Football, or what is known in the United States as soccer, is simply a game centered around a soccer ball on a field. In soccer, there is a field in which the two opposing teams are lined up between their soccer goal (or frames woven with soccer nets) and their opponents. Kicking the soccer ball into the rival team’s goal is the object of the game, and the team who makes the most soccer goals or has the highest score at the end wins.
The challenge for the players involves trying to score soccer goals by making the ball go into soccer nets. The players are confined to only being able to use their body, head and feet to send the soccer ball into the goal. Protecting their soccer goals from the ball does not allow them to use their hands either. There is a goalkeeper on each team that is allowed to use any section of his body to protect it from the ball.
It is a great offense to touch the soccer ball with your hand, and the referee may issue a penalty. Any ball the is airborne and accidentally collides with a player’s hand is known as a “hand ball”, and as a result, the opposite team receives a “penalty kick”. Game penalties vary greatly as they can be anywhere from kicking, elbowing or tripping, and holding another player.
A game of soccer usually is played with eleven players, except with youth games, in which the teams can be as few as six players per side. A soccer uniform is usually color coordinated with the team colors, and each player may wear a jersey, shorts, socks, shin guards and soccer shoes with cleats. To make catching the soccer ball easier to handle, most goal keepers wear special gloves and dress slightly different from the rest of the team to set himself apart. There are two linesmen watching the sidelines to see which team is responsible for balls kicked over the lin,e and a referee that presides over the game. If a ball is knocked out of the field, the team that did not knock it out will throw the ball back in towards their opponent’s goal.
To begin each game, the teams are divided into opposite halves on the field, and one team tries to make the kickoff from the designated center spot. The rest of the game involves the ball being put into constant states of play, only interrupted by penalty whistles from the referee. In the attempt to complete soccer goals, the team players use dribbling and passing to move the ball towards the respective team’s goal. The game is riddled with quick changes in possession, as keeping the ball in line or possession is always a challenge.
By the end of the match, the team with the most soccer goals scored is the victor – or possibly tied if there are two identical scores. The game will go into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the variation of competing format, in the case of a draw being declared. Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world today, and this could very well be attributed to the fact that scoring soccer goals is something that takes a lot of skill and finesse.
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