Football!
It’s pretty good, no?
Well, for many, there are still some noticeable flaws plaguing the beautiful game that need to be addressed before they threaten the future of one of the most popular sports in the world.
Dutch legend Marco van Basten has been hired by Fifa, football’s governing body, as their Chief Officer for Technical Development and has been tasked with paving the way for the superstars of tomorrow’s game.
Van Basten has come up with a rout of radical changes that he wants to see implemented for the betterment of the sport as a spectacle, as well as for the fitness of the players involved.
In a refreshing interview with the Associated Press, Van Basten has outlined his plans for the improvement of football and they’ll make for some radical reading for supporters but his stance on prioritising the performance side of the game over the financial side would be a welcome change from football’s current philosophy.
“That’s all for money but we have to think about football and not money,” the former AC Milan forward said of the excess of friendly games nowadays. “For a lot of clubs that’s not easy. But there is enough money in football.”
“(Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi are earning so much money. If they are earning a little bit less but performing better that’s good for football.”
When it comes to deciding cup games, Van Basten has offered an interesting way to maintain the drama that accompanies penalty shootouts without the need for exhausting players with the thirty minutes of extra time.
He’s recommended that we get rid of extra time entirely but, rather than rely on the fortune with which penalties are decided, Van Basten has suggested the following.
“Maybe the player should start 25 metres from goal and then you can dribble the goalkeeper or shoot early,” he said. “But you have to make a goal within eight seconds. It’s more skill and less luck. It’s maybe a bit more spectacular. It’s more football but it’s still nervous for the player.”
The offside rule is one that has been discussed by many, with anyone and everyone offering their advice on how best to update the current regulations.
And Van Basten is not afraid of exploring the possibilities of removing the offside rule entirely so that we, as fans, will see more goalscoring opportunities and less negative tactics.
“I think it can be very interesting watching a game without offside,” Van Basten said. “Football now is already looking a lot like handball with nine or ten defenders in front of the goal. It’s difficult for the opposition to score a goal as it’s very difficult to create something in the small pieces of space they give you.
“So if you play without offside you get more possibilities to score a goal.”
Have you become fed up with that silly half-time thing that separates the 90 minutes of action?
Well Marco Van Basten might have the solution for you as he’s also toying with the idea of introducing four quarters to football, instead of two 45 minute halves, so that players can have more rest time amid the intensifying nature of the sport, as well as allowing managers more time to speak to the players in an attempt to make tactical switches.
“We are trying to help the game, to let the game develop in a good way,” Van Basten said. “We want to have a game which is honest, which is dynamic, a nice spectacle so we should try to do everything to help that process.”
“The coach can have three times with his players during the game,” Van Basten added.
One aspect of rugby that’s proven quite popular and which supporters have been eager to see introduced to the 90-minute game is that of the sin bin.
So often do we find ourselves questioning whether a foul that prompted a yellow card was worthy of a red or whether a dismissal was too harsh.
Van Basten wouldn’t mind seeing a middle ground established.
“Maybe an orange card could be shown that sees a player go out of the game for 10 minutes for incidents that are not heavy enough for a red card,” he said.
We can all agree that football isn’t perfect and at least Van Basten is making a point of trying to improve things.
But four quarters? That will take some getting used to.
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