The most dubious scoreline in soccer, at least when it comes to pleasing traditional American sports fans, is the 0-0 draw.



No goals must mean no action, right? It must be a boring game, yes? 



It’s no wonder Americans haven’t fully adopted a sport where it’s possible for nobody to score, and nobody to win.



These are familiar talking points from the soccer-dismissive sports fan and pundit. Every four years when the entire planet fixates on the World Cup, they are often amplified. And I myself could have been caught echoing those sentiments many moons ago, before I fell in love with the sport of soccer (which would quickly become my favorite, and go on to change my life – but that’s another story).



So I – a full-blooded, born-and-raised American sports fan – am here to tell you how and why you can absolutely still love a 0-0 draw in soccer.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Open wide for some Soccer!" width="500" height="281" src="https:\/\/www.youtube.com/embed/HV0UGXYwQh0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div><figcaption>It’s all here! Fast kickin’! Low scorin’! And ties? You bet!</figcaption></figure>



<h3>A culture accustomed to scoring</h3>



We Americans tend to love high scoring action in our sports. A 32-35 NFL game or a 52-14 college football blowout. The Warriors edging out the Lakers 141-139. That kind of thing. 



Soccer, by its nature, is a different animal. Soccer goals are only worth one point. American football offers high scores, but the number of actual *scoring plays* in a game is not so different. The most <a href="https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/scorigami-origins-and-how-it-works-nfl" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">common final score in NFL history is 20-17</a>. If you divide those scores by the number of points a touchdown is worth (let’s assume they make the extra point), it works out to 2.8-2.4. Not so different from soccer, is it? 



Funnily enough, the NFL is the only American pro sport where a 0-0 tie is a possible result (since the NHL got rid of ties in the mid-2000s). But that hasn’t actually happened since 1943. Baseball might seem to be a slightly higher-scoring game, but in 2022 the average runs scored per game ranged from about 3.5, for the worst teams, to just over 5 for the best. 



Soccer is a sport that pretty much demands you pay attention to it the entire time. A game is 90 minutes long. 



It can easily be a blink-and-you-miss-it proposition. 



There are no commercial interruptions, no breaks between each pitch, nothing like that. There really aren’t many opportunities to ignore and tune out what you might think is a “boring” game. So much of the joy in “the beautiful game” comes from, and is built-up, in between the goals.



<h3>Many things to love</h3>



While a single basket in an NBA game is routine, and a touchdown or home run is expected, a goal in soccer is not a given. The near-misses, corners and free kicks, shots hitting the woodwork – they all contribute to the experience. A brilliant play featuring seven passes that link-up to create a scoring chance – but doesn’t deliver one – can be more satisfying than a run of the mill touchdown in the NFL.



The escalating tension, atmosphere, anxiety, nervousness – these are the things that can make a low-scoring soccer game an experience unlike any other. Envision the drama of a last minute game winning field goal, or a buzzer beating 3-pointer. Now extend that nail-biting, butterflies-in-your-gut feeling over an entire game. That’s what a 0-0 soccer game can be like. That feeling is why even a crummy goal, one that pinballs around the box before going in off the goalkeeper’s backside, can be just as thrilling as a perfectly hit golazo from 35 yards out. Just one moment of brilliance – or luck – can result in a release of excitement and passion that is unrivaled in the sports world.



<h2>Nil-nil</h2>



But sometimes, that release never comes for either side. Sometimes, nobody really deserves to win a match. By the same token, oftentimes nobody really deserves to lose. So a draw and sharing of the points is usually a fair result. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that that particular game wasn’t exciting.



A 0-0 draw, in let’s say a World Cup group stage match where you need just one point in the standings to advance (such as World Cup 2022’s <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com/news/lukaku-dismayed-as-belgium-crash-out-of-world-cup-20221201-WST-410738.html">Croatia-Belgium</a> game), can be just as satisfying as a 5-0 victory. Even in a mundane early season league match, not conceding a goal and escaping with a draw can mean the difference between glory and failure later on in the season when the table is added up.



A scoreless draw can make it easier to appreciate the nuances of the game. Terrific saves and defensive plays, displays of dribbling and passing skill, mere inches deciding the fate of a match. It can amplify bad (or good) officiating. 



A 0-0 result may seem like the worst of the game on the surface. But it can very easily deliver the best soccer has to offer. Are there 0-0 snooze-fests occasionally? Of course. But more often than not, these matches are full of intrigue and drama. Rather than being a negative aspect of the sport, the low scoring or scoreless game is one of the things that give soccer it’s unique flavor.

An American sports fan's guide to how you can still be greatly entertained and love a 0-0 draw in the sport of soccer.

Why you can love a 0-0 draw - World Soccer Talk

Why you can love a 0-0 draw

destacadas

<a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15.png"></a><div><figure class="image"><a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20100414_WST_17833_sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15-600x330.webp&amp;width=600&amp;height=330" alt="sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15" width="600" height="330" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-140482" srcset="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15-600x330.png 600w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15-150x82.png 150w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/sky-sports-epl-montage-2014-15.png 847w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></a></figure></div>
One of the most fascinating aspects of soccer is its formula for declaring a champion. In no other sport (mind you I come from an American sports background) can a match that pits the team at the top of the league versus a middle-of-the-pack team be the game that goes further than any other in determining that season’s champion.&nbsp; Chelsea vs Bolton (left), for all the marbles.&nbsp; Who knew?&nbsp; But that is what makes the EPL and all soccer leagues so enthralling, because such a tepid-looking fixture at the start of the season can prove to be a title-deciding match, creating gripping drama where one expected little.

Warning:&nbsp; American sports will be discussed below! 


Here in the U.S., all major sports run a regular season of various lengths in which teams must qualify for a post-season playoff tournament, the winner of which is crowned champion of the sport.&nbsp; So ingrained is the obsession with this so-called “second season” in each sport that to set up a round-robin style system akin to soccer would be tantamount to blasphemy in the American sports landscape.&nbsp; So much so that even our only major soccer league (MLS) utilizes a qualification-for-playoffs format to determine its champion, which is certainly laughed at by the rest of the footballing world.

Certainly, playoff formats yield heart-stopping drama that any sports fan craves, for once in the playoffs your team is one loss away from season over, which sets up pulsating action whether in a one-off format (NFL), or a best-of, series-based format (NBA, NHL, MLB).&nbsp; In fact, most of the greatest sporting contests in American history have been during playoff season, as the tension is at its highest, and where every play and every call are magnified to an absurd degree, creating talking points that can span decades.

As an American, I would never want to witness an attempt to replace our current model for determining champions.&nbsp; Playoff season is a yearly rite of passage, it is a part of who we are:&nbsp; rooting for the underdog, leveling the playing field, and forcing elite teams to earn their stripes by grinding their way through a “second season” to win a title.&nbsp; And, frankly, the NFL playoffs are my favorite time of year.

But soccer’s format, which sets all teams on equal footing throughout the season by having each club play every other club in the league twice (once at home and once away), is the fairest and best system for determining a league’s best team over the course of a season, which is what each sporting league’s champion should unarguably be.


American sports fans have long seen upstart, yet largely inferior, teams run the table and win the championship because of the “crapshoot” nature of the playoff format.&nbsp; Take for example the <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_York_Giants_season" target="_blank">NFL’s 2007 New York Giants</a>.&nbsp; Here is a team that played inconsistently throughout the season, losing their first two games, then reeling off six wins in a row, then ending their season winning four and losing four.&nbsp; Against teams that qualified for the playoffs, the Giants went a paltry 2 wins, 5 losses.&nbsp; But their season was good enough to get them into the playoff tournament, where they shockingly knocked off the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys and second-seeded Green Bay Packers to reach the Super Bowl.&nbsp; There, they faced arguably the greatest team in NFL history, the New England Patriots.&nbsp; The Patriots had just gone undefeated in the regular season (a perfect 16-0 record), only the second time that had been achieved in league history.&nbsp; The record aside, the Patriots were ruthless, with an offense that could score at will, and a ball-hawking defense that forced timely turnovers.&nbsp; Yet, remarkably, the vastly overachieving Giants pulled off arguably the biggest upset in American sports history, defeating the invincible Patriots 17-14 to become NFL champs.
<div id="attachment_17843" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/newyorkgiants-win-superbowl-xlii1.jpg"><div><figure class="image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17843" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-17843" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20100414_WST_17833_newyorkgiants-win-superbowl-xlii1.webp&amp;width=350&amp;height=220" alt="" width="350" height="220"></figure></div></a>Giants&apos; 2007 NFL Champions: the spitting image of the American discrepancy between "champion" and "the best"</div>

And it is here where I often am at odds with the American sports majority.&nbsp; We celebrate such upsets here, and wax poetic about the Giants’ sensational tournament run that crowned them champions.&nbsp; But that is just it:&nbsp; were the Giants truly the best team in football, which is what a league champion should be, or did they just get hot for a four-game stretch and simply win a tournament?

Such a quandary is rendered moot by soccer’s system for crowning their champion.&nbsp; Over the course of an arduous 38-game season where all sides have an even playing field with identical schedules, the team that earns the most points by the end of the season wins the league.&nbsp; It is beautiful in its simplicity.&nbsp; Can you imagine if in the 2003-04 Premier League season an undefeated Arsenal had to enter a playoff tournament against the top 8 teams in the league to become champions?&nbsp; And then were to lose against a Charlton Athletic that had luck on their side?&nbsp; Sure, under such a system, Charlton would technically be champions, but everyone and their mother knows who the best side in England were in 2004.&nbsp; And it certainly wouldn’t have been the Addicks.

Like I said above, I would never replace the American system of playoffs.&nbsp; It produces incredible drama right to the end of the season, something that is often lost in soccer’s version, where a champion can be crowned with 8 matches still to go.&nbsp; But, and most importantly, the aim of any sport should be to have a schedule format that organically determines who the best team in the league is and crown that club league champion, not the team that happens to get hot in a truncated mini-season after the real season is finished.

Catch more soccer analysis on my site <a href="http:\/\/pitchmen.fantake.com">Pitchmen</a>!

ALL POSTS TAGGED "American Sports"

World Cup 2022

Why you can love a 0-0 draw

Leagues: Championship

Why Soccer's Championship Format is Best