Last Friday, I wrote an article arguing that the future of soccer may well lie in the hands of the United States, not because of its great interest in the sport, but rather because of its apathy. Soccer wants to be big here, and so the average American sports fan could wield serious influence on the game.

I also drew up a short list of the major problems with soccer from as much of an American viewpoint as I could. Now I want to analyze these and propose some solutions that could not just boost the sport’s popularity here, but would also be seen as a positive step elsewhere.

Low scoring and ties

There is no way to change the fundamental rules of soccer to increase the number of goals scored without changing what is a tried-and-true (and hugely successful) format overseas, not to mention alienating billions of fans. Similarly, there is no good way to eliminate ties, as FIFA’s failed experiments with golden and silver goals have shown.

Even if American fans can’t get used to these aspects of the game, there might still be an answer. Youth development in the United States could concentrate on developing ball skills and playing a fast, attacking game. The combination of better offense with inevitably weaker defense would make tied games more rare and lead to more goals scored.

Cheats and bad referees

Compared to pretty much every other professional sport, soccer has lagged behind in using technology to help referees and to catch cheaters. This is partly because the game has few natural pauses in which to refer to video evidence, but that is no real excuse.

Goal-line technology would be a start. Everyone has seen disallowed goals that clearly crossed the line, and I can even think of goals that went nowhere near the line. It is easy to vilify referees for these mistakes, but if we don’t use technology to make their lives easier, even the best will still get it wrong occasionally.

Video evidence would also be a vital tool in catching cheaters. It’s not possible to stop a game in the middle of play to check the footage, but there are still ways to integrate it. Reviewing the game afterwards, it would be possible to hand out red or yellow cards retrospectively, and even take back cards that were wrongly awarded. Though it would be impossible to reverse the actual result of the game, this would act as a major deterrent for anyone intentionally cheating, knowing their actions would never go completely unnoticed.

Understanding the game

One consequence of using more technology at soccer games is that all sorts of data could be amassed on what happens during a game–length of passes, speed of shots, distance run, etc. The list is virtually endless, and all sorts of tables and charts could be drawn up to compare the performances of different players and teams. Something like the Hawk-Eye system used in tennis and cricket would allow TV pundits to replay shots from any angle and make televised soccer more appealing to the average American sports fan.

Major League sports

It is unlikely that any major foreign soccer teams will play regular season games in the United States any time soon, because the idea is hugely unpopular with fans and the governing bodies of the world game. But there could still be a way to do this. Occasionally teams are forced to play games either behind closed doors or in neutral locations, and I can’t think of a much more neutral location than the United States. Perhaps America could even bid to host the Champions League Final one year.

The world’s best players could also be brought to these shores by creating strong links between MLS teams and the biggest clubs in Europe. Big teams often loan out talented young players so that they can gain vital match experience, and U.S. teams could market themselves as feeder teams. This could mean some of the brightest young talent coming to play here for a year or two, and could perhaps bring the “senior” players across now and then as well.

It is also worth considering structuring the MLS more like soccer leagues abroad rather than copying the major U.S. sports. Across Europe, each country has a hierarchy of smaller leagues below the top one, and they are linked so that the best teams are promoted upward and the worst relegated downward. The biggest advantage of this is that it means everyone has a nearby home team, and that there is always the chance that your team could eventually make it to the very top of the pile. It’s a little like the American dream–anyone can start a team, and with enough hard work that team can hit it big.

College sports

It may be tricky to find a compromise between young players attending college or starting their professional career early, but it would be a simple step for the NCAA to bring its rules closer to professional rules. This means limiting the number of substitutions to just three, playing with a normal clock where time is added for stoppages rather than a running clock, and removing the golden goal rule. These might seem like minor changes, but the advantage of consistent rules is that fans of college soccer will be immediately familiar with professional soccer.

Limited substitutions might reduce the number of people that can be involved in any particular game, but it would perhaps make college players more attractive to professional clubs. Playing a full 90 minutes is a more difficult physical test than, say, 20 minutes with breaks.

Whether you agree with my ideas or not, though, events across the pond last week made one thing clear. Last Friday, the very unpopular American regime at the world-famous Liverpool FC was ousted; not by fans or an oil-rich billionaire, but by rival U.S. investors. Soccer may never manage to hit the big time in the United States, but ultimately, American influence in the sport is here to stay. So please, be gentle.