American Football/Soccer Crib Sheet

I have been frustrated more than once listening to Americans commentators try to commentate on football or what they call soccer and sometimes I feel like I am listening to a game from another planet.

So I had to have a giddle after reading about Atlanta United FC a new name on the Major League Soccer front who issued a crib sheet to help fans who could be a little confused by football terminology. Their communications chief also as concerns that the media covering their matches will not know much about the football lingo.

The MLS as become more and more popular but some of the written press and TV still have not caught up with the language of football. Our American friends struggle to cope with phases that have been natural to all of us who have followed the sport for years. Atlanta’s courteous officials to ease their guests into a new era for football/soccer in the state of Georgia will distribute the sheet below.

They are advising media that they should not refer to goalkeepers as goaltenders and advising that a drawn game should not be described as a tie. Fans need to be described as supporters and the advice that using the term ‘overtime’ to describe a match that cannot be decided inside 90 minutes and needs a period of extra-time was also noted.

All said and done I am a fan although I have not tied myself to any one team but am looking forward to the four new teams gearing up to join the MLS. The aforementioned Atlanta United will join along with Minnesota United at the start of the new 2017 season. In 2018 Los Angeles FC will be the new boys and as a Cardiff City fan I have a bit of an interest in their fortunes as the owner of Cardiff as a bit of the club as an investor.

But I think most fans of the MLS and around the world are waiting for 2019 when the club with David Beckham one of the major investors rises to life. The team has yet to be named. But have a working name of Miami or Beckham United a nickname, given to the team by fans and media alike. Fans still waiting on the name and a home ground hopeful of no more delays.