Copy of `First Base Sports - Soccer terms`

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First Base Sports - Soccer terms Category: Sport and Leisure > Soccer Date & country: 27/02/2011, USA Words: 221

Injury time
time added to the end of any period according to the referee's judgment of time lost due to player injuries or intentional stalling by a team.

Instep drive
a straight shot taken with the instep of a player's foot; usually the most powerful and accurate of shots.

Intermission
the 5-minute rest period between periods of a game.

Juggling
keeping a ball in the air with any part of the body besides the hands or arms; used for practice and developing coordination.

Jules Rimet Trophy
the trophy given to the World Cup winner between 1930 and 1970, after which it was permanently retired.

Kickoff
the method of starting a game or restarting it after each goal; a player passes the ball forward to a teammate from the center spot.

Laws of the Game
the 17 main rules for soccer established by FIFA.

Lead pass
a pass sent ahead of a moving teammate to arrive at a location at the same time he does.

League
an alliance of teams that organizes sporting competition.

Linesmen
the 2 officials who assist the referee in making his decisions; they monitor the sidelines and goal lines to determine when a ball goes out of bounds and they carry a flag to signal their observations.

Linkmen
see Midfielders.

Loft or lob
a high-arcing kick.

Man-to-man
a type of defense where each defender is assigned to mark a different forward from the other team; the most common type of defense for national-level teams.

Marking
guarding a player to prevent him from advancing the ball towards the net, making an easy pass or getting the ball from a teammate.

Match
a soccer game.

Midfield
the region of the field near the midfield line; the area controlled by the midfielders.

Midfield anchor
See Defensive midfielder.

Midfield line or center line
a line that divides the field in half along its width.

Midfielders
the 2, 3 or 4 players who link together the offensive and defensive functions of a team; they play behind their forwards.

Mismatch
when a particular offensive player is far superior to the defender marking him.

MLS
Major League Soccer

National team
a team consisting of the best players in a country chosen to represent it in international competitions such as the World Cup.

NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association

Near post
the goalpost closest to the ball.

Net
hemp, jute or nylon cord draped over the frame of the goal and extending behind it; also used to refer to the goal itself.

Obstruction
when a defensive player, instead of going after the ball, uses his body to prevent an offensive player from playing it.

Offense
the function of trying to score goals.

Offensive player
see Attacker.

Offensive team
see Attacking team.

Official game clock
the clock that the referee carries with him on the field so he can signal when each half is over; does not stop during the game, even when play does.

Officials
the referee and 2 linesmen who work together to make sure the game is played according to the rules of soccer; responsible for stopping and restarting play, keeping track of the score and the time remaining and citing violations of the rules, called fouls; they wear uniforms that distinguish them from the players on both teams.

Offside
a violation called when a player in an offside position receives a pass from a teammate; an indirect free kick is awarded to the non-offending team.

Offside position
an attacking player positioned so that fewer than 2 opposing defensive players (usually the goalie and 1 other defender) are between him and the goal he is attacking; a player is not offside if he is exactly even with one or both of these defensive players.

On defense
describes a team that does not have possession of the ball.

On offense
describes a team in possession of the ball.

On-side
the opposite of offside.

Open
describes an attacking player who does not have anyone marking him.

Out of bounds
when a ball is outside the boundaries of the field, having completely crossed a sideline or goal line.

Out of play
when a ball is outside the boundaries of the field or play has been stopped by the referee.

Outlet passes
when a goaltender or defender passes the ball from close to his own goal toward the other team's goal; used to start a counterattack.

Overlap
when a winger moves away from the sideline towards the center of the field to create space for a teammate to advance the ball undefended along the side of the field.

Overtime
the extra periods played after a regulation game ends tied; used in collegiate and championship international matches to determine a winner.

Passing
when a player kicks the ball to his teammate; used to move the ball closer to the opposing goal, to keep the ball away from an opponent or to give the ball to a player who is in a better position to score.

Penalty
short for penalty kick; also, a punishment given by the referee for a violation of the rules.

Penalty arc
a circular arc whose center is the penalty spot and extends from the top of the penalty area; designates an area that opposing players are not allowed to enter prior to a penalty kick.

Penalty area
a rectangular area 44 yards wide by 18 yards deep with its long edge on the goal line; the goalkeeper may use his hands to block or control the ball only within this area.

Penalty kick
see Penalty shot.

Penalty shot
a kick taken from the penalty spot by a player against the opposing goalie without any players closer than 10 yards away; awarded for the most severe rule violations and those committed by the defense within its own penalty area; also taken in a tiebreaker to decide a match.

Penalty spot
the small circular spot located 12 yards in front of the center of the goal line from which all penalty kicks are taken; positioned at the center of the penalty arc.

Penetrate
to advance the ball behind opposing defenders (between them and their goal).

Periods
the segments of time into which a game is divided; a regulation game played by adults consists of two 45-minutes halves.

Pitch
a British term for soccer field.

Play
to trap, dribble, kick or head the ball.

Play on
a term used by referees to indicate that no foul or stoppage is to be called; used by referees when applying the Advantage Rule.

Playoff
a tournament that takes place after a season's schedule has been completed; used to determine a champion.

Points
a team statistic indicating its degree of success, calculated as follows: 2 points for a win (3 in the 1994 World Cup), 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss; also, an individual statistic for a player, calculated by totaling 2 points for each goal and 1 point for each assist.

Possession
control of the ball.

Professional foul
a foul committed intentionally, usually by a defender on an attacker just outside the defender's penalty area; used to prevent a scoring opportunity without incurring a penalty shot.

Push pass
when a player pushes the ball with the inside of his foot to a teammate.

Qualifying Draw
the division of teams into groups for World Cup qualifying matches, held 2 years before The Draw.

Qualifying matches
games played in the 2 years preceding the World Cup to determine which teams participate in the tournament.

Receiver
a player who gets a pass from a teammate.

Red card
a playing card-sized card that a referee holds up to signal a player's removal from the game; the player's team must play the rest of the game shorthanded; presented for violent behavior or multiple rule infractions (two yellow cards = one red card).

Referee
the chief official; he makes all final decisions, acts as timekeeper, calls all fouls and starts and stops play.

Regular season
the schedule of games set before the season; consists of all games played before a playoff or tournament is held.

Regulation game
two completed periods of a game, prior to any overtime or tiebreaker.

Round
a stage of a tournament at which teams compete; the World Cup tournament has 5 main rounds.

Rugby
an offshoot from soccer started in the early 1800s; rugby players are allowed to pick up the ball with their hands and run with it, and also make full contact with each other whether going after the ball or not.

Save
the act of a goalkeeper in blocking or stopping a shot that would have gone into the goal without his intervention.

Score
to put the ball into the net for a goal; also, the tally of goals for each team playing in a game.

Scorers
players who score goals.

Scoring opportunity
a situation where a team stands a good chance of scoring a goal.

Screening
see Shielding.

Set play
a planned strategy that a team uses when a game is restarted with a free kick, penalty kick, corner kick, goal kick, throw-in or kickoff.

Shielding
a technique used by a ball carrier to protect the ball from a defender closely marking him; the ball carrier keeps his body between the ball and the defender.

Shinguards
pads that strap onto a player's lower leg to protect the shins should he or she be kicked there.

Shooting
when a player kicks the ball at the opponent's net in an attempt to score a goal.

Shorthanded
a team playing with less than its full complement of 11 players.

Shot
a ball kicked or headed by a player at the opponent's net in an attempt to score a goal.

Shoulder charge
minimal shoulder-to-shoulder contact by a defender against a ball carrier; the only contact allowed by the rules unless a defender touches the ball first.

Shutout
preventing the opposition from scoring any goals in a game; for example, a score of 2-0 or 4-0; goalies are often credited with shutouts because they did not allow any goals to get past them.

Side tackle
an attempt by a defender to redirect the ball slightly with his foot away from a ball carrier running in the same direction.

Sideline or touchline
a line that runs along the length of the field on each side.

Single elimination
a type of tournament where a single loss eliminates a team from the tournament.

Sliding tackle
an attempt by a defender to take the ball away from a ball carrier by sliding on the ground feet-first into the ball.

Small-sided game
a match played with fewer than 11 players per side.

Square pass
a pass made by a player to a teammate running alongside him.

Starter
a player who is on the field to play at the start of a game; a team usually makes its best players starters.

Steal
when a player takes the ball away from an opposing player.

Stopper
the defender that marks the best scorer on the attacking team, often the opposition's striker; exists only in a man-to-man defense.

Striker
a team's most powerful and best-scoring forward who plays towards the center of the field; also, the name of the mascot for the 1994 World Cup.

Substitution
replacement of one player on the field with another player not on the field; FIFA rules allow only 3 substitutions per game.

Sudden death
a type of overtime where the first goal scored by a team ends the game and gives that team the victory; most overtime in soccer is not sudden death.

Sweeper
the defender that plays closest to his own goal behind the rest of the defenders; a team's last line of defense in front of the goalkeeper.

Tackling
the act of taking the ball away from a player by kicking or stopping it with one's feet; only a minimal amount of shoulder-to-shoulder contact, called a charge, is permitted to knock the ball carrier off balance.

Territory
the half of the field which a team defends.

The Draw
the selection of World Cup teams to place them into playing groups for the tournament and the event surrounding this selection.

Thigh trap
when a player uses his thigh to slow down and control a ball in the air.

Through pass
a pass sent to a teammate to get him the ball behind his defender; used to penetrate a line of defenders.

Throw-in
a type of restart where a player throws the ball from behind his head with two hands while standing with both feet on the ground behind a sideline; taken by a player opposite the team that last touched the ball before it went out of bounds across a sideline.