Summer of Sports: What's This Soccer Speak?!

BY DC CUEVA

> @DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow

The Summer of Sports rolls on, and after both a compelling NBA Finals and Stanley Cup, the focus shifts to baseball, major championship golf, Wimbledon which begins next week, the wheeling and dealing of free agency, and most especially the sport that's referred to worldwide as football, but commonly called in this country, soccer. The FIFA Women's World Cup begins its quarterfinal phase this weekend, while the COMEBOL Copa America tournament continues down in Chile, and the young men from Serbia bask in their FIFA U-20 World Cup upset win over Brazil.

   Soccer has grown leaps and bounds in mainstream exposure here in the United States, and of course, it was last year's FIFA World Cup in Brazil that had something to do with that. The sport is more popular than ever in anglophone America, in addition to the traditional hotbed of Hispanics and those migrants who brought this game to our shores. Those who avidly follow the beautiful game know that there's a dictionary all it's own when it comes to following the sport that, outside of the U.S., Canada and Australia, is referred to worldwide as football.

   For sports fans like me, there's a lot of words, lingo and jargon we use in following, covering and watching the sports we love. We use it everyday when we talk about the players, teams and events, and often it sticks out so much it even applies to everyday life as well. It might be a bit complicated for those outside of the hardcore soccer fanbase to find out what the lingo of a game growing in interest in this country at first, but when you get the hang of it, you'll catch on to the unique glossary of the world game. After the jump, DCBLOG brings you a sampling of the words that's used in the world of soccer.

First, here are some things to know about the basics of this game, just before we go into the specifics that will be listed below these beginning two paragraphs. All talk begins about the field of play, which it's referred to more as the "pitch." And for what the players wear to the field, while we call it the uniform it's referred to in soccer circles as a "kit."

   The ball that's most commonly used in schools and by casual folks is sometimes called a "Telstar" ball, which was the match ball used by Adidas for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. It was the first to use a truncated icosahedron design with 12 black and 20 white patches as a way to improve its visibility on TV. Hence, the nickname was given to it for that early satellite that beamed Brazil's golden run to their 3rd title to the world, also for the first time to many in living color.

When it comes to league play and the group stages of the international and continental tournaments, all eyes are on the slate of games in a particular week. While we call that the "schedule," outside of here they refer to it as the "fixture." And unlike in North America where the home team is placed second when it comes to referring who's hosting a game, they're actually placed first in soccer; it's vice versa for the team who's going on the road to play them, only they're considered to be playing "away" rather than on the "road."

   We refer to the standings here as our way to see who is leading who in a particular division and who has a shot at making it to the postseason playoffs. But overseas they refer to it as the league "table," and often times all the teams are placed in one whole conference instead of being split into divisions. And like in the major leagues here, they play a single or double round-robin format.

   The league scheduling system varies from country to country. It can be one that's played in a single year as in America, another that's played from August to May as in Europe, or even two seasons played in one year that's often the case in Latin America. This is called "Apetura & Clausura," which in Spanish means "opening & closing," and it's used in Mexico, Argentina, Japan and even the new incarnation of the North American Soccer League, now 2nd tier to MLS.

   And just as in the NHL, points are awarded on how a team does in league & group stage play. The most-common system is the "3-1-0" system for wins, draws and losses. The 3-point system came into play in 1981 in England to replace the NHL's current 2-1-0 system as a way to encourage teams to attack and go for a win instead of just stalling and settling for a draw; hence, the extra point reward for those who win.

In the case of cup competitions, especially the F.A. Cup, they refer to the various match ups, especially those early rounds when they play there in Britain as a "cup tie." Of course, except in MLS, fans aren't usually fond of ties here, and when the scores are deadlocked at the end of the 90 minutes (and there's no overtime/extra time), you can call it by its alternate name, a "draw."

   In the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League, all rounds of FA Cup play, and now with the Conference Finals in MLS, those rounds, except for the one-game Final, use the aggregate, two-legged system of matches being played at one's home ground, and at the other club's stadium the next week. In effect, it's a two-game playoff series where total goals scored, not essentially who wins those matches, determines who progresses. In some cases, the "away-goals rule" is also in place as a tiebreaker should the aggregate score after the 180 minutes be level; it was introduced as a way to encourage away teams to be more aggressive in the hostile environment of their opponents' home.

It's become a fact of life come springtime to see unheralded teams with a small profile take down a big program and pull off a bracket-buster upset in the NCAA Tournament. It's also the case every year in the F.A. Cup, only that those in England refer to any victory by a lower division team over a higher division side as a "giant-killing." Examples include then-non league side Tottenham Hotspur winning the 1901 Final over league runners-up Sheffield United; non-league team Hereford United upsetting top-flight Newcastle United in 1972; and the most recent - Conference Premier's Luton Town over EPL side Norwich City in the 2013 Fourth Round.

   And a term that's been used in relation to these cups are the "double" and "treble." The double is when a club wins both its domestic league and major cup competition in the same season, and the "treble" if it wins another trophy, notably a continental competition...take for example FC Barcelona winning the ladder for a second time when they won the UCL title earlier this summer.

Here in the United States, international team competition isn't as big a part of the sports culture as in other countries, outside of Americans playing in the World Cup or CONCACAF Gold Cup, golf's Ryder Cup, or of course the Olympics. And of course, viewership for when it's the red, white & blue is playing far exceeds that of a typical league match, thanks to the undeniable drawing power of Team USA in drawing in the casual viewers.

   But when players play on a national team in either a major tournament or in just a friendly match, they call their appearance in the game a "cap," regardless of whether they start or go on as a substitute. This term originates from the traditional presentation of a cap to players in the British Home Nations who play in an international match, and also applies to other international sports too. And outside of continental qualifying or preseason games, an exhibition match that's arranged by two teams with nothing to play for is called a "friendly." The U.S. Men's National Team recently traveled to Europe and took two big wins over the Netherlands and Germany.

When the U.S. men's national team drew in the same group as Ghana, Portugal and Germany last year, everyone here braced themselves for a tough task ahead and most thought the USA would not advance out of their group...well, at least until John Brooks saved the Americans with his winner to beat Ghana and later advancing. It was also the case this year for the American women in drawing the same group as Australia, Nigeria and Sweden, which also included a former U.S. WNT coach in Pia Lindstrom and the African champs. But this speaks to what makes the group stages in soccer tournaments so compelling, and that's where the term "group of death" comes into play. That is when a group becomes unusually competitive due to the number of strong competitors are greater than the number of qualification places available to the knockout rounds; thus, one or more of those competitors will be eliminated.

When the dramatic 2011-12 Premier League title duel came down to the season's last day, the focus was on both the Stadium of Light in Sunderland where Manchester United were on the road, and Emirates Stadium where Manchester City hosted QPR. Both teams were tied at the top of the table with 86 points; a Man City win would give them the title; a United win and City loss and they would win their 13th EPL title; and if both teams had the same result it would come down to a simple tiebreaker.
   The first tiebreaker came by way of "goal difference," which means the team who scores the most goals for, minus the number of goals scored against, or conceded. It was first used at the 1970 World Cup and later adopted by the English Football League in '75. Just as it appeared United would win the title late on that Sunday, and with City down 2-1 to QPR, two late goals by the boys in sky blue, including Sergio Aguero's stoppage time winner just seconds after full-time at the S.O.L., gave City the trophy. This wasn't the first time the English title wasn't decided by this manner; in almost the same way, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield to claim the '89 First Division title via a last-minute goal.

We often hear of how play is restarted And there's various ways of restarting play in soccer, just as in basketball. "Set Pieces" are of when the ball is put back into play, and the most common of which are throw-ins and of corner kicks, but it's most especially used when it comes to "free kicks." And there are two types of free kicks: a "direct free kick" is when a goal can be scored directly and awarded to the fouled team for "penal" fouls, and an "indirect free kick" for other common fouls where it must touch a player before it can be put in the net.

   And during last year's World Cup, something that was introduced for the very first time on the world football stage was the use of "vanishing spray," which is the foam used on the pitch to mark a temporary visual marker. Its use isn't regulated in the Laws of the Game and use is in the hands of the leagues and organizations, but was brought in to mark the 10-yard distance between the ball and the defensive team, and was introduced to prevent unneeded delays in defensive encroachment.

We all know the term "hat trick" from watching hockey - you see hats being thrown on the ice after a player scores his 3rd goal. But it's also applied to soccer as well, and we've seen a decent number of hat tricks in the ladder sport, including Geoff Hurst in England's 1966 World Cup triumph. And those who follow the sport of cricket (essentially baseball but in an oval w/ scores way higher than what we have here), that term evolves from receiving a hat when a bowler (fulfilling what a pitcher does in baseball of delivering the ball) gets three consecutive wickets, or three straight batsmen out. While hockey fans have a Gordie Howe hat trick and there's a natural hat trick of three straight goals, a "perfect hat trick" is when a player scores his three goals with his left foot, right foot and a header. And there's also a term for any player who scores two goals in a match, and that's called a "brace."

   And for the goalkeeper... A few times every year, we celebrate Friday the 13th, and a few times in my lifetime, my birthday in November falls on that day. Last year's Stanley Cup was decided on this date (or the next morning after if you're in New York), and a superstition is that it's bad luck to say "shutout" in the locker room before a hockey game that night. When a goalkeeper keeps the opponents off the scoreboard in a soccer match, then they're considered to have achieved a "clean sheet."

In many regions of the country in all levels of sports, from interleague baseball to countless rivalry games between bitter college foes or local high schools, fans look forward to seeing two teams based in the same city or region playing for local bragging rights. Here we call it a "rivalry game"; in soccer terms they call it a "derby," and it's often pronounced "dar-bee" instead of "der-bee" like the Kentucky Derby. Of late, the Manchester Derby between Man United and Man City in the Premier League has generated worldwide attention (and record TV ratings in the U.S. this past season), while MLS fans are looking forward to New York Red Bulls and NYC FC as they square off this season for the first time. And of course, there's the "El Clásico" derby between La Liga's two-biggest teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, which today garners greater attention than any other worldwide domestic league match. It's always considered a "humdinger," their equivalent to a "barnburner."

We are all fond of overtime and free action here in the U.S., especially when it's a Stanley Cup playoff game, a March Madness thriller or extra-innings baseball. In soccer when a match needs a winner to be decided, like the knockout stages of a Cup tournament or in the ladder matches coming up following the group matches, they actually use the term "extra time." And unlike here where a single play could ultimately win the team the game at that moment, as in basketball they actually play all 30 minutes of it with no sudden death in the two 15-minute periods (though there was a brief, short-lived experiment of bringing NHL-style "golden goal" extra time into international play). Of course, if they are still tied after the total 120 minutes of play, then they go into that penalty shootout.

During this summer for NBA & NHL fans, spring for the NFL and the hot-stove winter for baseball fans, we keep an eye out for the offseason game of musical chairs known as free agency. Plus, there's the mid-season madness and frantic frenzy of the trade deadline. It's the same thing for soccer fans, but they actually refer to all of this player movement as "transfers." There, a club pays another for the rights to one player to be transferred to their club, which is the equivalent of a player being traded here. And unlike the four majors here, any transfers done in MLS and overseas leagues must be done only during the "transfer window", either during the offseason or during a month-long window at mid-season, all to ensure a fair shake for everyone. Other than for free agency, there's no transactions that take place after the offseason window ends and the beginning of the midseason one, and vice versa. And as it is here in North America, the last day of the transfer windows are always bustling with activity.

   Something that never happens in the major four American leagues as far as player transactions go is when a player is given a "loan." That is when he temporarily plays for a club other than the one they're currently contracted to, and it can go from a few weeks to even a few seasons. A popular case is when young players are loaned out to lower league clubs as a way to gain more experience, and the team loaning them takes responsibility of paying the bills for the player and giving the operating club some more financial relief. It's their equivalent to what we see in minor league baseball, the NBA D-League and major junior hockey in players being part of the farm system. That also exists in soccer too, as clubs providing first-team experience for younger players are called "feeder clubs."

It's about every few years or so here that a franchise either moves from one city to another or a new expansion one just pops up in any of the major sports. And of course as of late, NCAA D-1 colleges have been changing conferences just about as often as players jumping to the pros early. In many international soccer leagues, especially the larger countries, the moves between clubs are an annual ritual, and they refer to turnover in the league system as "promotion and relegation." In top leagues such as those in England, Spain and Italy, the three teams with the worst records are relegated to the 2nd tier of the football pyramid, while the three teams with the best records (or in England's case, the top two teams plus the winners of a four-team Football League playoff tournament) take their place in the next season in the top flight. Manchester City was once a team playing outside of the Premier League, but a late comeback from 0-2 to tie and ultimately win the '99 League Two playoff and promotion to the 2nd tier of the league system set the stage for their recent rise to the top.

If you're a regular DCBLOG visitor, early editions of DC FORUM have seen me talk to fans who've gone to MTV reunion shows for an all-access look & perspective behind closed doors of the taping process. But in soccer terms, "behind closed doors" means a much different and more serious definition. This is when matches are played when spectators are not in the stadium, and it may be imposed as a sanction if club supporters misbehave in a previous match, or to prevent any fan conflict. This has echoes of the recent Orioles game with no spectators inside Camden Yards that was played some time ago during the Baltimore riots. On a lighter note, it can also apply if clubs arrange a match to allow a player to return to top form. And sometimes when a player is planning to retire or to mark an anniversary with the club, that exhibition match is called a "testimonial."

Finally, we often see in the college & high school ranks the sight of fans of the home team rushing the field or storming the court to celebrate a victory, especially after the upset of a top-ranked team. In soccer terms, it's a "pitch invasion," and if you go to YouTube and search for it, it's a sight in itself just as it is here in America. It doesn't happen in some countries due to fences placed around the pitch and of course security to protect fans (often when there's a protest of an incident or, unfortunately, confront opposition fans), but it does happen sometimes in Britain in scenes of celebration (which doesn't have those owing to an event that we'll be talking about here during the WC), including after Manchester City's two EPL titles.

So, there you have it...a look at some of the lingo of the sport of soccer. Yeah, it's quite confusing and a bit different than the glossary we use in the American sports lexicon. Those who follow the sport prefer to have the soccer speak to be done their way, but we hope we've given you a little primer on what this all means. And after you've read this, DCBLOG hopes you've gotten the hang of it on this unique jargon fans of the sport they call football elsewhere use to describe the beautiful game.

Be sure to follow the DC Social Network as I'm staying busy both here on DCBLOG and across my social media platforms this summer. And again, the focus, for right now, is on the Summer of Sports.

- First, follow my dedicated live tweet hub, DCNOW at Twitter @DC408DxNow. That's where you'll have a front row seat to the FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals this weekend from Canada. I'll be live tweeting the U.S. quarterfinal against China in a 1999 Final rematch on Friday night in Ottawa, plus the semi-finals and of course the final on Sunday, July 5th. Also, the NBA Draft takes place tomorrow, and we'll be covering it there, along with other big sports events still to come over the summer. And if you're a music & pop culture fan, I'll be live tweeting Sunday's BET Awards as well.

- DCBLOG is complementing those live tweets with extensive and unique blog coverage of all things sports right here. Besides this soccer lingo post, check out my posts on the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and a few other posts on the world game still to come during the WWC and the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup. On Monday, tennis' most prestigious event, Wimbledon, begins in London and that's the subject of our next SOS post to come your way next week, to be followed by articles on the World Series of Poker, Aussie Rules and much more.
- And if you're an MTV fan, my MTV live tweets resume with new seasons of Catfish and Teen Mom 2 on back to back nights starting Wednesday, July 8th (three days after the WWC final), plus the return of America's Best Dance Crew and the VMA's later this summer. We'll then be offering wall-to-wall coverage here of the MTV Trifecta of Season 3 of Are You The One? in Hawaii, plus season 27 of The Challenge, currently taping in Turkey. Catch up on all my MTV coverage right here before the buzz for the reality dating sensation's newest season begins soon.
- Also ahead, my fellow sports/MTV fan, webcast host and recent college grad Andrew Kirk will do a special Big Time Reality TV webcast on his YouTube channel where he'll offering his thoughts on the recent Trifecta cycle, answering questions submitted by yours truly. This was originally planned for a DC FORUM post; our planned blog chat now be delayed once again, until our AYTO3 preview. Of course, follow the both of us, Brian Cohen, Ali Lasher and Reality Radio as we covering the MTV Trifecta both on our respective blogs and on their webcasts, plus Big Brother 17 as well.

- And as always, don't forget to follow my primary Twitter handle @DC408Dxtr, my Instagram account also at the same handle, and at Tumblr at dc408dxtr.tumblr.com.

Thanks for checking out this look at the unique glossary of soccer, all part of the Summer of Sports and as we await the U.S. Women's National Team as they seek their 3rd Women's World Cup. Again, join me on DCNOW for all the action and reaction from Canada's capital on Friday, plus the NBA Draft tomorrow, and back here on the blog too. Until then, thanks for reading, have fun, see you then and talk to you pitch-side.

- I AM DC

Acknowledgements: Wikipedia - Glossary of Association Football Terms and related articles