Penalty kicks provide some of the most exciting and dramatic moments in soccer games.
This 1-v-1 spot kick from 12 yards between the kicker and the goalkeeper seems a relatively straightforward task for professionals.
However, considering the pressure of the moment and the quality of goalkeepers, they’re more difficult to convert than you might think.
In fact, it’s estimated that players only score 75% of penalties.
Continue readingExtra time is an important feature of cup competitions that helps determine the winner of a game after a tie.
A standard soccer game consists of two 45-minute halves with a 15-minute interval in between.
Unlike most American sports — like basketball, football, or baseball — the clock doesn’t stop running when the ball goes out of play or there’s a stoppage for a foul, corner, throw-in, substitution, goal kick, injury, or substitution.
Continue readingSoccer is known around the world as “the beautiful game”.
As fans, we love nothing more than celebrating a great goal, an amazing first touch, or a mind-boggling piece of skill.
However, as the saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Continue readingIn a professional soccer game of ninety (90) minutes, teams may make a couple of substitutions before the game ends.
The rules guiding the number of allowable substitutions have changed slightly since the coronavirus epidemic of 2020, with some leagues allowing more substitutions to give players a better chance of recovery.
However, there are still a handful of substitution rules in soccer that remain standard procedure.
Continue readingSoccer is also know as the “beautiful game”, and rightly so — most of the time.
During a soccer game, when adrenaline is pumping and emotions are high, people (players, coaches, fans, even referees in some cases!) can get carried away and do something that goes against the rules of the game.
In these cases, the game becomes less “beautiful” and more “brutal” in the way that events unfold.
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