Well my proposed rule changes are designed to create more exciting moments and more scoring opportunities because personally thats what I think is fun to watch and play. And as far as substituting goes, I can see how a star like Crouch coming off the bench creates an air of excitement in the stadium. But I think allowing substitutions would make so it players don't have to fake injury to catch their breath, which is something that annoys me.
Faking injuries is part of the "snerky stuff" in teh game. everyone attempts to fake not cuz they can catch a breath, but cuz with succession, they can have a lot to reap. a recognized foul can lead to change of ball possession, and if within penalty area, it's a penalty kick that may be rewarded. all that is sufficient to change the tide of the game, because 1 goal can simply be enough to win a game. and to have a chance to score, of course u must have ball possession. this is especially true with higher ranking teams, where goals don't come by often if both teams are relatively high on the board, such as big teams like MU, arsenal, RM, LP,IM,ACM,barcelona. a reason can be because both sides are big fish, so they are roughly around the same level, therefore they may have to fight harder to get that one goal. this is why when a goal is scored, the scoring team usually is very happy. thats why you see the player who scored usually react crazily, from running around with arms stretched to even some of them performing somersaults and flips and dances. the crowd also goes crazy, from drums and beats to anthems. bigger fish against smaller ones usually end with a very one-sided victory, such as brazil vs china with a 5-0 back in 2002.
if you relate to canada vs USA in winter olympics 2010, that's kinda the similar thing you're looking at. both teams don't get that much goals, but when they do, it means a lot.
1-0 is usually a lead, and the winner will want to secure a 2-0 for a safer win, as for the loser, catching up in 2 goals is extremely hard. of course, the loser wants to tie up at 1-1 asap as the longer it takes, the more dangerous things get.
also another thing in soccer will be formations and morale. morale affects a lot. calling fouls to stop the momentum of the game not only affects the crowd, but also the playing teams, depending who's momentum got stopped. this is why fouls in soccer is very useful and political. yellow cards can affect the team if a lot of players in your team gets them, as the second one leads to a red. of course, sometimes red cards are issued instantly if the foul or violation was serious. therefore even when the foul can be exciting if you're cheering for a specific team passionately because you'd wish to see yellow for your opponent, or preferably, red. of course you dont want the same to happen to your team as it can affect the players a lot on the field. also, players' EQ is very important. last year, zidane got sent out in the final 10 mins and that might have potentially destroyed france's victory since he's like the french version of maradonna(a soccer legend). rooney also got sent out for bad temper. for that reason, today's game, he kept his cool even when he was dissatisfied with the ref's decision to not reward a foul to the player who tripped him. he must've learned it hard from '06 when england vs portugal and he got sent out with a red. (england lost to portugal that game since beckham, owen, and rooney himself were gone) at both instances, these red cards are extremely influencing, and carry even more damage to the team if the player sent out was a star player, such as zidane (france lost a lot of momentum with their captain and soccer legend off the field), and rooney(one of the top stars in england, and also for that, england lost a lot of its morale after rooney was out)
even if it weren't for the cards, simple ball possession can path a good path to victories, as ball possession means which side has the advantage. also generally, aside from what i've mentioned, one can look at which side the game was played on mostly to determine the condition and strength of the teams of that game. as we know from last game, england maintained most of the ball possession and the game was mostly in US 's field in the second half, denoting who has the control, advantage, and momentum. however, after the switch, morale for the US built up and the game started to shift into england's field. at that point, couch was subbed in to help not only to regain the balance, but also to tip the favor for england by having rooney, couch, lampard, and gerrard in the field.
as you can tell, that's why substitution is very important and even the usage of it is very strategic. there are limited amounts of substitution, and who gets subbed wasn't merely to change players or for fun, but a boost of morale and tactics. some top players don't enter until later for the purpose of the tactic and the position they represent and their strength. if mekele of france was subbed in for henry, that means they're going from defensive to more offensive, as mekele is excellent defenseplayer and henry is striker. (however usually henry, ribery, zidane are on the field to maintain teh balance of the team as they represent offensive)
so therefore, if you pay attention, soccer can be a very interesting game.
, England would probably prevail to semifinal.