S1E7 Soccer Stats and Gameplay Terms Explained

On this episode of Soccer Explained, we tackled something every casual viewer needs: the words. If you’ve ever been confused by commentators throwing around terms like nutmeg, xG, or closing the angle, this post is a cheat sheet for the stats and gameplay terminology you’ll hear during broadcasts. For stories to illustrate these terms, some soccer history, and our answer to a listener question about why the US women’s national team is so dominant, listen to the full episode.

The Stats You’ll See on the Broadcast

Shots on target, also called shots on goal, are shots that would go in if nothing stopped them. When a keeper stops one, that’s a save. A block is different: that’s when an outfield player, meaning any player who isn’t the goalkeeper, interferes with a shot or pass.

An interception is when a defender cuts off a pass and takes possession, as opposed to a block, where they don’t take possession. A tackle is when a defender challenges a player with the ball and takes it away, like a steal in basketball. A tackle in soccer has nothing to do with tackling in football. Nobody is getting leveled (unless of course, someone commits a foul).

Goals and assists work the way you’d expect, with one wrinkle: own goals. An own goal is when a defender unintentionally puts the ball into their own net. But if an attacker takes a shot that was on target and the ball deflects off a defender into the goal, that’s still a regular goal for the shooter. The distinction is whether the shot was on target.

Assists go to the last player who passed to the goal scorer. Treencee’s favorite unofficial stat is the assist to the assist (officially, the “secondary assist”), the pass before the pass that led to the goal. That often comes from the real playmaker who saw the attack developing before it happened.

You’ll also see pass completion percentage, both for individuals and teams as a whole. And possession percentage, the share of time each team had the ball. On many professional broadcasts you’ll see expected goals, or xG, which uses historical data to estimate how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of their shots. It’s soccer’s sabermetrics.

Possession percentage and team total shots on goal are often used to tell a more accurate story about a game when the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the run of play. For instance, when one team has had overwhelming possession and many more shots on goal, but hasn’t managed to score, and they’re losing 1-0. The possession and shots on goal give you a clearer picture of how the gameplay is really going.

Terms for How Players Move the Ball

Commentators have a lot of words for how you can kick a ball. A header is shooting or passing with your head. A volley is striking the ball while it’s in the air; a half volley is striking it right as it bounces. Both can be verbs or nouns: you can “volley” the ball, or take a shot “on the volley.”

A cross is a lateral pass, usually in front of the goal, meant to set up a teammate’s shot. A cutback is when a player takes the ball to the goal line and passes it backwards to a teammate. A through ball is a pass threaded between defenders to a teammate running behind the defense. A chip is a short, high-arcing kick meant to loop over someone’s head. A ball over the top is a longer lofted pass over the defense. Clearing is just what it sounds like: getting the ball far away from your own goal.

Terms for Strategic Moves and Fancy Footwork

A give and go is when you pass to a teammate and keep running so they can pass it right back. It’s a simple way to get around a defender. Playing out of the back is when the keeper passes to defenders, who pass to midfielders, building possession up the field instead of booting it long straight to the offense.

A nutmeg is kicking the ball through a defender’s legs. A feint, often called a juke by Americans, is faking going one direction and pivoting sharply a different way to throw a defender off. A step over is skilled footwork: a player fakes like they’re going to kick the ball one way, but step over it instead, kick it a different direction, and dart after it. When any of these makes a defender stumble or fall, that’s called breaking the defender’s ankles. Nobody is actually injured. It’s just embarrassing for the defender, and great highlight reel fodder.

Shape, Channels, and the Top of the Box

Shape is a team’s formation as it attacks and defends. When a team gets “stretched,” the gap between the forwards and defenders has grown too wide. A channel is a conceptual term for paths through the field of play. It could be an open passing lane through the defense that an attacking team wants to exploit. Or it can be a path away from the goal into which the defenders are trying to force the offense.

When a keeper charges out toward a shooter, they’re “closing the angle.” The closer the keeper gets, the smaller the window to take a shot becomes. It’s a risk because it leaves the goal exposed, but you’ll see it when a player gets one-on-one with the keeper on a breakaway.

One last term that trips up new fans: the top of the box. That phrase means the spot just inside the penalty area, directly across from the goal. It’s not the far edge of the box that literally appears as the top edge of the penalty box if you’re watching on TV. If a commentator yells that a player is at the top of the box, something dangerous is about to happen.

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Follow the show to hear one American fan who owns a soccer team, and one who works for her, explain the essentials of soccer in short, digestible episodes. We also tell stories and share our passion for the game so you can join the excitement around America’s fastest-growing sport.

Credits and Contact

Cohosts: Treencee Russell and Sy Hoekstra

Production and editing: Sy Hoekstra

Podcast logo: Riley Quarders

Theme music: Andre Louis

Get in contact: soccerexplainedpod@gmail.com

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