Best/Worst American Soccer Innovation

Voted for the penalties myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRITqS6WEn0

Other - the weird points system from the first few years

the running clock is something they should definitely do

Unpopular opinion: given the current rules of soccer, golden goal made and makes sense (unless they seriously modify other rules in overtime)

US is a land of innovation.

Letting the ball’s inner experiences decide whether a goal is offside is a huge step forward for object-oriented ontology

— Brooks Otterlake (@i_zzzzzz) July 3, 2026

other - 3 day pause to world cup to let degenerate gamblers fill in brackets

The various 'ProZone' innovations like more points for long-range goals would I'm sure make for an absolutely atrocious sporting spectacle, but I'd nevertheless like to see them in action.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/mar/02/league-1-america-soccer-revolution-never-was

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0098b5e167f84d74a793ed4d65f84a2cf1782986/394_269_2979_1983/master/2979.jpg?width=1300&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none

instead of just being some third rate league mls should become the crazy league for adopting crazy rules lets have some fun out there guys

basically soccer’s xfl, that makes sense

get some really dumb looking uniforms

That was basically MLS in its infancy

they didnt go far enough

My most extreme and serious suggestion would be to make the soccer pitch smaller. I can almost guarantee you the average American and Canadian would like it more and it would make the game immensely harder and more technical, to the point where people like Harry Kane could never play the sport

listen we gotta have offsides reform folks

Xp all you have to do is watch an NYCFC home game to see how much this sucks. In fact, until relatively recently several MLS clubs played on smaller than regulation fields. The days of KC playing in a minor league baseball park were particularly weird.

The NYCFC thing was a travesty. Everyone smugly said "they have to play on it too" but they get a full season to adapt to it and could build their team around it (two of their biggest stars were 5'9).

Basically just pinball on grass

My most extreme and serious suggestion would be to make the soccer pitch smaller. I can almost guarantee you the average American and Canadian would like it more

This falls under the heading of worst innovations then?

That’s because that league doesn’t have very good players. It requires a lot more technique and it’s overall harder. So yeah, you’re basically saying the players suck, which we already knew that given what league it’s in. But yeah, I don’t know how willing elite players would be willing to switch to it because it would he faster paced

Dearie me

xposr

I mean it's not like MLS is full of amateur league players, the issue is that every team is top heavy due to a salary cap.

We've already seen how many superior World Cup squads struggled to move the ball through congested area against low blocking teams. Imagine training to break that down on a smaller field.

Sure, smaller = less distance to reach the goal, but when you get there it's like sharing a bath tub with the Baldwin family

The NYCFC pitch is also crooked and on a baseball diamond. That pitch is often criticized for things note solely related to pitch size, so I don't think it's a good example

It also depends what dimensions we're talking about. It doesn't necessarily need to be narrower. NYCFC's pitch is 110x70 yards and in an awkward position

A proper soccer pitch that is slightly shorter, but not necessarily narrower could work and could still give players the vertical movement they need. The bathtub example assumes it's both narrower and shorter, which is not what I'm saying

By the way, Craven Cottage is 109x71 yards and doesn't have all the problems NYCFC does

dan m - I hope you feel bad for starting this thread

If the thread was smaller it would be more entertaining.

lmao

The posters aren't skilled enough

I'm assuming lag∞n is just trolling the Europeans. I'm not sure everyone else's excuse.

it's like sharing a bath tub with the Baldwin family

― If your ass is a Bible, 213 will regulate (Neanderthal), Friday, July 3, 2026 10:06 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

???

Cristiano Ronaldo, age 67: "I am big. It's pitches that got small".

dan m - I hope you feel bad for starting this thread

― xyzzzz__, Friday, July 3, 2026 10:25 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well I hope you feel bad for inspiring me to start it!

How about making the field BIGGER and forcing all the players to wear bubbles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7tHkeVR1Ms

that looks so fun, dan

in other words, the british ilxors/statlers would not approve!

I do think it’s funny that soccer fans are very protective of their rules and traditions. no major american sport is like that and that sort of sentiment is generally associated with chuddiness and conservatism

otm

Oh man let me tell you guys about the designated hitter rule since you don't seem to be familiar with baseball

Or how the 3v3 overtime is a favorite of all ice hockey devitees

I do think stuff I made up that isn't true is funny too.

I do think it’s funny that soccer fans are very protective of their rules and traditions. no major american sport is like that and that sort of sentiment is generally associated with chuddiness and conservatism

Yes football hasn't changed at all since 1872.

https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/uploads/3/3/6/0/3360867/498599_orig.jpg

mlb does feel like the most conservative, but kudos to them for implementing quite a bit of changes in recent times

i think fifa are just slow at implementing change and because of how global it is, there are probably more obstacles, the EPL being one of them

Or how the 3v3 overtime is a favorite of all ice hockey devitees

― underminer of twenty years of excellent contribution to this borad (dan m), Friday, 3 July 2026 bookmarkflaglink

Watched the US Canada Olympics Hockey final and 3vs3 was so so wrong.

"as someone who posts on the internet, I have unique insight on the British, including other counties which aren't Britain"

Otm xp

You want proper ET and pens. Surprised North Americans want to cut a thing short.

Think of the lost time you could be frying your mins watching ads!!

3v3 is contentious among hockey fans

there's actually a lot of data on 5v5 in OT and i prefer 3v3, though you know, i'm in favor of trying 4v4 tbvh

I'm in favour of 24v24, if only for the laughs.

I don't know if it's particularly American or N. American thing but I should have added artificial turf fields to the poll options, bonus points if those fields have gridiron football lines, lacrosse lines, and other markings on them all at once

dan have you seen the grass in BC place? ridiculous amount of money thrown at that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru91R3naFQY

Yeah, noticed it for the first time during Canada's game against Schweiz iirc

(#saveTheCaps)

Also related, NFL players have recognized that the grass in their stadia is working and are now demanding it in all venues, and good on them for doing so

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49030490/fifa-world-cup-grass-nfl-stadiums-debate-field-surface

On Wednesday, the NFL Players Association posted to social media an image that read: Player Voices Should Shape Their Game from the Ground Up. The word "ground" is designed to look like grass. The second slide on the post showed 92% of its players preferred grass, according to an NFLPA survey.

also out of respect to the britishers I do say “dive”
on the main thread but this is the dumb american thread where “flop” is the more familiar word

who cares mate they mean the same thing in some places people say other words in totally different languages

appreciate the offer to “mate” with you but Im married

u wot

flop is better anyway its more appropriately derisive, diving is cool diving off a high cliff into crystal clear water

do youse have a motion youse make when saying flop tho

because we do ppl make little mouse hands and move them in and out from their chests its good

if youse had a flop motion maybe i could get more into it idk

that is a reasonable point we should work on adopting a hand motion

it’s kind of akin to “flailing”

are we doing "muh american free speech!" now?

because we do ppl make little mouse hands and move them in and out from their chests its good

As demonstrated by Haaland's dad last night.

now that i think about it there is one in the nba which is the official refs signal for a flopping penalty, you extend your arm out palm up then bend it back and forth at the elbow, its not super widely adopted by fans but sometimes players do it when they get called for a foul and they think the defender flopped which is pretty funny cause theyre pretending to be a the ref thereby showing up the ref which is always classic behavior

are we doing "muh american free speech!" now?

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, July 12, 2026 8:49 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

were just doing who cares i mean when a briton asks me when the basketball match is i just chuckle a lil cause it is funny but im not like no we dont call it that who cares it means the same thing

What do you call a basketball match?

a basketball game

the name Soccer is an English invention, English people get mad at it because it reminds them of their burning shame at their failure to strangle the mutant piss-drinker sport of "Rugby" in its cradle

that is true

spiralling closer to essential truths itt

but spiralling nonetheless

clusterfuck summary corner or bust

soccer is what the upper class call it, that's why we hate it so much

I think we call it flop because in basketball some players act like a fish to draw foul calls

Spence's attempted manufactured penalty last night looked like the platonic ideal of a diving motion to me at first, but on the replay the way he hooked his marker's leg caused him to properly flop into a faceplant

flopping is for Flairs tho

soccer is what the upper class call it, that's why we hate it so much

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 July 2026 14:03 (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought that was what I said!

you did and more more eloquently

apparently at the time soccer was introduced to america it was a normal thing to call it and it just stuck

also sees usage in Ireland due to their manifold Footballs

look at me calling us them, grim stuff

The reason soccer had permanence here is because in England they realized they didn't have to call it "association football" anymore because they could just call rugby football rugby.

Meanwhile, in America, they played rugby and then created gridiron football out of it and they didn't just want to abbreviate it "gridiron" so they called it just football.

They predicted within 50 years everyone would be annihilated and nobody would care.

my favorite part about the soccer football discourse is that people are like american football shouldnt even be called that because they hardly ever kick the ball not knowing that all the footballs of the world are named that because theyre sports you play on foot which is the dumbest possible reason i love it

"He's soccer crazy, he's soccer mad"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDRBDX3nt_o

also sees usage in Ireland due to their manifold Footballs

― LookaDjin (Sgt. Biscuits), 12 July 2026 13:16 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

well i must note that this isnt my experience

the ga is the ga and football is football and even ga fellas using football for ga would probably do so in context and not trying to confuse you

We can solve this problem by calling soccer football and football "shartball"

you just have to say each football with the appropriate accent

I actually get annoyed when Americans use proper footie terms because it always seems when they do it, they're awaiting a pat on the back from European fans.

Also when we allow American cornballery to infiltrate we get great shit like the Sounders "FIGHT! AND WIN!" guy

i would never ask for a pat on the back from a european, i want them to feed me pate

also they never wash

when is the next fixture and upon what pitch shall the match be played, fellow glory supporters?

i do find american soccer fans adopting general soccer fan practices like scarves and singing to be a little cringe but ultimately who cares go out there and have fun even you like soccer but not any american sports which is weird but it is what it is

They give us a scarf every year as OG season ticket holders.

The average temp at match time is 85 degrees here, even at 7 pm kick. So thry go unworn

My incredulity re this general discussion is based on 1. It srsly comes up in every navel-gazing post-tournament "what if" analysis for as long as I have been following the US team and 2. In more recent times, MLS and the USSF establishment have been Doing It Right with investment into youth academies at every club that hoover up a lot of local talent across multiple age groups. The oldest of these academies have only been operating for about 20 years.

Some have been more successful than others (check out how many players from the recent roster came out of MLS academies, particularly Philly, Dallas, and NYRB) but there have been improvements across the board, albeit slowly. Most of the best players that have come through the academies went to play at clubs in Europe where the level is higher, but most are/were not more than squad players who were good deals in the transfer market. Pulisic and McKennie are the only ones who have made the jump to bigger clubs and really managed to stick, though I could see Chris Richards leveling up soon too.

I thought this piece by Leander Notgonnaspellhissurname summed up the embarrassment of the home field advantage that they couldn't live up to quite well. I bet it takes another 20 years to see anything like getting to the level of a semifinal.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/09/the-us-delivered-their-best-modern-world-cup-performance-and-also-let-themselves-down

Xps Seattle invented soccer, as the story goes 🤮

Good article. It's basically how i feel

I find the name of Real Salt Lake a bit annoying. Which monarchy is supposed to be their patron?

Mormonism? Idk

yeah thats the worst its not even a soccer thing to call yr team real its just one very famous team

guess they did ask real madrid if it was cool and they said yeah whatever

I've always thought it would be funny if Florida got a third team and named it Galatallahassee

I think the discussion doesn’t understand how difficult it is to make really good players. Pep grew up in La Masia, played under Cryuff, learnt their system inside and out, became Barcelona boss at the height of their homegrown boom, then went to Bayern - the two clubs with the best homegrown players in this century! - and when he went to Man City he had all the money, all the scouting, he took staff from Barcelona and… Phil Foden and Cole Palmer can’t make the England squad.

I just don’t really know how America would then come out with a generation of talents better than that without it being pure dumb luck.

the question isn't "why aren't the usa better at football?" - that's obvious to everyone, the question is "why do people think the usa should be better at football?"

cause we wanna win baby

I was looking for this piece earlier, Tenorio is a good writer and he covered the Fire for a bit so I know he's not completely full of shit.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7427234/2026/07/07/usmnt-world-cup-exit-round-16-belgium/?unlocked_article_code=1.v1A.-zED.mQPUlznnDXJh&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

Dunno if the gift link works, it came from bsky:

https://bsky.app/profile/paultenorio.bsky.social/post/3mq2tfdi3zs2k

Anyway the important bit is this:

The next part will be harder. American soccer has a tendency to act as if it can simply speak something into existence. That if it talks long enough about potential, it’ll simply turn into progress. Or that if you say you want to be one of the world’s best, and if you repeat it enough times, you’ll simply get there over time.

It doesn’t work that way.

This is what I was trying to get at earlier, there have been so many moments where it's clear a pundit or a coach or a federation president thinks they have the key, or they can describe moneyball success and they keep getting proven wrong.

The results speak for themselves and I think part of it stems from the deserved, awesome success of the women's program, because so few other countries were funding the women's game. When USSF (and colleges, really) found success there I think the money men figured they could just do the same on the men's side and here we are.