What if soccer

Cesc Fabregas scored the decisive spot kick, and Spain went on to win the title that would kick off an era of international dominance without precedent. But what if David Villa had missed his penalty? Or Santi Cazorla? The Spanish dynasty might never have risen at all. Would he have excelled for a big club in Spain, Italy or England the same way he starred for Santos and for Brazil in international competitions?

The obvious answer is Chelsea would have been crowned European Champions, but while Avram Grant would have likely been replaced anyway, there would have been some rather more serious repercussions at Manchester United, who ended up winning the final. And, of course, Italy might well have gone on to win a fourth World Cup—temporarily putting themselves ahead of Brazil on the all-time ledger.

After helping The Netherlands achieve qualification for the World Cup, Johan Cruyff retired from international football. Initially it was rumoured he was uncomfortable with the military dictatorship in Argentina—the country hosting the World Cup—but he later admitted his family had been the subject of a kidnapping plot in Barcelona, and the weight of the ordeal had caused his retirement. In any event, The Netherlands progressed all the way to the final, where they lost in extra time to Argentina.

But what if Cruyff had been there? The Dutch might just have won their first ever World Cup. Plus, wouldn't you be a little unnerved seeing Floyd Mayweather coming at you for a slide tackle? Being good in the air and able to break up crosses in front of goal is critical for central defenders, and few Americans are able to defend a pass across the middle better than Reed. Plus, if there's one position on a soccer field where an NFL player's hitting ability would come into play, its here, where you can get away with a lot of pushing and shoving so long as you're going for the ball.

A little unoriginal I know, but c'mon, any preening foreigner would be absolutely terrified to see Ray, freaking, Lewis standing between them and the goal. You could be sure he would be able to come forward quickly to help out with the attack. The shiftiest player in the NFL would be as untackleable in futbol as he is in football. Central midfielders need to be able to distribute the ball first and foremost, and DWill's strength and poise would make him a great midfield general.

However, since those two always suck when they play together for England, I will go a different route. Another guy with great poise and accuracy to run the game in the middle of the field.

He can cover a ton of ground, and if his great throwing arm can be translated as a great foot to cross the ball into the box he'd create havoc along the right side. With his something-inch vertical leap and impeccable ability to find his way through multiple defenders to get to the ball, Moss would be the perfect target man. However, if you want more goals, then you want more space behind the defense, so you would want teams to play an offside trap which allows for well timed runs and passes.

The figures bear this out. Opta stats show that in there were 7. Since the new legislation came into force, there has been a further decline, to 4. The liberation of the offside law from has teams defending deeper allowing for more space in front for for teams to play soccer. So, when we step back and take a closer look, we have already had rule changes that are actually in line with some of what American sports fans were asking for. Finally, to bring things back to American sports, why not take away the illegal formation in NFL football and let anyone be an eligible receiver?

Same with offside. Certainly true; however, the point is that without understanding some tactics, the casual observer may not understand how a total abolition of the offside rule would change the game and ultimately leave them not entertained and even more frustrated. Are there changes that could be made to the rule, especially in the VAR era? Yes, of course. But doing away with it entirely is not the way to provide entertainment.

Absolute rubbish excuses. Of course it would open the game up. Clubs would not hoof it upfield as we have seen now when played the CH just lap them balls up allday long. It would get rid of stupid VAR being offside for a cm and leave it to check actual wrong decisions like fouls or handball.