An extremely reliable source close to MLS told me that the MLS owners have been listening too much to Francisco Marcos' inveterate penchant for tinkering. Now that Dictator Marcos has decreed that the USL will have a 4-1-0 (plus the insane bonus point system) there is now a strong lobby to have a 4-1-0 points system in place for MLS next year. This is a man who is so convinced that he his to keep tinkering with the scoring system -- completely contradicting his own poll commissioned on the USL website -- that he actually is insulting the very soccer fans that he's trying to reach:
"I think this is a dangerous attempt at giving the new purist of American soccer their day," said USL president Francisco Marcos. "We'll see how it goes for one year and we'll see just how many of these soccer purists there are that say Americans will accept ties."
My source reports that Mr. Garber has sympthy with the 3-1-0 followers but needs some ammunition to hammer home to the Hunts, Krafts etc. about why the world standard of 3/1/0 might be more appropriate.
It's time, folks, to contact the owners and Mr. Garber to explain rationally why FINALLY having MLS adopt the same points and scoring system, clock, etc. that the rest of the world uses is essential to retain the integrity of the game.
For starters, Mr. Garber can explain it by pointing out that a 4-1-0 system would be enough to undermine the efforts he's making to get the true soccer fans back in the stadiums.
Second, any attempt to play more than 90 minutes to "resolve" draws will actually cost MLS money because they can't fit the matches into the 2 hour TV window. If matches end after 90 minutes and you have 2 hours of TV time, MLS could actually use the remaining time to actually show conventional TV commercials! How hard can this be to understand for people who are trying to eventually have MLS make money?
This scoring and point system issue is never over until it's over! A little history on this issue might be useful.
The last time that US pro soccer played with the same scoring system as the rest of the world was 1967! (source: Colin Jose, The History of the NASL)
When the original NPSL and the NASL merged in 1968, an "innovation" proposed by these owners -- few of whom actually knew much about soccer -- was 6 points for a win, 3 for a draw, and bonus points up to 3 per game. PKs to eliminate draws came in '73 or '74, and the CrapShootout arrived in 1977.
Thus, these bastardizations have deep, deep roots in the MLS ownership and these people are convinced as a matter of faith -- with no evidence whatsoever -- that the world's game can't sell itself to the American public the way it is everywhere else. Unfortunately, we'll never actually know whether Americans would accept 3/1/0, draws after 90 minutes, and 2 leg playoffs, because we haven't tried it for 32 years!
The following are some selected excerpts from a piece I published in Tim Nash's _Soccer News_ in 1995 called "Who's in First?" A couple of additions have been made to deal with the current situation:
The full article can be found by going back to the Shots at Goal page and scrolling down to "Who's in First?" from 1995.
"Why does American pro soccer feel that such a system is necessary? Supposedly American soccer fans must always have as many goals as possible and never have a drawn match. While most soccer fans would subscribe to such ideals, does the current scoring system in the USL actually produce better more attacking play that the FIFA standard (3/1/0) scoring system? Does it produce results that people can understand easily?
The answer to these questions is no. To be effective, a scoring system must be immediately understandable to the average fan and reward offensive play."
Who are these tinkerers actually trying to reach?
First, any departure from 3/1/0 will immediately turn off those who learned soccer elsewhere and have come to the United States. I play on an over 50 team comprised of about 50% Italians, only one of whom attends the Revolution games. I asked one of my teammates why? He said when MLS plays by the same rules and scoring system as in Serie A, then he'd go!
Second, MLS is supposedly trying to appeal to the youth crowd who plays soccer now. Why kind of scoring system do they have? 3/1/0! Draws are allowed to stand! What a shock. Do you mean to tell me that these two core elements of MLS target audience can't understand that a soccer game can end in a draw after 90 minutes?
What was the result of one of the many earlier incarnations of Francisco Marcos' "tinkering" with the scoring system (which he's done countless times over the past 10 years)?
quoting from my article:
" UNDERSTANDING THE LEAGUE RESULTS IMPOSSIBLE
Let's take the issue of understanding the results first. When your team wins a game, you should be able to take the result, go right to the table and understand immediately where your team stands.
The current system so opaque that fans, the press, and even the APSL and USISL themselves can't correctly determine how many points a team has earned. Many times during the past season, the AP and USA Today had to revise the tables on a daily basis because they got either the number of points or the number of goals wrong. And it is not just a problem that occurs occasionally either. Apparently the end of the regular season produced a fiasco at USISL league headquarters in Dallas because it took 4 or 5 people an entire weekend to calibrate the final standings and determine who would be in the playoffs! This is clearly an indication of a fundamental problem with the league's scoring system! "
AMERICAN "EXCEPTIONALISM"
Why does US soccer still resist conforming to the world game on these points? It will only serve to damage the standard of our professional leagues as a reputable competition on the world stage if these types of rules persist against the pattern used by all other countries.
The most bizarre aspect of the proposed USL scoring system is that -- despite all the push for rules changes to US Pro soccer -- American professional soccer uses a regular season and playoff system designed over 25 years ago and first used in the failed NASL. Why do all other rules come under scrutiny while this scoring system is religiously defended by the APSL & USISL against all logic?
Finally, I would caution US Soccer that we simply can not go be a "lone ranger" because we in the USA think the game would be better if we tinkered with it ourselves. The NASL's 35 yard line, and the 6 points for a win scoring system for the most egregious examples of this.
Some soccer people here in the US argue that sports fans don't like soccer the way it is played in other countries and conclude that we have to change the rules. But the strange thing is -- in one way or another -- we have not played with ALL the FIFA rules in the USA since 1967! In other words, how do we know that playing by FIFA rules won't be attractive to Americans? The only bit of empirical evidence we have is the World Cup of 1994 and the Women's World Cup of 1999 -- which WAS played under ALL the FIFA rules -- and it far exceeded everyone's expectations!
Let's just play with the existing FIFA rules on scoring (i.e. 3/1/0) with 90 minute draws and on two-leg playoffs for several years and finally give the American public ALL of the world's game as it is without tinkering with it!
PLEASE!
Mr. Garber can be reached at:
mlsgarber@mlsnet.com