World Cup 101: Decoding soccer’s unique language

Welcome back. We are live here at the Harp right here in Foxborough for your World Cup coverage of tonight's game at Boston Stadium. And yeah, by the way though, there's no shame in admitting most of us are just like a little bit behind of the rest of the world when it comes to understanding soccer. It's been our reputation and I think it's fair. In this country we have a total understanding of baseball, football, basketball, hockey, but when it comes to soccer let's face it we all need a little bit of help. So with the World Cup here it's time to sort of perfect and brush up on the game. Soccer rules are a lot like wearing deodorant on a hot summer day. Sometimes you need a refresher. Let's start with the timing in soccer. The clock winds up not down like we're used to and it never strikes zero. In fact in soccer a lot of times it's difficult to know just how much time is left. The ref on the field is the official timekeeper and the amount of stoppage time added to the end of the game is at the referee's discretion. Just listen for the whistle. Most of us can identify offside in football. That is not legal, Dan. Or in hockey. In soccer? Yeah, not so much. Hang on. Offside flag up against Montana. Harvard men's soccer coach Josh Shapiro, please help us out. Well I think the challenge for it is that if you're behind the line of the defense when you receive the ball you're technically offsides but the pass is played before you arrive behind the line you're not offsides so it's really about when the play happens. For American fans it's substitution mass confusion. In American pro sports you can come in and out of the game as many times as the coach sees fit. Doesn't work that way in soccer. Once a player is removed for a sub he's done for the day. Like a baby-faced adult trying to get into a nightclub in soccer you too can get carded. You act up you're gonna get a yellow card. So a yellow card is a an aggressive act a misconduct act for you know swearing at the referee or you know being out of line or time wasting sometimes. And the dreaded red card. So a really violent conduct or you know a punch or something really really nasty you can get a straight red card which means you're out of the game. In soccer two equals one. If you get two yellows it's the same as one red and your day on the pitch is done. One, two, three. Now during a game you may hear the announcer say something about oh the 18 or this is happening in the 18. So what exactly is the 18? 17, 18. The 18 is the penalty box. It's the space where the goalkeeper's allowed to use their hands right. So there's a limited space it's 44 yards by 18 yards right in front of each goal and that space is a goalkeeper's allowed to use their hands. So the goalie can use his hands here anywhere inside this big square box the 18 but if he goes outside of it he can't use his hands anymore. He's got to use the feet. So if you're defending this goal and you're inside the 18 or the penalty area and you do something wrong well that's going to lead to one of the most exciting plays in all of soccer. The penalty kick. The costly mistakes inside the penalty area if a defender touches a ball with his arm or a hand. Penalty kick if a defender trips or pushes or holds an opponent. Penalty kick an illegal substitution. Penalty kick. This doesn't look that hard all right come on bring it on bring it on bring it on. Now according to FIFA teams convert 80 percent of their penalty kicks in the world cup but I have no business being in that trying to stop a world-class athlete from drilling the ball by me here. I mean come on who we kidding. Nice job Bryce. That's a tough opponent right there. He had a big big toe. Big toe. He was tough. One big toe. By the way back to those red cards. It costs a team if a player gets one that player gets removed from the game he's not replaced. That means the team is down a man for the rest of the game. So if you watched the other day the game between Mexico and South Africa the first game of the world cup there were three red cards two for South America and they were down to nine players on the field. Mexico got one they dropped down to ten. So you gotta gotta behave when you're out there or else you're gonna cost your team. Gotta behave but honestly let's be realistic there you know a lot's on the line but these guys I mean they are fighting for that trophy. They are but you gotta you gotta maintain your composure. You got to. Put it that way.