Paul Owers

I know countless millions of people love soccer, and it can be a thrilling game, as we witnessed repeatedly during the World Cup, but it suffers from a fundamental structural flaw. Because offense is in such short supply at this level, scoring is highly dependent on penalties. This means that scoring often comes outside the normal flow of play, and incentives flopping and pretend injuries that are unworthy of grown men—you think someone rolling around the turf in agonizing pain is going to have to be transported immediately to the hospital, then you look up and he’s played another 45 minutes, no problem. Then, there’s the courting of artificial penalties—a player steps in front of another, gets bumped, and proceeds to pretend he got shot. Whatever the other merits of soccer, this stuff is a blight on the game and brings an element of low comedy to even the highest-stakes competition.