Understanding Soccer
Soccer is without a doubt, the most popular sport in the world. Its global impact, the influence the sport has had on people of all generations, is phenomenal. The new generation has significantly been impacted by the variations of clubs, teams, stadiums, players and tricks. The streets of the world swarm with young children scurrying after a football, interpreting the game in whatever ways they see fit for the localities within which they play, so it’s fair to say that the game has immense popularity everywhere in the world. The stance of the sport in today’s world has led to many people taking new interest in the game. This article sheds light upon the basic rules of soccer, allowing those who are new to the game to gain a basic understanding of it.
Soccer is quite simple; each team is allowed to have eleven players on the field at any one time and they can make substitutions at any point in a game. Three substitutions is the usually accepted norm.
A game of soccer will last for two separate periods of time, each of forty-five minutes. The time between the periods is called half-time and lasts for approximately ten minutes. Each team must defend one half of the pitch in order to prevent the opposing team from scoring a goal in the net at the end of the pitch. Soccer is a sport that has evolved greatly over the years; coaches have developed various methods to improve the offensive and defensive tactics of the game, making it more interesting.
Generally, teams defend their goals using four defenders, and a player who protects the goal is known as the goalkeeper. Offensively, the coach as midfielders and two players as strikers, to create and score the goals, select four players. The only player allowed to handle the ball is the goal keeper. Game play revolves around passing the ball in various ways to attempt to breach the opponent's defense.
Soccer is a game with a level of depth that takes some time to grasp. There is a lot of jargon used during a game that is very specific and to the casual viewer may seem confusing. The game revolves around a fair amount of discipline and is thus mediated by one referee on the pitch and two further officials known as linesman on either side of the pitch. If a player attempts to take the ball from an opposing player but misses and instead makes physical contact with the player, the referee will regard this as a foul which would result in the game being stopped and a free kick being awarded. Dependent upon the severity of the foul, the referee can issue the player a yellow or a red card. A yellow card indicates that the player risks being issued a red card later in the game. The red card indicates that the player must leave the game immediately and would not be able to return for the rest of the game.
Another important aspect to the game is the concept of penalty kicks. On each side of the pitch, the defense has the responsibility of protecting the goal. Directly in front of the goal is a marked rectangular area. If the referee deems that a foul has occurred within this area by a member of the defense, a penalty kick is awarded. When this occurs, a member of the offense is given the opportunity to score a goal against the opposition goalkeeper without the defense able to assist in any way. The final rule and probably the most confusing is the off-side rule. At its simplest interpretation, an offensive player cannot be ahead of the defense as the play develops. This is regarded as attempting to gain an unfair advantage and if seen by any of the referees will result in a free kick. The referee's interpretation can thus ultimately decide who wins a game.
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