Running Up The Score: FIFA To Look At Ways To Increase Goals

Blatter Looking To Give Soccer A Scoring Boost

The FIFA World Cup has produced just 2.27 goals per game through the first 62 matches, just above the 2.21 record low set in ’90, and FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that he is “looking for ways to help attackers break through increasingly sophisticated defenses,” according to Steve Davis of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Blatter said that he will “set up a symposium featuring the 32 World Cup coaches, as well as referees, doctors and the organization’s technical study group,” to discuss rules designed to increase scoring. Blatter: “We want to hear what they have to say about what we can do to make [soccer] more attractive again.” Davis notes ideas “might include widening the goals and revamping offside rules” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/7).

THAT’S GOOD NEWS FOR AMERICANS: USA TODAY’s Marco della Cava writes a Cover Story examining “Why USA Doesn’t Take To Soccer.” della Cava writes the “chief accusations [are] the game doesn’t have enough scoring and, at worst, is simply boring.” SI’s Frank Deford: “Soccer in America has had every chance. We reject soccer. ... There’s not enough scoring, and ties make no sense” (USA TODAY, 7/7).

JOB WELL DONE: In Toronto, Stephen Brunt writes the World Cup, a “massive logistical undertaking that in many ways is more challenging to stage than the Olympic Games, has to be counted as a roaring success.” German organizers have “managed to get the balance [between a party atmosphere and security] right, achieving a tone that was far better than at any of the other great sporting events staged since September of 2001.” The “most inspired innovation” has been fan fests, areas in cities “set up with giant screens, concessions and souvenir stalls, allowing those without tickets to feel part of the World Cup” (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/7).