Soccer Explained copertina

Soccer Explained

Soccer Explained

Di: Treencee Russell and Sy Hoekstra
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A proposito di questo titolo

 A guide to the essentials of soccer for casual viewers and the soccer curious. Two American fans, one of whom owns a soccer team, give you everything you need to join the excitement around the fastest growing sport in the US, just in time for the World Cup! In short, entertaining episodes, We cover the rules, strategy, leagues, and more, comparing soccer with the major American sports. We'll help you wrap your head around, and maybe even fall in love with, the beautiful game.Sybren Hoekstra Calcio
Episodi
  • S1E7 Soccer Stats and Gameplay Terms Explained

    S1E7 Soccer Stats and Gameplay Terms Explained
    Apr 23 2026
    On this episode of Soccer Explained, we tackled something every casual viewer needs: the words. If you’ve ever been confused by commentators throwing around terms like nutmeg, xG, or closing the angle, this post is a cheat sheet for the stats and gameplay terminology you’ll hear during broadcasts. For stories to illustrate these terms, some soccer history, and our answer to a listener question about why the US women’s national team is so dominant, listen to the full episode. The Stats You’ll See on the Broadcast Shots on target, also called shots on goal, are shots that would go in if nothing stopped them. When a keeper stops one, that’s a save. A block is different: that’s when an outfield player, meaning any player who isn’t the goalkeeper, interferes with a shot or pass. An interception is when a defender cuts off a pass and takes possession, as opposed to a block, where they don’t take possession. A tackle is when a defender challenges a player with the ball and takes it away, like a steal in basketball. A tackle in soccer has nothing to do with tackling in football. Nobody is getting leveled (unless of course, someone commits a foul). Goals and assists work the way you’d expect, with one wrinkle: own goals. An own goal is when a defender unintentionally puts the ball into their own net. But if an attacker takes a shot that was on target and the ball deflects off a defender into the goal, that’s still a regular goal for the shooter. The distinction is whether the shot was on target. Assists go to the last player who passed to the goal scorer. Treencee’s favorite unofficial stat is the assist to the assist (officially, the “secondary assist”), the pass before the pass that led to the goal. That often comes from the real playmaker who saw the attack developing before it happened. You’ll also see pass completion percentage, both for individuals and teams as a whole. And possession percentage, the share of time each team had the ball. On many professional broadcasts you’ll see expected goals, or xG, which uses historical data to estimate how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of their shots. It’s soccer’s sabermetrics. Possession percentage and team total shots on goal are often used to tell a more accurate story about a game when the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the run of play. For instance, when one team has had overwhelming possession and many more shots on goal, but hasn’t managed to score, and they’re losing 1-0. The possession and shots on goal give you a clearer picture of how the gameplay is really going. Terms for How Players Move the Ball Commentators have a lot of words for how you can kick a ball. A header is shooting or passing with your head. A volley is striking the ball while it’s in the air; a half volley is striking it right as it bounces. Both can be verbs or nouns: you can “volley” the ball, or take a shot “on the volley.” A cross is a lateral pass, usually in front of the goal, meant to set up a teammate’s shot. A cutback is when a player takes the ball to the goal line and passes it backwards to a teammate. A through ball is a pass threaded between defenders to a teammate running behind the defense. A chip is a short, high-arcing kick meant to loop over someone’s head. A ball over the top is a longer lofted pass over the defense. Clearing is just what it sounds like: getting the ball far away from your own goal. Terms for Strategic Moves and Fancy Footwork A give and go is when you pass to a teammate and keep running so they can pass it right back. It’s a simple way to get around a defender. Playing out of the back is when the keeper passes to defenders, who pass to midfielders, building possession up the field instead of booting it long straight to the offense. A nutmeg is kicking the ball through a defender’s legs. A feint, often called a juke by Americans, is faking going one direction and pivoting sharply a different way to throw a defender off. A step over is skilled footwork: a player fakes like they’re going to kick the ball one way, but step over it instead, kick it a different direction, and dart after it. When any of these makes a defender stumble or fall, that’s called breaking the defender’s ankles. Nobody is actually injured. It’s just embarrassing for the defender, and great highlight reel fodder. Shape, Channels, and the Top of the Box Shape is a team’s formation as it attacks and defends. When a team gets “stretched,” the gap between the forwards and defenders has grown too wide. A channel is a conceptual term for paths through the field of play. It could be an open passing lane through the defense that an attacking team wants to exploit. Or it can be a path away from the goal into which the defenders are trying to force the offense. When a keeper charges out toward a shooter, they’re “closing the angle.” The closer the keeper gets, the smaller the window to take a ...
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    29 min
  • S1E6 Refs and Discipline: Yellow Cards, Red Cards, Free Kicks, Penalties, and More

    S1E6 Refs and Discipline: Yellow Cards, Red Cards, Free Kicks, Penalties, and More
    Apr 16 2026
    If you’ve ever watched a soccer match and wondered why a referee whipped a brightly colored card out of their pocket, you’re not alone. On this episode of Soccer Explained, we break down sanctions (the official term for the discipline players receive for breaking rules) and the officials who keep the game running. This post covers the highlights, but the episode also has stories, tangents, and the origin story of perhaps Soccer’s greatest heel. Give it a listen! Yellow Cards and Red Cards Not every foul gets an official sanction. Sometimes the ref gives a verbal warning first, which is informal. It doesn’t have real consequences for discipline, unlike, say, a baseball ump signaling to the dugout. But when things escalate, out come the cards. Refs carry actual physical cards in their pockets that they flash at players to indicate they’re giving out a sanction. A yellow card is an official caution, also called a “booking” because the ref writes the player’s name and the details of their foul in a little notebook. Two yellows in one game and the player is sent off, meaning their team plays the rest of the match a player down. A red card is an immediate ejection with the same consequence. How bad is playing down a player? Imagine a power play in hockey that lasts the entire game. It completely transforms the match. Coaches and staff can get carded too, and a red card usually means sitting out the next game or more in that league or tournament, even if the suspension has to carry over to a future season or competition. How Play Restarts After a Foul When a foul happens, play usually stops, with one big exception: the advantage rule. If the fouled team actually benefits from play continuing, the ref lets it go. Think of it like declining a penalty in football, except the ref makes the call instead of the coaches. They signal it by extending their arms so everyone knows the foul was seen, and they wait for the next stoppage in play to hand out any sanctions. The most common restart is an indirect free kick, where the fouled team gets to restart play with the ball where the foul happened, but can’t shoot directly at the goal. Two players on their team have to touch the ball before a shot. Defenders have to stand at least 10 yards away from the ball until play resumes, unless the kicking team opts for a quick restart and the defenders didn’t have time to take their position. A direct free kick is the same, but you can shoot right away. Near the penalty area, these become dangerous scoring chances. When defenders line up to block the shot, that’s called a “wall,” and players on the offensive team have to be a yard away from the wall before the kick happens. If a foul that would require a direct free kick happens inside the penalty area, the result is a penalty kick: a shot from 12 yards out with only the keeper in the way. The keeper has to have one foot on or behind the goal line until the kicker strikes the ball. The odds heavily favor the kicker, making it one of the most serious consequences in the game. How Refs Choose Sanctions Refs often have a lot of discretion in deciding which sanctions to give out. Overall, the harshest sanctions go to fouls that are intentional, repeated, dangerous to player safety, or that constitute the “denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity” (abbreviated DOGSO, pronounced “dog-zo”). Who Are All These Referees? The Referee is the official title for the main authority on the field, calling fouls, issuing sanctions, keeping time, deciding whether goals count, and more. You’ll also hear them called “head referee” “center ref,” or other variations. Two Assistant Referees (Ars, or “linesmen”) run the touchlines throwing flags to signal they think the referee should make offside, out-of-bounds, or other calls. The fourth official stands near the benches, managing substitutions and other administrative tasks, and holding up the board showing the minimum stoppage time the center ref has decided to add. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is a more recent addition. Sitting in a video room off the field, the VAR can recommend that the center ref review a play on a pitch-side monitor. Players and coaches cannot challenge calls. Reviews are limited to offenses in the moments leading up to goals, whether goals count, penalty kick decisions, red cards (not two yellows, just reds), and questions of whether fouls were given to the wrong player. Not every professional league has VAR, but the World Cup and MLS both do. For leagues that don’t, there are Additional Assistant Referees, called AARs or goal line refs, who stand near the goals to monitor what VARs cover. The Human Element One thing we emphasized on the show is how much subjectivity is built into soccer officiating. Some calls are fairly black-and-white, like offside or handball. But for many fouls, the ref has enormous discretion. What fans and commentators usually care most about ...
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    31 min
  • S1E5 Soccer Rules Explained: Handballs, Offside, Diving, and More

    S1E5 Soccer Rules Explained: Handballs, Offside, Diving, and More
    Apr 9 2026
    In this episode of Soccer Explained, we walk through the basics of the rules you need to know to enjoy a game. This is part one of a two-parter. Next time we’ll get into the punishments for breaking these rules, plus the referees who enforce them. Listen to the whole episode for the laughs and stories, including one of the greatest goals in soccer history, and another that might be the most controversial, both by Argentinian legend Diego Maradona in a single World Cup match. Handballs The basic rule is simple. Outfield players can’t touch the ball with their hands or arms below the armpit. Goalkeepers can use their hands, but only inside their own penalty area. Of course, every soccer rule has exceptions. If a player’s arm is in a “natural position” and the ball happens to hit it, the ref will usually let it go. If the arm is in an “unnatural position,” it’s a handball even if the contact wasn’t on purpose. Refs use the natural versus unnatural position idea as a stand-in for intent, since they can’t read minds. Two more wrinkles to know. First, if a player scores a goal immediately after the ball touched their arm, it’s a handball regardless of intent. Second, even goalkeepers inside the penalty area have limits. If a teammate deliberately passes the ball to the keeper, the keeper can’t pick it up. Once the keeper has handled the ball and let it go, they can’t pick it up again until another player touches it. The Offside Rule First, a public service announcement from us. It’s offside, not offsides. No “S.” Here’s the setup. You’re in an offside position when four things are true at the same time. Your team has the ball, you’re on the opponent’s half of the field, you’re ahead of the ball, and you’re behind the second to last opponent. Why second to last? The rule is really trying to make sure you’re not just hanging out behind the last defender with only the keeper between you and the goal. But as long as any two opposing players are between you and the goal, you’re not offside. Being in an offside position is not, by itself, illegal. The violation happens when a player in an offside position gets involved in the play. That means touching the ball, interfering with a defender, grabbing a rebound, or otherwise gaining an advantage for your team as they try to score. The most common scenario when these violations occur is a teammate passing the ball to a player who is in an offside position. In this case, the key question is where the receiver was at the moment the pass was kicked, not where they first touched the ball. Two more things worth remembering. Offside doesn’t apply on throw-ins, corner kicks, or goal kicks. And the rule isn’t there to punish fast players. If you’re level with the second-to-last defender when the pass is made and you simply outrun them to the ball, that’s great soccer, not a violation. Challenges and Fouls: Going for the Ball, Not the Person A challenge is when one player goes after another to win the ball, block a pass, or force them to change direction. A fair challenge is aimed at the ball and doesn’t involve careless or reckless contact with the other player. An unfair one involves things like tripping, kicking, pushing, grabbing, or going in with excessive force, even if the contact wasn’t fully intended. Diving: Soccer’s Most Controversial Habit Diving, officially called simulation, is when a player tries to trick the ref into thinking they were fouled when they weren’t, or they exaggerate the severity of a foul. It’s against the rules. It also happens constantly, and there’s a never-ending argument in the soccer world about whether it’s a betrayal of the spirit of the game or just smart strategy. Time Wasting You can’t deliberately drag your feet to restart play. Strolling to the ball for a throw-in or a corner, kicking the ball far away after the ref blows the whistle, keepers holding the ball for too long—these are all against the rules. Fouls for wasting time exist to stop a team who is ahead from doing things solely to run down the clock. There’s no taking a knee in soccer. If you’re winning and you want to kill time during open play, you can pass the ball around or dribble into the corner, and the ref will usually treat that as acceptable game management. It’s the other team’s job to come take it from you and make something happen. Substitutions: It’s Complicated, So Here’s the World Cup Version Substitution rules vary a lot from competition to competition, but they all share the same shape. You have a starting XI, a bench full of players, and a limited number of subs you’re allowed to put in during certain moments in the match. Here’s how it works at the World Cup. You get twelve players on the bench, but only five of them can enter the match. There are four opportunities to put those five subs in: halftime, plus three “substitution windows” during play. The team chooses ...
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    33 min
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