100% agree. Soccer fans are the ones still wearing masks at Grocery stores.

Its a shame soccer caught on when cricket and rugby are both way better sports.

I would rather get a tooth extracted than sit through any one of those games. Watching the grass grow on the field those sports are played on is more interesting.

I get that test cricket is not always great and is really more still played because its a good in-person experience and is still the "purest form", but international ODI's are very good and club T20 is pretty exciting. I dont see how anyone could be bored by rugby.

Nothing is on the level of football. Just for the strategy alone its an entirely different level than any other sport. Makes everything else feel like a schoolyard game.

football and rugby are two sports that are the best approximations for war. Maybe approximation is the wrong word but they are war games in how they are coached and played

Rugby is the most truly competitive international sport. Every continent is putting out incredible sides, not just Oceania and Europe. The best side in the world, by a significant margin, is the Boks. Argentina's Jaguares were unequivocally the second-best SuperRugby squad before the league collapsed. Japan isn't just an also-ran anymore, they can compete with anyone aside from the All Blacks and Boks.

Wish the USA would get it together at rugby. We're getting there, I get that they are focusing on sevens right now and building it up. It is a sport that would catch on if the USA could put together a competitive side.

need more rugby talk around here

I know real football has some of this but like half the exciting plays in soccer end up not counting because the player was half a foot ahead of the defender and the whole play doesn't count because of the terrible crime of a player being faster towards the goal than the defender.

That's called offside, Rick. It's really not a hard rule to obey. I'm honestly shocked how often guys at the top level get caught offside.

I played for a long time. It's second nature for me to just make sure there is a defender other than the goalie between me and the net if I don't have the ball.

I played with some Mexicans that I worked with and it was weird that they didn't recognize the offside rule at all. Offensive players would set up shop in front of the net. Maybe that's just street ball as it's played in some poor barrio where these guys came from. I don't know. I just know that isn't how I was taught.

I guess my point is that in a game where so little actually happens(I know, midfield play is art or something) that half the plays being blown dead because the offensive player started running towards the goal half a second earlier than the defender did isn't something that is enjoyable.

As I said though, there are some things about real football that are probably similar but at least you aren't waiting 10 minutes to see an exciting play only to have the ref put his hand in the air and send the game to another minute of people passing the ball back and forth in the middle of the field.

There are probably things they can try to up action and reduce flopping but a large portion of the world doesn't see it as the US market does so the impetus to change it up isn't as important. The flopping and writhing for trying to get a card on someone or if nothing else to break momentum or get a breather is annoying. To me it's not even the scoring or lack there of that is the problem it is the lack of legit chances to score.

Its a stupid sport at the club level and the American fanbase is exactly this

but international soccer is pretty awesome for all that goes into it. Its a shame soccer caught on when cricket and rugby are both way better sports.

Haha...Fix soccer!...There's no fixing it.

You know how they fixed boxing? They invented UFC.

There's a pretty easy fix for soccer. Just introduce a 2nd ball. Would liven up the action quite a bit.

I think they should make a number of transformative rule changes to make this game more watchable for me specifically.