How Not to Fix Soccer

I can't see much of a net gain in video refs simply due to the unnecessary delay. One of the delights of football is that 15-20 seconds after a goal they are kicking off again.

(the calls in this world cup have been pretty good; I've watched, literally, every game so far and there have been a couple of shockers - which obviously we notice - but generally it has been good)

The whole point of playing a game as a child, IMO, is to learn the basic skills of the game as well as possible and to have fun. Do you think the street kids of Brazil and Argentina, some of whom grow up to be some of the finest natural footballers in the world, worry about the pair of t-shirts they use as goalposts isn't FIFA regulated, or the battered football they use isn't either?

The whole point of playing the game at amateur level when you are older is to play the game you have loved since you were a child. Do you think every amateur game even has 2 linesmen to aid the ref?

This is a totally different proposition to watching the World Cup, Champions League, English Premiership, La Liga or the Serie A. Millions of fans tune in and watch these high-level games, and billions of euros are generated by the sport. When Thierry Henry cheats by blatantly handling the ball, incorrectly getting France into the World Cup, when Kaka, one of the greats of the modern game, gets sent off by some diving, cheating pr*ck, when the ref disallows a perfectly legit goal for the USA, millions of fans are turned off by this crap. Diving is another huge area which is wrecking soccer too. Video refereeing and being able to appeal obviously incorrect decisions like most other modern sports is badly needed to bring the game into the 21st century.

The argument about video refereeing slowing the game down doesn't stand up either. At least trial the system for a few months in major competitions where the necessary equipment already is in place - if it doesn't work after that, then I've got egg on my face. People who argue the reverse are mired in the past, and don't have the balls and vision to at least experiment with something that could bring on a new level of professionalism, and fairness to the sport instead of rewarding cheaters and divers.

1,3. is already true. There is post-morten review, we do see red-cards being cancelled and players being suspended all the time.

4. It is like this already. FIFA rules says that "when in doubt, favor the offense".

5. There has been some national championships with 2 field referees, it didn't noticeably improve the quality of the calls. FIFA allows rule experimentation from time to time on national fields. We've seen "blue cards" (where players must be replaced by others) for instance, two referees, etc... sometimes those rules end up in the official set: referees telling how many extra minutes of play was one of those experiments.

6. They do. English is spoken among all referees in a world cup game, except when all referees share the same nationality.

7. There are recognizable hand signals for all calls, but not for all rationales which would be impossible.

8. I have no clue what you mean by this suggestion. Just wanted to point out that it includes "discretionary power to the referee" while rule 2 suggested that this is "anarchy".

9. What happened to rule 9? Well, I want to use this opportunity to make a point that your comment (as most of comments suggesting new rules) seems to be sincerely trying to create a better game. But this game is just not soccer.

10. Players are not allowed to return immediately and they do must wait for the referees approval.

No. Not at all. Games are already being interrupted constantly by players diving, kicking each other. Video replays wouldn't add that much.