This is a bit of a mystery but it is undoubtedly in common use. Here’s a recent example, ‘Not known for his ability with the ball at his feet, Donnarumma dallied when in possession by his own byline to the point that he was tackled by Karim Benzema.’ It may be that it is used in the sense of ‘next to’ or ‘by’ the goal – the line by the goal, hence byline. I also think it fills a semantic gap as goal-line has to be used for all of the lone inlcuding the line between the goal posts. Byline clearly identifies the line that is not between the goal posts.

It’s also interesting to note that the Laws of the Game use touchline for the lines on the long side of the pitch, but sideline is used colloquially. This is from an online article explaining the laws for referees: ‘Assistant referees placed on either sideline in opposite halves are in charge of flagging an offside infringement with the main referee then responsible for enforcing the decision.’

Do you have any ideas?

Yes – a nice example. It means that one team stops the other team from doing something (qualify, for example). So, Manchester United are trying to hold off Chelsea in the battle for Champions League places.

Hi Puji,
Thank you for the question.
Swat aside means to easily defeat the other team so Manchester City easily (comfortably) defeated Stoke City.

We spoke about this in our latest podcast!

Damian

Manchester City swat aside Stoke City as James Milner sets up comfortable win.

Yes of course! Thank you so much François for the clarification – I will mention it in the next podcast this weekend.
Damian

Hi Colin,

Yes, the ‘laws’ say the two shorter lines are the goal lines, but usage means that bylines is a common way of saying the same thing. Here are some examples from our database on Premier League football match reports from the 2019-20 season:

‘The Kop was roaring as Liverpool’s attack hemmed Arsenal’s defenders onto the byline and Sadio Mane hurtled into dispossess Ainsley Maitland-Niles’
‘Coleman surged down the right flank unchallenged before slipping in Richarlison, who eased to the byline before standing up a cross for Calvert-Lewin’
‘after Ricardo Pereira reached the byline on the right his perfectly placed cut-back gave Wifred Ndidi almost too much time to finish’

And here’s another about the cross that led to Japan’s famous winning goal against Spain in the 2022 World Cup (Eurosport.com):

‘FIFA have shown why Japan’s much-debated winning goal against Spain was valid, explaining that the whole ball didn’t cross the line despite what “misleading images” might suggest. Ao Tanakaa€™s second-half strike sparked huge debate as camera angles made it difficult to see if the ball had crossed the byline or not. It earned Japan a famous 2-1 win that saw them win Group E and sealed Germany’s exit’

Cheers,

Damon

Thank you – that fits my idea.

Hi Antje,
Thanks for looking into the German equivalent of ‘fringe player’, and also for the term ‘kicktionary’ – that’s one I hadn’t heard! So ‘bankdrücker’ means ‘benchwarmer’? You’re right to say that benchwarmer and fringe player are similar but a little different. I personally would say that fringe player is even further from the team than a benchwarmer. Being on the bench means you are in the match day squad, whereas being a fringe player hints that you may not even make the squad for a game. perhaps you are seen mostly on the training ground. That’s only my feeling though.

Good point. But maybe when used as a cliche it refers to just one match as this match is so important?

I think i the examples you have given – steer it in and steer it home both mean that the player scored.

Thanks for the questions. You can also come along to our forum and ask and answer any questions there – https://languagecaster.com/community/

Hello,

Thanks for the question.

‘Home’ is another way of saying that the ball has gone into the net – a goal has been scored. The player hit the ball home = the player scored. You can find more information on the word ‘home’ here: https://languagecaster.com/home-languagecaster-football-language-podcast/

He steered it in or he steered it home.

Hi Dwi,
I think it is fixed now (hopefully)
Damian

Hi Dwi,
Thanks for letting me know.
How abut now if you click on the forum
https://languagecaster.com/forum/

How can I open it?

Hi Dwi, The Forum link is here. When you click on this what do you see?
Thanks for letting us know
Damian

The phrase ‘What a ____!’ is an exclamation and in this example it means that Bergwijn has scored a great goal – ‘what a finish’ really means that the player has scored a really good goal.

This phrase means that Maguire doesn’t know what to do; he is uncertain whether he should move towrads the ball or move away(coming and going). If someone doesn’t know whether to come or go it means that they are confused about what to do.

He (Bergwijn) just took on the defence and Harry Maguire did not know whether to come or go and he left him for dead. What a finish. Before David de Gea could react it was practically in the back of the net.

Hi Marco,

Thank you for sharing this – really interesting! We’ll mention these on our next podcast though I might need some help with pronunciation 🙂

Love the ‘nel sette’ expression – on the severn expression!

Damon

Here is an article from ESPN about momentum in American football that might be useful (https://www.espn.co.uk/college-football/story/_/id/32910904/is-momentum-real-depth-investigation-sports-most-overused-term)

Hi Ivan,

Thanks for the question. This is quite a common word in sport but it is also difficult to define.

Momentum is related to motion and so if we think of momentum in sport as referring to how a team or a player moves forward then this might help us to understand the idea. If a team is playing well in a game, for example they are attacking a lot, we can say that they have momentum or that they are building momentum. Of course, the opposite is also true – a team can lose momentum which means they are no longer playing well. Momentum can also refer to a series of games in which a team keeps on winning (a winning streak) and this helps the team feel positive (psychological feeling).

Words we might hear with momentum in footbal games include:

I hope that helps a little – it wuld be good to hear what others say about this word (and in other languages).

Damian
Check out our forums for more football language questions

Interesting. Not sure what kind of daisy you are thinking about, but the daisy we think of for this phrase is a common garden flower on grass lawns in the UK that rarely grows higher than a couple of inches. Many gardeners don’t like them and are continually cutting them with a lawn mower.

Hi Saeed,
Nice to hear from you.
We are very happy to hear that the site has been useful for you.
I have posted some examples into the post above so hopefully they will be helpful for you.
Best wishes
Damian

Thanks again Ivan for your questions/comments – we will be using them in this week’s podcast at the weekend 🙂
Damian

Hi Ivan,

I think we just use the word ‘stamp’ in this case. Sometimes we might hear the action described with the word ‘studs’ (the bottom of the player’s boot) but not as a verb: The player’s studs came down on the opponent.

We can also say ‘to stand on someone’s foot’ but this suggests more of an accident.

I will post the question onto the forum and see if anyone knows more.

Is there a word for this in other languages?

Damian

Hi Ivan,

Thanks for the question.

Yes, if a player stamps on another player then it means they have stepped on the opponent. The word ‘stamp’ suggests a more violent step and of course this can be an accident or deliberate. If a referee thinks a player has stamped on another player then they will receive a card (maybe a red).

The manager Eddie Howe has said that Trippier was stamped on (by another player) and has used ‘got’ instead of be/was – a common way of using the passive form; something was done to the player (by someone else).

I hope that helps 🙂 We also have a forum for any questions you may want to ask (or answer!)

Damian

Thank you for the comment Lacy (and apologies for the late reply). We hope you enjoy the show.

Hi Izan

Good question!

I think it usually refers to the second example that you mentioned – when the two teams are level after the first set of five penalties. This means that the next penalty for each team becomes ‘sudden death’ because if one player misses and the other one scores then there is a winner (and a loser!).

Sometimes we might hear ‘sudden death’ used during the first five penalties if the scores are level after the first four penalties as the next two penalties might decide the result.

Although not the same, we sometimes hear the phrase ‘next goal wins’ (especially in an informal match (or kickabout) with friends) because there is a sense of jeopardy – your team could be the winner or the loser in a moment.

I hope that helps. I am going to add a new post on this term and add it to our glossary – Thanks 🙂

Damian

Hi Sandara,
Good to hear from you and thanks for the questions!

Blitz means doing something really quickly so here the forward ran past the defender really quickly.

A diving save is how the keeper made the save – by diving across the goal (jumping across the goal in order to stop the ball going in).

Vintage describes something from a different time in the past and has a very positive meaning/connotation – a vintage car is a precious car from the past. In this example, the goal has been described as vintage which means that it was a great goal – a goal that maybe this player has scored before (maybe we can also infer that it is a ‘typical’ kind of goal from that palyer).

I hope that helps 🙂

Maybe you can come along to our forum page and ask any other language questions you have there?

Damian

The forward britzes past Marcal before hammering a low effort intk the back of fhe net.

I also hear ‘diving save’, what does ‘diving’ mean here?

Wow, what a goal! That is vintage. Please let me know the meaning of vintage.

Thank you.

Now I can easily associate the explanation with a good Portuguese translation here in Brazil. Thank you guys.

Context: (Live commentary)
SPOILS SHARED
It’s a point apiece and both teams will probably settle for that.

To take the ball down means to control the ball by bringing it from the air to the ground. The ball was in the air and Alli controlled it by bringing it down.

In the second example, bring down (the ball from the cross) has a similar meaning. Salah tried to (looks) control the cross from Alexander-Arnold but was unable to.

Hope that helps – would it be possible to post these questions on the forum page here?

Damian

41′ Good defending! Alli tries to take the ball down in the box and work room for a volley, but Kucka gets himself in the way and coolly heads it back to his keeper, who gathers.

43: Salah looks to bring down Alexander-Arnold’s cross on the edge of the Norwich penalty area, but Hanley steps in and clears for the hosts.

To torment someone is to make someone suffer so in football if a player torments another player it means they are playing very well and making the opponent suffer.

12′ BLOCK! Traore continues to torment United. He bounds away from Wan-Bissaka before offloading towards Jimenez in space. The forward takes a touch before seeing his strike blocked by Varane

To culminate means to finish; so the attack finishes with Willian passing to Batshuayi.

If a team gets into their stride it means that they are playing well and that they have started well – they have found their rhythm.

In the second example the phrase has a slightly different meaning – as Cavani was running he received the ball without having to change his running pattern at all.

Hello

To stretch here means to try and reach the ball by extending his leg as far as possible.
To nip in here means to move quickly as maybe the opponent doesn’t know that the player is there.
Damian

Thank you for the kind comments and we hope you keep coming back to our site 🙂
Damian

25 min A dangerous Chelsea attack culminates in Willian pulling the ball back for Batshuayi around five yards from goal. The pass is poor, though, and Batshuayi is unable to do anything with it.

West Ham were into their stride early on, pushing Arsenal back in the opening exchanges and getting a number of dangerous crosses into the box.

17 min Almost Iniesta-esque from Busquets as he clips a reverse pass forward which almost picks out Perez in the area. The youngster misjudges it, though, and cannot take the ball in his stride

68′ GOAAAALLLL!!! MANCHESTER UNITED 2-3 LIVERPOOL – United grab a goal back as Rashford takes Cavani’s pass into his stride before rolling the ball past Alisson and into the bottom corner. Fernandes played his part as he and Cavani made their way forward, but it was the former Paris Saint-Germain that split the defence with his pass, allowing Rashford to convert.

3′ Werner tries to stretch in the right-inside channel to keep a pass from Jorginho alive, but he cannot stop it rolling out for a goal-kick.

17: Oxlade-Chamberlain nips in and wins the ball from Cantwell before playing it into the feet of Mane.

Mane attempts to flick the ball into the path of a team-mate, but Gibson nips in and wins it back for his side

Hello,

1. City’s thrusts down the flanks means their attacks along the sides (flanks) of the pitch.
2. To put it wide means that the player shot wide of the post – they missed the target.
3. Pull it wide of the post is similar to number 2 – the player has hit the ball wide – again off target. To pull a shot suggests the player did not hit the ball cleanly and maybe that’s why it went off target (wide).

Hope that helps

Damian

To bully an opponent is to be physically stronger than the opponent.

What does “bully” mean in this context (football/soccer)?

34 min Toure bullies the ball off Diame and shuttles forward but when he plays in Silva he takes too long and is robbed. West Ham break through Downing but Demichelis is not going to be mugged and gets there to clear.

Dear me, Leicester. They’ve been absolutely bullied here. West Ham are first to everything.

4 min Rather bitty so far, as you’d expect, with West Ham using their wide midfielders to block City’s thrusts down the flanks.

France are now on top. A chance for Mbappe but he puts it wide.

It’s all Derby in the early stages and Ward almost picks out Sammon in the middle before Bryson lets fly from distance but pulls it wide of the near post.

To find the back of the net means to score, while to find the bottom corner also means to score a goal but this expression has more information about where the ball entered the goal – in the bottom/top/left/right corner

When a team gets going in football it suggests that they are starting to play well. Sometimes you can hear pundits and managers saying that the team just didn’t get going – they didn’t start well and never really got into the game.

To spring to life means to get going but maybe a little more dramatically! In the example above, Spurs probably did not start the game that well but had a couple of attacks to show the opposition that they were starting to be a threat. You can also see the phrase ‘spring into action‘.

SAVE! Big save from Courtois to keep out a strike from Jesus after the City forward had worked some space inside the Madrid box before attempting to find the back of the net.

83 min GOAL! De Bruyne find the bottom corner to send the visitors 2-1 ahead.

SHOT! Leeds’s first shot sees Hernandez fire well over Romero’s crossbar from distance.

To do a job here means that the players did their job in the wall – they blocked the shot. To do a job could refer to other parts of the game as well – the defence did a job on the forwards means they stopped them from performing.

It’s been a positive start from Mourinho’s new side, who have bossed possession and shown plenty of ambition down the flanks. West Ham are struggling to get going

SHOT! Spurs spring to life at the other end through Son, who cuts inside onto his right foot before seeing a long-range effort pushed away from the far corner by Roberto.

After Rice hauls down Goretzka, three Germans stand over the free-kick right on the edge of the area in a central position. Havertz takes it but England’s wall do their job as they block in front of Pickford’s goal.

Hi Damian,
thank you very much, it helps a lot., appreciated.
And many thanks for this fantastic site!

Hi Ivan,

Thanks for the question.

1. I think most keepers would say ‘keeper’ when they come for the ball. Alternatively, you might hear someone use their name.

2. This is an interesting question! I don’t think a player would be ‘allowed’ to shout ‘foul’ or ‘stop the player’, while ‘intercept’ is more to do with the ball – a defender cutting out an attacking pass for example. Maybe a call to ‘get back’ might be used? Some other phrases you might hear would be ‘close down’ which would mean to get close to an opponent or maybe ‘shape’ which means the team needs to quickly get into their positions or team shape.

Hope that helps and thanks again for the question.

Damian

Hi Maria,

Yes, it does. It refers to when a player is named as a substitute and is on the bench for the game. If a player has ‘only made the bench‘ it suggests that they may have been dropped although if a player is returning from injury and they make the bench then this meaning is a little more positive.

Do you know how to say this phrase in other languages?

Thanks for this – we will add this phrase to our glossary 🙂

Damian

Hi Jamal,
That’s great to hear – what team do you support? Who are your favourite players?
Damian

To put something on the money means to hit a very accurate cross or centre; the ball accurately reaches its destination.

If a stadium or ground ‘comes to life’ it means that the atmosphere gets louder maybe because something important has happened – in this example, England score their third goal and the stadium comes to life.

In the second example, to line up a cross means to prepare to cross the ball – again, the idea of accuracy is important. We can also say to line up a shot – to prepare to shoot.

To pass a ball into a team mate’s path means to give an accurate pass. The idea of a ball arriving into the path of a player suggests that the player receiving the ball does not have to break stride or change the way they are running in order to receive this pass.

If a team sits back or sits in it means they are being a little more cautious or defensive in their approach. If a team is winning sometimes they might retreat and be a little more defensive as they try to protect a lead or a point.

If a player collects the ball it means that they receive the ball from their team mates. Usually we will see the phrase ‘collect a pass’ or ‘collect a ball’. In the second example the keeper collects the ball suggests that the keeper has grabbed the ball and has it under their control.

To recover the ball means to win back the ball – a player loses the ball but then gets it back.

60: Argentina 1-0 Brazil
Argentina look like they are just starting to sit in a bit, while Brazil are pushing forward in the final third. That half-time sub by manager Tite, bringing Roberto Firmino on for Fred, has injected some impetus into their play that they didn’t have in the opening 45.

GOAL! What a goal this is! Lovren plays a delightful long pass from front to back into the path of Origi, who brings the ball down before sending the ball over Pickford. Once again, it is a ong way back for Everton.

GOAL! ENGLAND 1-0 Germany
75min: WEMBLEY IS ROCKING! Kane comes to life as he finds Jack Grealish who then feeds Luke Shaw on the left and his low ball into the box is slotted home by Raheem Sterling for his third goal of the tournament.

59′ WIDE! Fernandes lines up a cross from deep on the right flank for Maguire to attack at the back post. He rises above McGinn, but plants his header wide of the target

Gross puts a cross on the money from the right flank to allow Webster to attack and score for the home side.

31 mins: Werner collects from Mount inside the penalty, spins and fires high and wide. Well, he rather scooped it, to be honest, under pressure from Balbuena.

United clear the set piece and Elanga is played through on goal with a long ball, but the youngster’s touch is awful and the keeper collects.

Havertz recovers the ball close to the byline and directs it back towards Gnabry in the middle.