Latest World Cup Head Injury Shows FIFA Really, Really Doesn’t Care About Concussions

[caraher]

2. I wonder how it would change the game to relax restrictions on substitutions

It seems like the limit of three exists mainly because of a tradition of having few substitutions. But if they allowed more subs perhaps they could fix some other things, like the penalty kick shootouts. The main reason I see for penalty kick shootouts is that players are exhausted after running for 120 minutes, but with more liberal substitutions the force of that objection would be much less... maybe teams could get an extra substitution for every extra period completed.

I also wonder whether allowing more substitutions, including players returning to the game, might really pick up the pace of play. One could do things like send in fresh players to lay on bursts of pressure... it would certainly make the depth of a roster a much more important factor.

This would obviously make pulling a player for an evaluation after a blow to the head a much easier decision to make!