As a "blow-in" (12 years here) who knows "nothing" about "football" (soccer - and I've made a huge effort to learn & understand the game), I recognize the risk of making any pronouncement on the state of the sport. I would probably get all defensive if any recent arrival to America started mouthing off about what's wrong with baseball. However, that wouldn't mean his opinions weren't valid.
In soccer, more than in any other sport, a good rule of thumb is that the bigger the game, the more likely it is to be a big yawn. Last night's game between Porto and Deportivo la Coruna was a classic example of this. Okay, I accept that some 0-0 games can be exciting, but more often than not, they're incredibly dull. Yes, the second half was a little better than the first, but overall this was a terrible advertisement for the game. Last year's Champion's League Final was equally poor.
I don't know what the answer to this boredom problem is, but surely no sport can be immune from losing fans if its premier games are so dismal.
I've always thought that these two leg affairs are asking for boredom, although that doesn't explain last year's final. Last night, it was obvious from the opening minute that Deportivo were just as happy to play for a 0-0 result in the belief that they would win the home leg.
Maybe the governing authorities should consider abandoning the two leg affairs in favor of a one game, winner-take-all structure. Or a best of three, with the third game, if necessary, at a neutral site. I don't know. I just know that at the top level the best defenses seem more than capable of stifling the best offenses, particularly when there's so little incentive to take a chance and try to score. {For whatever reason, this problem seems more pronounced at the European level than it is in the English League.}
A less important, but still irritating problem is the injury faking that is so prevalent. Diving is one thing - no sport is immune from a little play-acting for the officials in order to get a favorable call. But, why do soccer players (and I've never seen this in any other sport) have to pretend to be seriously injured? They roll around the field, giving the impression that they've suffered a broken limb. Yet, the replays clearly show that while the player may have been fouled, it was hardly serious. This garbage is painful to watch, and to my American eyes, unmanly behavior for any sportsman. "Big girl's blouse" is an expression I've picked up here and it seems to apply to far too many professional soccer players.
