At its core soccer is a very simple game. The objective of soccer is to score more goals than your opponents. Simple enough, right?
But that raises the question of how do you score a goal. Well, that’s also pretty simple to understand.
Scoring in Soccer
A goal is scored (or counted) when the ball successfully crosses the line between the two vertical posts and under the horizontal crossbar of the goal.
Still confused? This illustration will help you understand it better.
The ball must completely pass the line for it to count as a goal. So even if a part of the ball is still on the line, it’s not a goal. But that’s a more advanced topic than you need to know about right now.
Value of a Goal
Now, the next question is how many points does a goal count for?
That again, is very simple. One goal = one point.
Unlike other American sports like basketball where you get 2 or 3 points for a basket based on where you scored it from, the scoring system in soccer is very straightforward.
No matter where you score a goal from, it ALWAYS counts for 1 point.
It could be a shot from your left foot, right foot, a header, or a bicycle kick – it all amounts to just 1 point.
How to Win a Game of Soccer
Winning a game of soccer is very similar to how you win in other sports. Score more goals than your opponent.
But what if both the teams have the same number of goals at the end of the match?
Good question.
Then the game either ends in a draw (tie) or goes to extra time.
The rule of thumb to remember here is that if it’s a league game then the game will end in a draw. Both the teams will walk away with 1 point each.
But if it’s a knockout tournament then a winner has to be decided. So the game goes into 30 minutes of extra time. If the scores are level at the end of the extra 30 minutes as well, then penalty-shootouts decide the winner.
Here’s a table to help you understand better.
| Team A Score | Team B Score | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | Team A |
| 1 | 2 | Team B |
| 1 | 1 | Draw |
Due to several reasons like the size of the soccer field and tactics, soccer is generally a low-scoring game. This means that you’ll often see scores like 2-1 or 1-0 in soccer.
That is again very different from many American sports, where you often have much higher scores. Basketball games can even go past the 100 score mark easily.
That might be a reason why soccer has had difficulty to catch up with other sports in the US. The perception is – and understandably so – that higher scores means more exciting games.
But the scoring is only just a part of the beauty of soccer; there’s so much more in a soccer game to be excited about.
Once you start understanding the nuanced tactics, skills of the players, and the clashes on the pitch, soccer will start becoming so much more exciting for you. Even if a game ends with a 0-0 score.
And that’s exactly what I aim to do with this blog. To spread my knowledge and understanding of the beautiful in simple and easy-to-understand articles.
So if you’re a new fan of soccer or a soccer parent who can’t make sense of the game, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Soccer Mavericks and I hope I can make you love the beautiful game as much as I do.
