Thought I'd start a separate thread from the Word of the Day to log some soccer-specific terminology. I'll start with a few I know off the top of my head: pallone - ball fallo - foul fallo di mano - handball fuorigioco - offside simulazione - dive calcio d'angolo - corner kick tiro - shot parata - save (saved?) Positions: portiere - keeper attacante - forward difensore - defender centrocampista - midfielder And some more specific descriptions: regista - distributing midfielder, or "director" fantasista - creator or magician punta - striker seconda - second forward alle spalle - the position behind the two forwards (literally, "on the shoulders") Others??
Cucchiaio (pallonetto) = lob a world So much loved by italian press. used since totti's lob on penalty kick against holland in 2000
simulazione means "fake"; the dive is only possibility,the more obvious alle spalle means "behind"; that can be behind wo strikers,but also behind a winger in case of a fullback.Or "the knife you're looking for is behind you"...no special meaning really seconda is short for "seconda punta"?
a.k.a. "trequartista" and sometimes "mezzapunta",when he's adept at scoring as well (Totti and Recoba,for instance) terzino = fullback. Somewhat dated word,a legacy of man-to-man marking. Nowadays "difensore laterale" or "difensore di fascia" are more used terzino fluidificante = attacking fullback; the refined "incursore di fascia" version also applies stopper = stopper,halfback. See above > "difensore centrale" libero = libero ala = winger mediano = central,defensive midfielder (Keane,C.Zanetti and such),also "centrale",nowadays they seem to invariably come in pairs: "i due centrali del *insert club name*" centravanti: striker (usually used for bulky players) incontrista,centrocampista di quantità,recuperatore di palloni: ballwinner attaccante di movimento: second forward opportunista: poacher capocannoniere: leading scorer of the tournament giocatore scorretto: unfair,dirty,violent player Totti: crybaby laziale: common offensive word in Rome ("ma che,sei laziale?") gobbo: light offensive way to indicate a juventus player/fan (literally "hunchback"...because in Italy a hunchback is supposed to bring luck...an outrageous amount of luck ) allenatore,mister (the latter used especially by players): coach punizione di prima: direct free kick punizione di seconda: indirect free kick calcio di rigore: penalty kick espulsione: ejection ammonizione/cartellino giallo: caution?/yellow card parata: save tiro parato: saved shot sostituzione: substitution (elegant > "avvicendamento") injury: infortunio tridente: three forward formation catenaccio: ultra-defensive style often used by Liverpool,Bruges,A.S.Roma in away games and generally by european clubs when they come to play in Italy. Also a very convenient way to tell an ignorant/idiot when discussing italian football contropiede: fast-break,counterattack giocare di rimessa,impiegare una tattica attendista: employing a defensive and counterattacking style marcatore: scorer,but also the marking defender ultras: the italian hooligans (not necessarily violent though) teppisti: the violent,vandalic (?) ultras la curva: the end of the stadium; home of the ultras moviola: the slo-mo,a favorite of italian public,conspiracy-theorists and casual idiots. Every italian football tv show offers plenty of it,unfortunately in casa: home match in trasferta: away match vittoria: win sconfitta: loss pareggio: draw rovesciata: bicycle kick colpo di testa: header colpo di tacco: heel kick tunnel: nutmeg entrata: tackle dribblare: to dribble (you'd never guess it,right?) la foglia morta: "the dead leaf",from a free kick the ball flies over the wall and seem to be directed over the bar as well only to drop in the very last meters to enter the goal tirare fuori gli attributi: to show specific male qualities (=pendants) on the pitch to come out of an unfavourable situation,to overcome a scoring deficit cabala: the statistical history of a match between the clubs > a word borrowed from the popular "lotto" game formazioni,schieramenti: formations la rosa: the roster (not to be mistaken with "La Gazzetta dello Sport".i.e. the italian males' bible) primavera: the youth team esordiente,less frequently matricola: rookie titolare: regular in the line-up riserva: bench player dilettanti: "amateurs",in fact semi-professional leagues/players amatori: true amateurs La Vecchia Signora: Juventus Il Diavolo: A.C.Milan Il Toro: Torino Il derby della Lanterna: Genoa-Sampdoria derby Il derby della Mole: Juventus-Torino diretta: live transmission sintesi/sintesi registrata: a summarization of the match,more or less extended in registrata: post-poned,not live first transmission of a complete match,event replica: a second,later transmission of a live match,or any tv program for that matter
I'd like to add a few to the list: Liscio - to whiff on the kick or header Papera - major goof commited by the keeper Di Piatto - point blank shot Ruba Palle - defensive midfielder Velo - to dummy the ball through Svirgolare - to mis hit the ball Effetto - put spin on the ball Esultare - to celebrate after a score Ultras - die hard fans Curve - the end zones of a stadium
good list of terms...I didn't see rete on there though. I think that's how you spell it. Not entirely sure though,.
Hey, I have a few questions. How do you say Switch Far Post Near Post Middle 18 Also, pronounciation would help since Im probably saying them wrong. Thanks a ton
Switch- Cambio (Kom-byo) Middle- Centro (Chen-tro) 18 - Diciotto (Deech-otto) I've never heard far post and near post, but I'm pretty sure in Italian they just refer to them as the left post and right post: Left Post- Palo Sinistro Right Post- Palo Destro
What about the nonverbal translations? I can't believe i just missed that shot... "Dio Mio" (My God) Look at this idiot? (Scemo) What the F*ck?
Question for anyone out there who has played in Italy - I am working on moving over to Italy in the next year here, and my kids are all quite accomplished players at their ages. In addition to doing some early language-learning I am curious about phrases/words they will need for the game. For instance, how do you say "man-on", or is there a similar phrase used by players? What other action/game oriented phrases that you can think of that we should know?
This thread should provide some insight for you.... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=493010
Near post: primo palo Far post: secondo palo Proprio palo: the post defended by the goalkeeper ( usually the first post, free-kick aside )
Can someone please tell me how to refer to someone as 'greedy' in italian. As in dribbles/holds on to the ball for too long,, attempts shots from distance without considering a team mate in a better position etc... How one might describe Mohammed Zidan for instance...
egoista, individualista When I used to play as a kid we had a specific funny term for that but it was an italian-sardinian slang term. It was "dogana" ie customs ie meaning he would take the ball and keep it forever as he was a custom officer. oh dogana, why don't you pass that ball? a sardinian would understand what you mean, don't know for other italians. Much probably not since it should be a specific italian-sardinian slang (cagliari area).
Haha so 'egotistical individual' Thanks alot. Me and my Sicilian friend play for a team, and there is this player who is the worst player on the team but is extremely greedy despite being so bad, he recieves the ball and either attempts to dribble or just shoots - off target. And i wanted the word to use to my friend so i can express my exasperation whilst no one else would kno what i meant exept for him as we are new to the team and the greedy fool is friends with them all. Thankyou. I will test him with your sardinian slang aswell and see. I'll post his response if you are interested.
some more funnier terms innamorato della palla or innamorato del pallone - "in love with the ball" dribblomane - "one who likes to dribble too much" if you want to say he is bad, just say "scarso".
strepitoso: shocking (usually in reference to amazing goals) pazzesco - crazy (usually in reference to amazing goals) rocambolesca - extraordinary clamoroso - terrible (usually refers to mistakes made by players) scivolone - big slip-up (as in a strong team losing to a minnow team) deviazione - deflection sofferta - hard-fought fuori area - outside the penalty box fuori limite - out of bounds in extremis - in the final seconds of a game
watching Gianni Cerqueti calling games on RAI over the past few weeks made me realize that he is using a lot more English terminology than ever before. I know that "offside" and "corner" are used usually, but he has also said "penalty", "sandwich", "warning", and "tackle".