace the notion that goal scoring is a good thing, the next concept to contemplate is:
ALL GOALS ARE NOT EQUAL!!!!!
What we have here is an opportunity to truly improve soccer. When a change is made to a product, it is usually done to fix a defect or to make the product more marketable. Sometimes a change will improve a product. Other times the change will have the opposite effect, lessening the product's overall quality or marketability. This is what I fear would be the ultimate result of increasing goal size - ultimately the lessening of soccer's overall entertainment quality and marketability.
Instead of the game evolving into a free wheeling offensive showcase, I fear that increasing soccer goal size will instead foster a game where the strategy is set play after set play with the occasional shot taken from just inside the midfield line. Sure there would be more goals, but the entertainment value of such a match could actually suffer.
For me, communicating this concern to the players of soccer, the true warriors of the game, has been a real challenge. I feel that it's due to the fact that goals today are typically so hard to come by that the overwhelming feeling is that fine offensive soccer is achieved any time the ball finds it way to the back of the net. In a reality where the first goal typically settles the match, it's easy to see that from a players point of view...all goals are equal.
From a spectators point of view, nothing could be further from the truth. A goal created from the redirection of a corner kick has no more than maybe 1/3 the entertainment value of a goal which resulted from a through pass to a striker who goes one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Pass your mouse over the following images and then admit to yourself that you've never seen a corner kick that was as enjoyable to watch.
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Video Credit: Fox Sports World, America's Soccer Channel
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This distinction is what has driven me during this crusade. We have a chance to make soccer better, or to at least restore the luster which soccer has enjoyed. Increasing goal size will increase the number of goals scored, but I fear that it may not foster entertaining soccer.
Vivid in my mind is a match from about 6 or 7 years ago where my daughter's club team played the previous year's league champion, the '82 Arlington Texans. The Texans had lost their primary offensive weapon, as Mansfield's Jessica Hopkins had gone on to play for the University of Texas, yet they were deep in talent, including goalkeeper Erin Rice, who went on to UConn and finished her college soccer career on national TV in the NCAA Tournament's championship game against North Carolina. But most important, the Arlington Texans '82 had speed at the wings.
Watching the game, it didn't take long to realize what the reigning champion's game plan was...run toward a corner flag as fast as humanly possible and kick the ball off of the defender for a corner kick. I don't recall a single serious attempt to attack the middle of the field. It was corner kick after corner kick. The game plan was simple and effective - 3 goals scored by the mighty Arlington Texans '82 that game...all via corner kicks.
But that isn't a slam on the Texans, it's just a statement about what winning soccer is all about.
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The soccer videos above and below show the very same game plan used by the Italians in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final match. Who needs to execute a quality cross when a ball handler's job is to simply kick the ball off of the defender's foot to set up the corner kick. This mind set is why Italy put up only 5 total shots during the matches 120 minutes, and still won the match. It's just how the big dogs play the game, and it's why a tournament focused coach would love to have every player measuring at least 6' 2" and possessing a 36" vertical leap. The Italian defender who scores the goal in the video at left is 6' 4" tall.
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Anyway, this type of 'set pieces' and more 'set pieces' game is what I fear from increased goal size. And yes, maybe the problem is only mine, that I am so tired of the only goal scored for a team being off of a set piece courtesy of a header by their biggest defender, even if that defender is named John Terry or Sol Campbell. And frankly, this statement doesn't reveal a bias against defenders, as the following World Cup goal by Germany's 6' 3" world class Midfielder Michael Ballack leaves me just as uninspired:
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Championship teams have a habit of focusing on the aspects of the game which increases their chances of winning, and not just winning...but winning major soccer tournaments, as evidenced by the fact that Chelsea just bought Michael Ballack, in spite of the fact that Chelsea needs more height in their lineup about as much as I need another Kentucky Headhunters CD. Concerns about whether the fans are entertained take a back seat. But my point here is that the true effects of any change will not be tested until a couple of major football tournaments are played under those changes. That's when we find the realities of injuries and talent differentials -- together with the pressures of big money and big time prestige -- forcing coaches and players to turn their back on childish considerations such as entertaining the fans and instead focus on those elements of the game which will yield winning soccer.
While I am only advocating change to American Professional Soccer, I am very concerned with the effect which those changes might have on the play in the higher leagues and tournaments and ultimately the FIFA World Cup. This is because in my idea of utopia, professional soccer will be more entertaining as the stakes get higher and higher. It's certainly not that way today.
In order for outdoor soccer to reach it's entertainment potential, before making any changes we must agree that all goals are not equal.
Important Note: Should larger soccer goals become a reality, I encourage meditation on strategies to lessen the natural evolution to taller goalkeepers to protect the larger space, while at the same time promoting more entertaining soccer. The way to discourage making height the primary criteria in goalkeeper selection would be to introduce a subtle change to the rules of the game of soccer which would restrict the distance that goal kicks and punts can travel before coming to earth. I'm thinking the easiest change would require that they land before crossing over the midfield line. The goal is to balance basic foot skills with pure height by encouraging the goalkeeper to play the ball to a defender or midfielder rather than pick up the ball and punt it 60+ yards down field. This also puts accuracy of kicks above distance, as the keeper who can quickly punt the ball to free space will have the advantage, as they do now with a fast pinpoint throw out to a winger to start the attack.
So what would we be giving up with this rules change? Say goodbye to the "assist by goalkeeper", as they wouldn't be able to kick the ball into the penalty box, for if their punt or goal kick did carry past mid-field, a free kick or quick start would be awarded at the spot just behind the midfield line near where the ball likely crossed the midfield line, all determined by the referee.
To those amongst us who yearn to make the pilgrimage to Anfield to worship at the Church of the Long Ball, prepare to get all giggly as you watch the following video which featuring Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson repeatedly "driving the ball forward" over the mighty Ecuadorian midfielders in the direction of the majestic Peter Crouch...so early in a match...while the score is still tied...with 22 men on the field...you gotta be kidding me...why, why, why, why, why, why!!! Just watch the following football video and you'll see what I'm ranting about:
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Before the Liverpudlian Death Squads start making their way over to silence this lone voice of criticism, all you long-ball lunatics need to know that only the goalkeeper would be restricted from making kicks of unlimited proportions to players who may or may not be in the vicinity of the ball when it finally comes down to earth. I've absolutely no plans to discourage long ball play which originates from field players, as in the next example of a pass intended for Peter Crouch illustrated in the following video, and then there's the pass meant for Ronaldo in the video after that:
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The bottom line here is that I feel that I'm trying to encourage attacking soccer by encouraging defenders to push forward. Today's coaches are faced with the constant possibility of getting burned by a counter attack which originates off the lightning fast punt by the opposing goalkeeper straight out to one or two already accelerating strikers, one of which is probably just a little off-sides (but if you were Coach Lippi at Juventus...well who cares when you are consistently luckier than your opponent!) This ever present threat is the #1 excuse for not pushing forward at all levels of soccer.
So what, you say?!? Again, all goals are not created equal. I want a 5 goal match to be a 3-2 result, not a 5-0 result. The way soccer is today, we are encouraging teams to sit back on their leads, by putting the 'responsibility of attacking' on the team which is down...especially in major tournament competition. A vivid example of this was the recent FIFA World Cup semi-final match between Italy and Germany. A 0-0 defensive battle for 115 of the match's 120 minutes, Germany gives up a cheap goal almost immediately after the 'attacking responsibility' was placed on their shoulders by Italy's 1st goal. I'm inspired by the entertainment potential that this match possessed, yet came so far from achieving. I want to make attacking soccer the kind that wins the majority of soccer matches in major tournament play. After that, professional league play will take care of itself.
Mike "No, I'm not at all interested in seeing Beckham trying to bend corner kicks directly into a larger goal" Kimbro
PS -
Here's a little test I'd like for you to take, and I feel that it will reveal where your head is at on this subject. View the following two videos, and then answer the following questions:
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Question #1: In both of the above examples, do you wish that those goals could have been scored by kicking the ball directly over the keeper's head?
If you do, then you would be quite satisfied with larger goals. If, like me, you think that the area immediately above the keeper's head should be penetrated seldom if ever by kicks from outside the 18 yard line, then increasing the height of the goal is not a desirable proposition.
Question #2: In major tournament soccer, who do you want your 'golden shoe' winners to be?
Compare these potential 'golden shoe' lists of top goal scorers from the upcoming 2008 UEFA European Championships, and choose the list which represents to you the possibility of more entertaining soccer.
If you choose list #2 at right, then you better resist the natural urge for larger goals, and instead join me in my quest to make the game more enjoyable by addressing the numerous advantages now enjoyed by the defense.
If you choose list #1 at left, then I need to inform you that the word "latent" might just apply to your personality at various levels. First and foremost, while you may not realize it now, you are so very ready for larger goals, since you already can't wait for the next corner kick to be headed in or shot to be taken from 25 to 30 yards out by your favorite midfielder or defender. You likely feel that forwards are at best 'opportunists' and at worst 'garbage men' who pick up the occasional lucky goal made possible by the real soccer players, those who go by the name Ballack, Lampard, and Gallas. I'm also thinking that you might count the number of Gerrard posters you have adorning your bedroom walls, and then investigate at what point it would be formally recognized as a shrine to Liverpool's "Big and F*****g Hard" one. Now let me leave you with a taste of the kind of goal which I know will put a smile on your face...provided you're not a Hotspur fan:
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Mike's Home Page or Visualize Higher Scoring Soccer
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Here's another angle on the subject, using my pre-August 24, 2003
version of this page...
I'm opposed to increasing the size of the goal. Everyone knows FIFA
is considering larger goals to address the scoring situation. Part of the problem
is one of scale. I'm told that the small adjustments in goal size contemplated by
FIFA are intended to take soccer from today's average score of 2.5-0.75 up to
an average score of 3.5 to 1.75. To the "FIFA Faithful" (Europeans, Latinos,
Brits, etc.) this is a huge increase. For the purpose of making MLS and WUSA
Soccer more marketable to Americans, it's no where near enough to bother with.
If the size of the goal is increased enough to provide for a 5-3 average score which
I feel is ideal for the American pallate, the game of soccer will be radically affected
by a whole new breed of long ball play. We'd see defenders routinely firing at the
goal from the midfield line. That would not be a step forward for soccer.
From a spectator's point of view, there are entertaining goals and then there are
goals scored off of set plays (set pieces) which are the result of fouls and corner kicks.
With a larger goal, look to get more scoring from set plays, but not just those I've
listed, as redirected throw-ins also score. I've seen boys high school teams where
the quarterback of the football team played on the soccer team, and could throw
into the middle the box routinely, and with the aid of a nice breeze could assist a
goal score with the help of a deflection. If this is your idea of fine soccer, then you
should be pressing FIFA for the big goal increase. I don't want anything to do
with it, as I find scoring from throw-ins outside the true spirit of soccer, and only
slightly more entertaining than boring PK's. (But don't get me wrong here, I'd
take a 1-0 game won via a throw-in redirect in the last 3 minutes of the game
over a 0-0 draw any day of the week.)
Another negative impact of larger goals is that keepers would
still be expected
to
DIVE for everything, even if they aren't
expected to STOP everything. Look for young keepers to
simply burn out at an alarming rate, not just from the increased
number of shots taken per game, but from the increased wear
and tear brought about by longer, higher, & faster dives which
will accompany larger goals.
Furthermore, collisions with the goal posts will dramatically
increase, as the increased distance between the goals will
make more difficult the keeper's "relative" positioning, especially
with longer, higher, and faster dives--particularly late in a match
where the opposing side has launched 35 shots in the direction
of the larger, more inviting goals.
Photo Credit: World Soccer, September 2003, Page 69
With larger soccer goals, injury may require adding 2 additional keepers to every
roster, and the last time I checked, high quality keepers are hard to come by even
with today's "small" goals - especially in the women's game.
The obvious evolution of soccer due to larger goals would be much taller goalkeepers,
which I don't see as positive. As most goalkeepers have neglected their field skills,
many fans already don't consider the majority of goalkeepers to be real soccer players.
This will be even more pronounced in a reality of pro soccer were 6' 8" is the average
keeper height.
But I don't want you to feel that I'm far too attached to the goalkeeper position to be
objective in my analysis of the idea of a larger soccer goal. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Jump over to the "Reduce Keeper Effectiveness" bookmark in my
"Visualize Higher Scoring Outdoor Soccer" page for 3 ideas which have precipitated
a chorus of profanities from goalkeepers the world over. If you are embracing the
larger soccer goal concept simply as a way to reduce the importance of the goalkeeper
in the game of soccer, you could be throwing the baby out with the bath water. The
bottom line is that there are simple, low cost ways to reduce the goalkeepers prominance,
and indeed the goal stopping effectiveness of the defense as a whole, without the need
for the tremendous expenditures which bigger soccer goals would ultimately bring about.
For FIFA, addressing the scoring problem with a hardware change (like the new and
improved balls of WC '02 and WC '06) is surely preferable to a rules change. Consider
the financial windfall to FIFA should the opportunity to endorse the "Official Goal Grande of FIFA"
become reality. We are no doubt talking "Windows Update" money here! So the
temptation of getting a 'kickback' with the replacement of each of the 10,000,000 goals
worldwide must be great, bringing to mind the sage wisdom of my old buddy and fly
fishing mentor Ralph Sprague, who faced such temptation with the mantra:
"Get thee behind me Satan...and push."
No, changing the size of the goal is not the way to address soccer's low scoring reality.
Better to take away some of the defense's inherent advantages, which would open up the
field for increased offensive expression...and best of all...more entertaining soccer.
Mike "The easy way isn't always the best way" Kimbro