[dfwgator]

Soccer will remain a joke as long as it allows the possibility that the whole two-year process of determining a World Champion can boil down to the equivalent of a free-throw contest.

On that, we agree.

I don't understand why they can't do it like hockey and just keep going until somebody scores.......IMHO they had it right with "The Golden Goal", but for some strange reason, they got rid of it.

I would just waive the substitution restrictions in Extra Time, and allow free substituting. That certainly would be an improvement.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Amen that. I’m with you on the pitchers’ duals - a good low-scoring game is like a true thriller - lots of of tension. Or to quote Willie Wonka quoting Oscar Wilde: “The suspense in unbearable — I hope it lasts.”

[Alberta's Child]

There's a reason why soccer could never adopt a sudden-death OT rule without making some other major rule changes. Scoring chances in soccer are so few and far between that an overtime game is likely to last the equivalent of an entire additional half of a game -- if not a full 90 minutes.

Remving players from the field one or two at a time in OT -- or making some other rule change that results in more corner kicks -- would probably be a far more effective way to make OT work well in soccer. For that matter, even a rule that prohibits more than 2 or 3 defensive players other than the goalie from being inside the larger box might be worth a try, too.