Both of my sons play soccer, and they each have since they were four years
old, so I've been standing on a soccer side line every weekend for about
the
last 20 years. In that time, I've learned a little bit about soccer! Also,
the whole house is a buzz right now with soccer and world cup talk.
There are probably better explanations out there, but the one I found that
talks about the rules of soccer and how it's played is at
http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/soccer-rules.html. I'll also mention a few
things below, but if you have any question, don't hesitate to send them to
me off line. My email address is at the end of this note.
Basically, each team has ten players on the field (or pitch) and a goal
keeper. Generally they're arranged into forwards or strikers, midfieldman
or halfbacks and full backs or defenders. A team may also call the two
most
outside midfieldman wings, the upmost defender a stopper and the furthest
back defender a sweeper. Any player can go anywhere on the field, but the
goalie can only use his hands when he's in the goalie box. Only the goalie
can use his hands, and like I said, only when he's in the goalie box.
In the World Cup, they play two 45 minute halves. They also add "injury
time" at the end of the game to allow for the time when the play was
stopped
due to an injury. The clock keeps going in this case, but like I said,
they
add time on at the end of the game. If the game is tied at the end of
regulation, they play two 15 minute periods. I think the World Cup uses
"sudden death" or maybe they call it "gold ball" meaning that the game is
over as soon as one team scores in these extra periods. If the game is
still
tied after these two extra periods then they go into a "shoot out" where
each team takes five penalty shots. If it's still tied then five more
penalty shots. I'm not sure what happens when they run out of players.
In World Cup soccer, I think you only have five substitutes on the bench.
You can only make three substitutions during a game, and once a player
comes
off, he can't go back in for the rest of the game. Sometimes, if a player
is
a little dinged up, he may come off for a few minutes, while his team is
playing a man down, and then he'll come back into the game. If a player
gets
a red card, or a second yellow card, for committing a particularly
flagrant
foul then he has to leave the game and cannot be substituted for, so his
team will play a man down for the rest of the game.
Hockey is a good analogy, but there's obviously no ice or sticks in
soccer.
The goal is to kick the ball into the opposing teams goal. If a team kicks
the ball out of bounce on the side line, then the other team throws the
ball
in from the side line. If a team kicks the ball past the end line that
they're attacking then the other team will have a goal kick to put the
ball
back in play. A goal kick is also used to put the ball back in play after
a
goal. If a team deflects a ball past the end line it's defending then the
other team will get a corner kick. They kick the ball in from the corner,
and they generally try to loft the ball up in front of the goal so one of
their players can "head" the ball into the goal. Obviously, the other team
lines up in front of their own goal to stop this. This is an example of a
"set play" in soccer. If a team commits a penalty in the box in front of
their own goal then the other team gets a penalty kick, where you have
just
a single player shooting against the goalie. Penalties elsewhere in the
field result in either a direct kick, where you can score, or an indirect
kick, where the person kicking the goal cannot score directly. With a
direct
kick, the defending team will form a wall, if the ball is close enough to
the goal. The start of each half and the restart of play for other reasons
is done with a drop ball.
Probably the most confusing rule in soccer is off sides. Basically, you
cannot have a forward back in behind the other teams last defender. You
can
dribble the ball past the last defender, but you can't pass the ball to a
player of yours who's behind the last defender when you make the pass.
This
is most dramatic when a team thinks it's scored, but the goal gets waved
off
due to an off sides call.
I would guess that ESPN will assume there are a lot of first time soccer
watchers in the US, so they'll probably try to explain some of the rules
an
nuances as they go. Of course, they're not going to want to upset the die
hard fans by dumbing it down too much.
Have fun, and like I said, just fire me a question directly. If I can't
answer it, I'm sure one of my kids can.
--
Christopher
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Vinny Samarco
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:14 AM
To: PC Audio Discussion List
Subject: On or Off topic, I'm not sure.
Ok,
Since there are many on this list who are not from North America, I
thought
it might be a good place to ask this soccer question.
I think the World Cup is going to be broadcast online this year in the
U.s. and Canada on Espn. I have never been able to understand the basics
of
how soccer is played--how many players, and, is it like hockey, only not
on
ice?
If there is a website that would explain these things, or if someone wants
to write me off list, I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for probably is an off topic post.
Vinny
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