Words to Know for the Soccer Fan
Published March 13, 2009
Soccer has never had the foothold in the U.S. that it has in the rest of the world. Sure, many of us play it in grade school but later abandon it for more popular, cheerleader-having sports. As it stands, most of us are rusty at best when it comes to soccer terminology, thus we have for you this brief refresher. Please find the following to be your guide into this brave new world, your light in dark times, the Sacajawea to your Lois and Clark, er … , Lewis and Clark.
Cards, Red and Yellow: These are warnings assessed to players on the field by the referee (think banhammer). Yellow is a warning, Red is an automatic ejection.
Corner Kick: When the ball goes out of bounds behind the defending team's goal, the offensive team is given a free kick in the corner of the field closest to where the ball went out. With ample time to set up around the goal area, these are considered highly valuable.
Football: A sport played with helmets, 300-pound men and no rules against touching the ball with your hands. See that "en-US" in the URL above? You're in America, buddy, deal with it.
Free Kick: An undefended kick awarded to a player when a foul is committed by the opposing team. There is a 10-yard buffer zone, outside of which the opposing team often sets up a "wall" to block any direct path to the goal. Those players typically appear to be horrified.
The wall for the free kick is not for the faint of heart.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL:Spanish for "goal."
Header: Using your head to hit the ball out of mid-air. It doesn't hurt as bad as it looks.
Offside: When an offensive player receives a pass behind the last defender (not counting the goalie) the play is deemed offside and will be called off. A free kick is assessed to the defending team and the offensive player raises his hands and looks utterly surprised. (If the player was onside when the ball was initially passed, and he receives the pass in an offside position, he is still officially onside. Some day, we'll explain the blue lines rule in hockey as well.)
Throw-in: When the ball goes out of bounds, outside of the horizontal lines on your TV screen, the opposing team gets to throw the ball inbounds by way of a two-handed, both feet planted, overhead throw onto the field.
It looks like the first, second, and third lines of defense are nowhere to be found.
Slide Tackle: Sliding (like a baseball slide into home plate) into a ball-carrier in an attempt to steal the ball. If you get all ball, it's legal. If you just take out the player, it's a foul. If you do both, you are applauded.
Sweeper: The last line of defense between the rest of the team and the goalie. Not to be confused with Keeper, another term for goalie, who is the last last line of defense.
Woodwork: Refers to the goal posts or crossbar. If a ball hits the woodwork, it's hit one of those and bounced away, not counting as a goal.
Penalty Time: Each match is comprised of 45-minute halves during which the clock runs continuously, and at the end of each half there's something called "Penalty Time" which runs over the 45 minutes. Presumably, this is to make up for the time lost to penalties, out of bounds balls, and extensive goal celebrations. It's not exact, but a judgment call on behalf of the referee. Scholars maintain the exact formula was lost centuries ago.
Article by KP
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