Football commentary and intentional fouls

One of the more interesting aspects of commentating a football game is dealing with teams that employ strategies that exploit clock management in order to improve their chances of winning the match. One interesting ploy that seems to work well with many teams is that of using intentional foul minutes before the end of the first half.

However, unless football commentators expose such methods, many football managers as well as football fans will not even become aware of this football tactic. With a little more in-depth knowledge and analysis of the game, one should be able to pick holes in almost every football tactic and strategy.

It is up to a commentator to let the listeners know about these fouls and strategies. The fact of the matter is that even if a team happens to be trailing (and it is also the inferior team) the probability of being able to win the game comes down and the implications are not what one would commonly expect.

The thing is that intentional fouling only ends up prolonging the game, and for an inferior team this in not the best course of action as they could end up losing altogether. It would be far better for the losing team to try and get the first half over with as soon as possible in order to nullify the winning team’s superiority. A slow tempo is the answer as far as the losing team is concerned – not lengthening the game.