Whitecaps MLS news

[agrant]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Fair enough. And I wish MLS all the best.

But in order to increase its chances of finding greater success in North America, my advice to MLS is as follows:

Unlike European soccer (which seems rigid and inflexible even in the face of obvious shortcomings), MLS must be open to change. Specifically, it must be willing to change or adapt certain rules and traditions in a way that will make soccer more exciting and palatable to North American tastes.

For example:

1) It must aggressively act to eliminate the culture of diving, faking and embellishment. To the North American sensibility, such behaviour is deceitful and dishonourable and a real turn off. I know many people who refuse to watch soccer for that reason alone. Although such behaviour occurs sometimes in North American sports, it is always frowned upon and considered very uncool and penalized heavily.

2) Similar to the above, the culture of exaggerating one's pain and suffering must be discouraged. Playing-up one's pain and weakness in order to gain sympathy is contrary to the North American ethos, which celebrates strength, toughness and resiliency. In North American football, after taking a massive hit, a player's instinctive reaction (assuming he is still conscious) is to immediately jump-up and act as if nothing happened, as if to say to his opponent: "Is that all you got? That's pathetic. You hit like my grandmother!" When North Americans see European soccer players rolling around on the ground, crying like babies, playing-up their pain (which is often fake), it completely turns them off. It is considered unmanly and unworthy of respect.

3) MLS must introduce some degree of video review in order to overturn incorrect calls by the referee. Allowing an obvious miscall to go uncorrected (like we saw numerous times in the World Cup this summer) is incompatible with the North American sense of justice. One of the most important things to the North American sporting mind is to get the call right, even when it goes against your own team.

The above are just a few of the cultural shortcomings of European soccer. I also think there are a number of rules that could be changed to cultivate and encourage more exciting play, like, for instance, moving the penalty shot position further back, thereby making such a shot more suspenseful, as opposed to the fait accompli that it is now.

Although many North Americans simply find soccer to be inherently unexciting (e.g. lots of inconsequential running around at midfield, limited scoring opportunities, low scores, etc.), MLS would significantly increase the attractiveness of its product in North American eyes and thus increase its chances of success here, if it were to make just the few changes suggested above.

Adapt to your environment and flourish, or remain intransigent and die: that's the lesson MLS needs to grasp.

1 and 2 kinda go hand in hand. MLS actually doesn't suffer as much from diving as in other leagues in Central and South America. It's really up to the refereeing. But I agree - diving and crying in pain every time you hit the ground is pretty pathetic. This is something you don't see in the English leagues for example.

Number 3 isn't going to turn soccer haters into fans. There wasn't a sudden jump in fan support associated with the video review being implemented in other sports. Video Reviews are a relatively new tool. FIFA is slow to change, but I think eventually they'll make a small move for this to happen.

Your idea for moving the penalty spot back... not going to happen. I thought scoring goals was everything.

"Although many North Americans simply find soccer to be inherently unexciting (e.g. lots of inconsequential running around at midfield, limited scoring opportunities, low scores, etc.),"
<<< It's unexciting to people because they don't know how they're supposed to watch. They're used to lot's of shots and players crashing into each other... With soccer, like in many sports, you have to understand and appreciate what players are doing off the ball... you have to have some understanding of the game, to see plays build. It is the subtleness that many North Americans just don't care to pick up. They want the 'in your face' stuff, like the crashes in NASCAR.