2019 FIFA World Cup: Basic soccer rules to know for the soccer noob
Fox News caught up with the New York Red Bulls’ midfielders Daniel Royer and Sean Davis to break down a few soccer rules so you can keep up while watching any match from the Women's World Cup to your kid's after-school club.
Whether you’re watching the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the CONCACAF Gold Cup or your buddy’s soccer game, keeping all the rules in-check can be frustrating.
Fox News caught up with New York Red Bulls’ midfielders Daniel Royer and Sean Davis to break down a few soccer rules so you can keep up and enjoy whatever match you’re watching.
Fox News: Why do soccer players raise their hand on a corner kick?
Sean Davis: For a corner kick, a lot of routines are pretty complicated, and so you go over them in the training before the games, and the signals allow the team to understand what play you’re running. Corner kicks offer a big opportunity for a team to score. ‘Set pieces,’ as we call them, are a good opportunity to run some plays and find a different way to score a goal.
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Fox News: What is a penalty kick?
Daniel Royer: If a player gets fouled in the box, then you get a penalty kick. So, then you take the ball, you put it on the spot, and it’s just you against the goalkeeper. Everybody must wait outside the box until you kick and until the referee whistles, and then it’s just you vs. the goalkeeper.
When I take my penalty kicks, I grab the ball, I look to the goal, and quickly decide for myself where I’m going to put it – through the left side, through the right side, or through the middle. Then I quickly make up my mind, and try to hit it with good pacing and height, and then kick it in and be confident.
Fox News: What’s your most memorable penalty kick?
Royer: It has to be one of the chips I’ve had because it’s the riskiest shot…
Fox News: Wait, what’s a ‘chip’?
Royer: A chip, is like in golf, when you don’t hit it really hard and have some backspin, it’s like a little dink. If you hit a ‘proper’ penalty -- hard to either side -- you’re probably going to hit it with your laces, but on the chip, you stop right underneath the ball so it slowly floats into the goal.
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Fox News: Back to your most memorable penalty kick.
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Royer: So, it has to be one of my chips, because if the goalkeeper just keeps his ground and just grabs the ball, you look like an idiot. If you go to a side, the goalkeeper can still do a good save, but if you go to the middle then everybody will say, ‘Why didn’t you put it in a corner where it’s more difficult?’
With that said, I think it was probably the chip against Toronto FC in the playoffs 2017, I think, because three weeks earlier I had a penalty kick against the goalkeeper of Toronto and I chipped it; then three weeks later in the playoffs I chipped it again, which is even more risky, so I think that was my most memorable penalty kick.
Fox News: What’s the biggest mistake players make when taking a penalty kick?
Royer: Probably thinking too much. My advice is not to have too much eye contact with the goalkeeper, because it might get in your head and you’ll lose confidence. Focus on yourself, grab the ball, and decide where you’re going to kick it.
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Fox News: Explain the difference between a yellow card and a red card.
Davis: A yellow card is a warning issued by the referee. If you accumulate two yellow cards, they equal a red card, and you’re ejected from the match. You can get a yellow card for several reasons including intentional handballs, too many fouls, dangerous fouls, fouls in bad parts of the field.
A red card is a more severe penalty for either a more reckless play or denying an opponent a goal-scoring opportunity, also called a ‘DOGSO’—and that’s anything like a 1v1 against a keeper where a player is fouled when they have a really good opportunity to score. Luckily, I don’t have any red cards yet!
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Fox News: Anything else we should know about yellow cards?
Davis: An important thing to know about yellow cards, is that when they’re issued, they force a player to play more cautiously, so they know that if they get another yellow card then they are ejected from the match and it leaves their team down a man. A yellow card can change a player’s defensive outlook, so for the opposing team, they’re more aggressive going at that player trying to force them into challenges they don’t want to make, and forcing them to pick up that second yellow card.
Fox News: Why do grounds crews wet the field before a game?
Royer: I think it’s more fun to play on a wet field. The game becomes quicker, more dynamic, and the ball moves faster on the pitch. When the pitch is dry and hot, then the ball sometimes gets stuck and it’s not as fluid. Really, the game is quicker.
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The eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup starts June 7 in France. It will be broadcast in the U.S. exclusively on Fox Sports. Fans can watch live on FOX, FS1 and the Fox Sports app. This year’s Gold Cup will begin on June 15 with the group stages and conclude on July 7 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Emily DeCiccio is a video producer and reporter for Fox News Digital Originals. Tweet her @EmilyDeCiccio.
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