Theaimoffootballistoscoremoregoalsthanyouropponent.

Toscore
goalsyouneedtoshootorheadtheballintothenetsimple.Butthe
languageofscoringgoalsisfullofnuancesanddescriptiveverbs.Onthis
weeksmainreport,welookatsomeoflastweekendsarticlesfromthe
respectedGuardiannewspaperintheUKtoshowthewaysjournalists
andfansdescribehowgoalsarescored.
Thelanguageofgoals
FirstupwehavetwohatricksonebyLuisSuarezofLiverpoolandthe
otherbyShinjiKagawaofManchesterUnited.
Suarezsfirstandsecondgoalsweredescribedusingtheverbtofind
Herearethedescriptions:LiverpoolsleadingstrikerwaitedforHabsito
commithimself,thenfoundthenearcorner;Surez,fouledbyCaldwell,
pickedhimselfuptofindthebottomcornerofHabsisgoal.Tofindthe
corner shows that the shot was guided, controlled, and deliberately
placed.Suarezsthirdgoalinvolvedtheuseoftheverb to nutmeg
SurezheldhisaimandnutmeggedHabsiforhissecondhattrickofthe
season.Usuallynutmegisusedasanounandmeanstokicktheball
throughanopponentslegs,butashereitcanalsobeusedasaverbto
nutmeg. Again, the use of this expression implies skill and also is
embarrassingfortheopponentnoonelikestobenutmegged.
WhataboutKagawashattrick,whichdrewalotofpraisefrompundits.
ThefirstwasdescribedlikethisTheJapanesestrokedhomehisopener
inaddedtime.Tostrokemeanstogentlyplacetheballwithcontrol.It
isanartisticwaytoscore,agoalbyaskillfulplayer.Hissecondgave
the goalkeeper nochanceafterKagawawrongfootedthekeeper.To
wrongfootanopponentistotrickthemintomovingthewrongwayso
that they cannot recover in time. The Japanese players third was
finishedcoolly.Tofinishisaverycommonverbusedinsteadofto
score.
AnotherbiggameinthePremierLeaguewastheNorthLondon derby.
ThefirstgoalwasscoredbyGarethBale,itwasputpastSzczesnywith
theoutsideoftheboot.Toputpastistheverbmeaningtoshootto
onesideofbuttheinterestingphraseiswiththeoutsideofthefoot':to
shootorpasswiththeoutsideofthefootisadifficultskillitismuch
morenaturaltousetheinsideofthefootorthetopofthefoottokickthe
ballsothisphrasegivesusanimageofconfidence,strengthandskill.
ThiscanbecontrastedwithDembaBasgoalforChelseaagainstWest
Bromwich Albion, which appeared in the report described like this:
DembaBasidefootedintotheunguardednettoregisterafirstgoal
sincemidJanuary.Tosidefootistousetheinsideofyourfoot,to

openyourbodyandplacetheballaccurately.Thesentencealsousesthe
verbtoregisteragoalusedwhenwewanttofocusonaplayers
statistics.Inthiscase,thejournalistmentionsthatBahasntscoredfora
longtime.
Aswecanseebytheseexamples,thelanguageofscoringisarichone.
Vocabularysupport
(a)hattrick:scoringthreegoalsinonematch(originallyfromthesport
ofCricket)
tocommit:todecidetodosomething;tomakeamove
(a)pundit:anexpert;acommentator;ajournalist
unguarded:empty;withnodefenderorgoalkeeperpresent
The language of Setting up Goals
Lets start with the amazing game at the Camp Nou, in
which Barcelona put four goals past AC Milan.
The first was scored by Messi. This is how the build up was
described: Xavis pass was hit into Messi, hard and low.
He took one touch to control and then, with no back-lift,
almost just with a flick of the ankle, he sent the ball flying
into the corner. The writer uses the verb hit to describe
the pass. This verb is often follwed by an adjective phrase,
such as low and hard or over the top. Here, it is followed
by into Messi hit into Messi meaning the pass was
strong, direct and aimed at the teammate.
The second goal soon followed: Iniesta robbed Massimo
Ambrosini to supply Messi, who cut back and struck the
ball hard and low through the legs of Philippe Mexs.
There are two interesting verbs here: the first is robbed,
meaning to take the ball off an opponent, to dispossess
the opponent there is a feeling with robbed that getting
the ball was a surprise, that it was cheekily done. The
second interesting phrase is to supply, meaning to give,
so Iniesta robbed Ambrosini and supplied Messi he took
the ball off Ambrosini and passed it to Messi.
The last description we will look at from this game is this:
Mascherano reacted quickly to cut out a dangerous ball
forward and find Iniesta, and then it went to Xavi, to David
Villa. The striker took two touchesto curl in perfectly
with his left. Again the build up to the goal is described
first by how the ball was won in midfield in this case,
Mascherano cut out the ball, he intercepted a pass from

Milan. Whereas robbed describes getting the ball by a

tackle, cut out shows a players awareness of where a
pass will come. After he got the ball, Mascherano then
finds Iniesta. Last week, we saw how the verb to find is
used to describe a goal, as in to find the net, here it used
to mean an accurate pass, often between two or three
defenders. The move is then finished simply with the verb
to go it went to Xavi, (and went) to Villa.
In the second game, Inter vs Tottenham, Inters first goal is
described this way: A simple pass inside Vertonghen by
the right-back, Jonathan, found Palacio in space. His cross
picked out Cassano unmarked at the back post and he
headed the ball down on to the turf and up into the top
corner. There are two phrases useful for talking about
goals here. The first is a pass inside the defender, which
is a pass that the defender cannot cut out, cannot stop
and goes behind them and usually into the box. The
second phrase is to pick out similar to to find, but
perhaps with more of a feeling of accuracy.
Finally is this description: Cambiasso played a sweet pass
inside Kyle Walker to Palacio. His finish, low past Friedel,
was never in doubt. Again, we have a pass inside, but
while the previous description used the adjective simple,
here the writer uses sweet a sweet pass inside to
show that it was a very clever pass, a difficult one that
was executed perfectly.
So we have the verbs to hit, to find, to pick out, and to
supply to describe the pass, and the verbs to rob and to
cut out to talk about getting the ball from the opposition.
Then a particular kind of pass a pass inside, which is a
pass that takes out the defender.
The language of setting up goals.
Vocabulary support
(the) build up: the action before a goal, the passes and
tackles etc. that lead up to the goal
over the top: over the defensive line; also a bad tackle
with the foot going over the ball directly onto the leg of
the opposition
(to) win the ball: to get the ball in a tackle; to take the ball
off an opponent
(the) turf: the grass; the pitch; the ground

the box: the area in front of the goal where the goalkeeper
is allowed the handle the ball