“...absolutely awful, terrible sport”
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Totally agree.
Scoring is an aberration.
What sets mankind apart from the animal kingdom? The use of our hands. So let’s invent a sport where you can’t use them.
How much time is left? Who the hell knows.
Tie game? Let’s have a “shootout”. That’s like the World Series being decided by a Home Run Derby contest. The NBA championship decided by a game of HORSE. The Super Bowl decided by a relay race.
...or NHL games being decided by a........shootout.
Do you think the disparity in the amount of scoring and consequently how long a game could go on for has anything to do with such things?
FR rules have changed. Engagement of the brain is allowed before 10 am on Saturdays now.
The lack of scoring is the most basic problem (although hockey and baseball have also produced quite a number of typical soccer scores lately). Soccer scoring can be increased somewhat by obvious rules changes, beginning with making the goal mouth wider and higher. (Same holds for ice hockey.)
As for the clock, I'd suggest that just as in just about every other sport where the game is timed, the time remaining should be shown on a big scoreboard in minutes and seconds, and that the clock be stopped when the game is not in motion, like for a foul, a ball out of bounds, or a goal. Not stopping the clock for these situations currently allows teams with leads to bleed the clock without playing the game.
And yes, the idea of a shootout breaking a tie in a championship game is ABSURD. Here you have a game where scoring is rare, and the shootout is an event where scoring is quite likely. It simply does not test the vast majority of skills that are seen during the "regular" game. I would compare the soccer shootout to a (hypothetical) free throw shooting contest to break a tie in basketball or a (hypothetical) field goal kicking contest to break a tie in American football. Both scenarios are as inane as a soccer shootout.