The MLS tried it in their first season, and it did not work. When the players can see the actual time, the game dies at the end. When you’re down 2 goals and you know for certain there is only 40 secs left, both teams stop playing. When the ref keeps time, and he is the only one who knows, the players will play to the whistle. Plus the ref will allow an attacking team to complete a late attack before blowing a whistle. The ref will wait to see if there is a score or a clearance before ending the game, usually with the ball in midfield. There is no blowing of whistles while a shot is in progress at a high level, thou you will see that at the HS level from refs who I believe have never seen a pro game.
Thanks, that actually makes sense.
Freegards
Several of you have posted defenses of soccer’s lackadaisical timekeeping procedures. Thanks for your efforts, but I haven’t heard a convincing argument yet. What do you have against accurate and accountable timekeeping? Keep in mind, I haven’t employed the typical FR arguments that soccer is “not American” or “for weenies” or “for liberals” and so forth. I just think that the main ref has way too much power, and his control of the clock is part of that, and can easily be fixed.