USA! USA! USA! USA!

The wife scored us another set of free sporting event tickets through her school for the dozenth time this summer.  This time, it was for the USA vs. Sweden Women's Soccer game.  The game was played at the Creighton University soccer field and was the first time that Team USA has played soccer in Nebraska.

Since kickoff wasn't until 8:00 pm, we only stayed for the first half of play.  It was our first experience with a soccer game in person and we both left pleased that we'd went, but sure that we never would have gone had the tickets not been free.

Everyone knows soccer is a low-scoring, high-boredom game with sporadic bursts of excitement. 

Not once did I see this:

Nor did this ever occur:

Or this.

So, during the 40 minutes of down time during the 45 minute first half of the game, I decided to be a problem solver and come up with some ways to make soccer more exciting.

Option 1:  "The Duel"

This option is fairly simple:  every game would now be played with TWO soccer balls in play at all times.  We may need to tinker with the number of players on the field (probably add 2-4 players per team), but there should only be one goalie on the field.  That is non-negotiable.


Option 2:  "The Red Rover"


At any time during a game, two teammates can connect hands, yell "Red Rover", and run at an opposing player who may or may not be in possession of the ball at the time.  If the two Red Rovers can knock the opponent to the ground, they take over possession of the ball and get an immediate free kick from the spot the opponent was knocked to the ground.  However, if the opponent can break through the Red Rover attack, that person gets an immediate penalty shot, one-on-one versus the goalie. 


There may need to be a few caveats to add in later, but the gist of this rule change is solid in my opinion.


Option 3:  "The Freezer"


Each team would have a player (who we'll call the Freezer) who is on the field the entire game.  This player will wear a brightly colored jersey to differentiate them from the rest of their team.  The Freezer will wear a special contraption that straps their feet together in a way that forces them to hop around the field.  At any point during the game, if the Freezer touches an opponent, that player is frozen in place until the soccer ball passes through their legs.  (We may need to have the Freezer's hands be covered in chalk or paint or something else that would prove that they touched an opponent).  Also, the goalie could never be frozen.  That would just be crazy.

As you can see, there are many different ways to spice up the game of soccer without compromising its integrity, but these aren't the only changes that can be made.  What kind of changes to the rules of soccer (or any other sport) would you like to see?