1. Play until someone wins. Continue with 15 minute overtime periods until someone is winning at the end of one of them. Pro: Simple. Doesn't "change the game". It's like basketball (and many other sports) which has a potentially unlimited number of overtimes. Cons: With the substitution rules in soccer, this becomes a crazy contest of conditioning very quickly. Could devolve into a bunch of tired guys incapable of making good team plays, like in basketball when everyone is tired and the game turns into a series of plays where one guy tries to outrun everyone else. He then either scores or doesn't, but now he's so tired he takes 3 plays off and someone else summons a burst of energy. Maybe if they granted each team a new sub for each extra period, then this would test the talent of the reserve players. (Similar to basketball OTs leading to players fouling out and bench players getting a greater roll, sometimes.)
2. Start taking players off the field. At set intervals, change to 10-on-10, then 9-on-9, and so on until someone wins. Pro: Opening up the field should stimulate scoring, right? Cons: Too weird. If it goes very far, 8-on-8 isn't real soccer anymore. Plus, that much space will lead to even more running for the remaining players making this perhaps an even bigger contest of conditioning. I don't like this one.
3. Make the goal bigger at periodic intervals. In today's world, it's easy to make goals that could be adjusted quickly and accurately. So every 15 minutes, crank the goal posts another foot apart, and another foot higher. Pros: Increases scoring, particularly the likelihood of winning a game with an awesome shot from long distance. Should keep teams playing aggressively, because they know their goal keeper is going to be increasingly less effective. Cons: Could have equipment malfunction.
I like option #3 the best. But, as always, I'd be curious to hear your ideas.
3 comments:
A few ideas:
1. At the end of regulation, remove two players from each team. Obtain a much smaller white spheroid to play with. Give one team a stick. Place fixed squares roughly fifteen inches wide at 90 foot intervals to create a square starting from one corner of the field. Have one team attempt to throw the spheroid over the first of these bases while one player of the other team tries to hit the spheroid and then circumnavigate the field along the squares. Additional rules are probably required.
2. At the end of regulation, remove 6 players from each team. Move one goal in roughly 75 yards closer to the other goal. Hang a peach basket from both goals. Legalize use of the hands. Disallow use of the feet. Require the player in possession to have the ball hitting the ground while moving. Award the game to the team who can get the ball in the peach basket the most times.
3. At the end of regulation, keep the player count the same. Put pads on the players. In alternating fashion have the players attempt to carry the ball across the goal line from about 25 yards out. Give each team 4 tries per 10 yards.
Better yet, improve any of these three suggestions by replacing the words at the end of regulation with the phrase to commence the game ;-)
Oh, I forgot I have a serious one too, pull the keepers from the game. No defensive player may enter the goal box. (Second overtime, no defensive player may enter the penalty box.) The offsides rule would need tweaking for this to work.
Dump the offside rule in overtime.
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