The World Cup captures the attention of passionate supporters all around the world, as well as casual fans who get swept up in the excitement every four years.
Hardcore fans follow as many games as closely as they can, assessing not just the wins, draws and losses, but also more technical aspects such as possession percentages, expected goals, duels won, corners and more.
But for those tuning into the world game for the first time in four years, the language can be rather confusing. So what does it all mean?
The language of the world game
Soccer’s language is unique and provides fans, coaches and players with a collective understanding of what is happening on the pitch.
It may be a casual description of a player’s tactic or technique, or team strategy.
For example, “park the bus” is often attributed to legendary Portuguese coach José Mourinho describing how an opponent “left a bus in front of the goal” so his team could not score. This striking imagery actually means the opposition formed a defensive line in front of the goals so there was no space to play through.
“Park the bus” and “the (defensive) wall” are now common in many sports to convey the strategy of stalling or completely shutting down an opponent’s opportunity to attack.
What about some other phrases?
Here are some of the other phrases you are likely to hear in this World Cup.
Build-up play is a structured sequence of passes that moves the ball from the defensive back third of the field to the attacking front third.
Corridor refers to a move in which there are three (imaginary) vertical lines on the field – a central corridor down the middle of the pitch and two wing corridors on either side of it. If a team makes a pass down the middle area, it may be said they are “attacking through the corridor”.
Inverted back/winger is when an attacking player moves from near the touchline (sideline) on the wing corridor into the middle corridor with the aim of creating more numbers in the midfield than the opposition has defenders. This is called creating an “overload” or “superiority”.
False nine refers to a forward (or “striker”, a player who wears the number nine in the conventional team numbering system) moving into the midfield with the aim of drawing an opposition defender to them and away from defending the space in front of the goals. This can then create space for wingers to attack the goals.
Counter-pressing is a defensive strategy in which a team that loses the ball immediately attempts to close down the opposition’s space so as to win the ball back in the area of the pitch where they lost it, rather than moving into a defensive shape behind the ball.
Zonal marking is a defensive strategy in which players are responsible for guarding a specific area of the pitch rather than defending (“marking”) a specific player.
Offside trap is when all defenders come forward together as a line just as an opponent’s pass forward is about to be played, to try to trap an attacking player, who is rushing forward, in an offside position.
Step up/push up is an instruction to the defensive line to move forward to support the midfield.
Switch the play means a player with the ball passes it across the field to the opposite, less defended side of the pitch.
Drop/drop-off is when a defending player retreats to prevent an attacking player from running around or behind them.
Man on is an instruction to a player with the ball that an opponent is close, or closing on them quickly and likely to tackle or corral them (restrict their movement).
Total football is a phrase made famous in the 1970s by legendary Dutch coaches Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. It refers to a team strategy in which all players, except for the goalkeeper, can swap roles rather than stay in a fixed position.
Panenka is when there is a penalty kick, and an attacker aims to trick the goalkeeper with a softer, lobbed shot. Instead of blasting the ball to the left or right of the goalkeeper, the kicker lightly flicks under the ball so it rises up and over a diving goalkeeper. It can be a risky move.
A language shared by many
Soccer has its own vernacular that can include technical and strategic terminology, casual slang, quirky and provocative fan chants and much more.
Read more:
Why the US World Cup chants are being mocked – and what makes a great one
Even the name used for the sport can be polarising – soccer is used in some countries where there are other football codes, while most of the world prefers to use “football”.
Above all, the language is shared by almost four billion people whose conversations and interest are sparked by one round ball, two goals and 22 athletes on a field.
