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Soccer - The World's Most Popular
Sport
By: Peter Valentine
Soccer is perhaps the world's favorite spectator sport,
popularly known as "Football" in Britain and other
European countries. This game can be as frustrating as
golf, as physical as football and hockey, as erratic as
baseball, and as exciting as basketball. No simple word
can describe the popularity of the game, with a global
television audience of 49 billion people for the 2002
World Cup alone. The game is exciting and highly
addictive to watch and play.
Professional game rules require 11 players per team, 10
playing the field and one goalkeeper. With the use of a
round ball, the matched is player with the two teams
wearing shirts of different colors with distinctive
soccer patches. The game is divided into two sets, each
for 45 minutes long with the referee adding "extra
time" based on time being wasted or play being stopped
during the original 45 minutes. Usually, the extra time
will be about one-to-three minutes.
A maximum of three substitutes may be used in any match
played in an official competition organized under the
auspices of the World Governing body Federation
International Football Association (FIFA), the
confederations or the national associations. However, in
other competitions the rules must state how many
substitutes may be nominated, from three up to a maximum
of seven.
The decision regarding a match ending with a tie score
usually depends on the actual type of game being player.
There are times when the just simply ends in a tie score
after the regular 90 minutes game plus any added time.
On the other hand, a game ending with a tie score may
lead into an overtime with an allotted time of extra
play leading to penalty kicks, this usually occurs
during a deciding game of a tournament. Each team is
given five attempts to score on the opposing goalkeeper,
the team with the highest score wins the game.
During a game, players are only allowed to wear soccer
equipment and are prohibited to wear anything that may
harm him as well as the other. This includes any kind of
jewelry and other accessories. The basic soccer
equipment of a player include a jersey or shirt with
their distinctive soccer patches; shorts, if thermal
under shorts are worn, it has to be the same main color
as the shorts; stockings; and footwear, soccer shoes,
boots, cleats.
There are instances that players may use extra
equipments such as shin guards and headgears. The shin
guards protect the leg below the knee and are completely
covered by the stockings. These are either made of
rubber, plastic, or similar substances. While the head
gear are available to protect younger players when
heading the ball.
For goalkeepers, they must wear a color that separates
him from the other goalkeeper, players, the referee and
the assistant referees.
There are four important details that one should know
about the game before he is ready to play soccer. The
first is that only the goalkeeper is allowed to use his
hands, and this is only within the confines of the
marked-off area surrounding the goal. When a player uses
their hands on a ball, the opposing team gets a free
kick from the spot of the violation.
The second vital information that you should remember
about the game is that players are generally penalized
for rough or unfair play with the use of cards. A yellow
card is considered a stern warning, while a red card
signifies a serious violation. Once a player receives a
red card it means that he had been ejected from the game
and cannot be replaced and that leaves the player's
team with less players. Meanwhile receiving two yellow
cards will equal to a red card, meaning the player will
receive the same penalty. |
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