In squeaky bum time, the false 9 pulled off a nutmeg and scored a worldie in the top bin.
Make any sense?
Soccer fans from across the globe are heading to North America for the 鈥� and bringing with them their own vocabulary to describe the beautiful game.
Here鈥檚 a look at some of the phrases the locals might be hearing from traveling supporters inside and outside stadiums, and where they might have originated.
Squeaky bum time
Let鈥檚 paint a picture: It鈥檚 the World Cup final, and and are locked at 1-1 with five minutes remaining. We are officially in 鈥渟queaky bum time.鈥� Coined by former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, the phrase describes the late stages of a match 鈥� or even a season or tournament 鈥� when players and fans get tense and nervous. It even got recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, which defined the saying as 鈥渁 reference to the sound of someone shifting restlessly on plastic seating during tense closing stages of a contest.鈥�
Parking the bus
This is nothing to do with a journey to the stadium. Instead, you鈥檙e likely to hear this when a big underdog comes up against a top team at the World Cup. If an inferior team 鈥� or maybe one which has had a player sent off 鈥� shows no attacking intent and plays ultra-defensively to stop its opponent scoring, it is said to be 鈥減arking the bus鈥� in front of its goal. The phrase came into soccer鈥檚 wider vernacular after , the Portuguese coaching great, complained while managing Chelsea in 2004 that Premier League rival Tottenham “might as well have put the team bus in front of their goal.鈥�
False 9
There鈥檚 nothing wrong about a false 9. When a player starts a match as the nominal striker 鈥� i.e. as a classic No. 9 鈥� but constantly moves into deeper positions on the field to be harder to mark and create confusion among opposition defenders, they are said to be playing as a 鈥渇alse 9.鈥� In modern-day soccer, the role was mastered by Lionel Messi at Barcelona when Pep Guardiola was its coach and by Cesc Fabregas in Spain鈥檚 title-winning team in the European Championship in 2012. Harry Kane might play in a similar position for England at the World Cup.
Worldie
Typically reserved for long-range shots that fly into the top corner of the net, a 鈥渨orldie鈥� 鈥� a word coming from British slang 鈥� describes a goal that belongs in the 鈥渨orld class鈥� category.
Total football
It started off being a tactical ideology used by the Dutch national team in the 1970s, where outfield players have no fixed position and can feel comfortable on the field wherever they are. Nowadays, the phrase is invariably used loosely, even jokingly, by soccer fans to describe a lengthy spell of possession, often involving some intricate, fluid passing and ending up in a goal. 鈥淟iquid football鈥� is an alternative.
Nutmeg
It鈥檚 one of the simplest tricks in soccer 鈥� and a humiliation for those on the receiving end. A 鈥渘utmeg鈥� is the act of kicking the ball between your opponent鈥檚 legs to either run round and gather it yourself or to pass to a teammate. It has derivatives around the world, from 鈥減etit pont鈥� (鈥渓ittle bridge鈥�) in French to 鈥渃a帽o鈥� in Spanish and 鈥渢unnel鈥� in Scandinavia.
Sitter
If you see a striker bent over with his head in his hands in the World Cup, he鈥檚 probably missed a sitter. It鈥檚 a very easy chance, usually from right in front of goal, that a player contrives to mess up. It might have come from cricket, which uses 鈥渟itter鈥� to describe a catch that is seemingly impossible to drop 鈥� so easy, in fact, you could be sitting down to take it.
Panenka
You know when a player chips a penalty kick slowly and cheekily straight into the middle of the goal or, in the worst-case scenario, into the hands of a grateful goalkeeper? Well, it has a name. The 鈥淧anenka鈥� was born in 1976, when Czech player Anton铆n Panenka converted the title-clinching penalty in that manner in a shootout in the European Championship final against West Germany. He ran up to the ball at normal speed and chose to float it softly up and down into the net, predicting correctly the goalkeeper would dive one way. It鈥檚 risky and can make the penalty-taker look stupid if it goes wrong.
Clean sheet
A goalkeeper at the World Cup will sleep well if he keeps a clean sheet. Termed a shutout in the United States, it simply means when a team doesn鈥檛 concede a goal. The use of 鈥渃lean sheet鈥� dates back to when reporters only used paper notebooks to record different incidents 鈥� like goals 鈥� in games. If no goals were scored by a team, a sheet of paper would be clean.
Top bin
The two top corners of a goal are the ideal targets for a shot, so obviously they have a special name for fans. Creeping into the soccer lexicon this century 鈥� and also into the Oxford English Dictionary 鈥� is the usage of 鈥渢op bin,鈥� possibly a nod to the use in practice sessions of targets in each of the top corners of a goal that resemble a bin (the British term for a trash can). Another is 鈥減ostage stamp,鈥� which you鈥檇 apply to the top corner of an envelope. Many languages have their own derivative and one conjuring a great image heralds from Brazil, where they say a top corner is 鈥渙nde a coruja dorme鈥�(鈥渨here the owl sleeps.鈥�)
12th man
There will be 11 players in each team at the World Cup. There鈥檚 a way of getting 12 鈥� kind of. The 鈥�12th man鈥� refers to the team鈥檚 fans, who 鈥� if they are loud or intimidating 鈥� can act as an extra player. Or so coaches say, anyway.
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