Soccer Terms

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Q

R

RED CARD -- the card shown to a player being ejected from a match by the referee; players ejected cannot be substituted for, and often a red card offense carries a penalty of additional matches missed.

REFEREE -- the only on-field official charged with enforcing the rules of the game; acts as timekeeper as well; has the authority to expel a player from a game for repeated fouling or misconduct behavior.

S

SAVE -- the goalkeeper stopping a scoring opportunity by either catching the ball or knocking it away from the goal.

SHIELDING -- when a player places his body between an opponent and the ball; often preceeds an offensive maneuver during an attack.

SHOOTOUT -- a tie-breaking procedure; occurs after extra time in international matches; occurs after regular time in Major League Soccer; there are two basic methods: a) in international matches, shootouts are determined with penalty kicks; b) in Major League Soccer and other North American leagues, the situation is a one-on-one where the attacker takes possession of the ball from 35 yards away, and has to dribble and score against the opposing goalkeeper.

SLIDE TACKLE -- sliding into the ball and knocking it away from an opponent; if the player executing a slide tackle hits the attacker's legs before striking the ball, it results in a foul; if poorly executed, a slide tackle will result in a foul with either a red or yellow card being issued (this is also referred to as a professional foul).

STRIKERS -- terms used for forwards or attackers; target player to whom the rest of the team will look during its attack; chosen for their scoring abilities.

SUNDAY SHOT -- a desperation shot from long out that remarkably results in a goal.

SWEEPER -- defender who plays behind the back four with no marking assigments; the link who supports both defensive and attacking play; works in unison with his goalkeeper.

T

THROW-IN -- the method of restarting play when the ball has crossed the touchlines; a throw-in is awarded to the opposing side of the team which knocked the ball out of play.

TOUCH LINES -- the boundary lines running the full length of the field on each side of the playing area.

TRAP -- the use of any legal part of the body to gain control of an airborn ball.