Goal kick: If an attacking player is the last to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds over the goal line (without scoring a goal, of course), the goalie kicks the ball from anywhere inside the goal area. It helps if your goalie has a cannon for a leg.
Goals: The gateway to glory. Made up of a frame (two posts and a crossbar) and a net. This is where you kick or head the ball to score a goal. The ball must cross completely over the goal line for it to count. Hitting the crossbar, while common, gives you nothing more than frustration.
Handball: Simple – unless you’re the goalie, don’t touch the ball with your hand or arm. A handball in your own penalty area gives the other team a penalty kick.
Header: A shot or pass taken with your head when the ball is delivered through the air. The header is frequently used to score goals from corner kicks. Consider your head your ‘third foot’.
Interception: Stealing a pass meant for another opponent. Great midfielders and defenders are known for their pick-pocketing abilities.
Marking: Sticking close to a particular opponent, preventing them from getting the ball or passing to their team-mates.
Midfielder: The position between the defenders and the forwards. Your job is to see the ball safely through the middle third of the field with clean passes. This is where the game is controlled and scoring opportunities created. Good midfielders know when to go on the offensive and when to give their backs support.
Offside: A foul occurring when a team-mate passes you the ball and there are not at least two players (including the goalie) between you and the goal. Play stops immediately and the other team takes a free kick. This stops glory hogs from camping out by the goal, waiting for the ball to come to them.
One-touch pass: Receiving a pass from one team-mate and immediately passing it to another with the inside of the foot (without trapping it). A volley is a one-touch pass taken in the air with your head.
Overlapping: A back goes from the defensive position and sweeps along the outside wings to join the attack.
Penalty area: The large boxed-off area around the goal area where the goalies can use their hands but other players can’t.
Penalty kick: A direct free kick taken by a team-mate when the opposing side commits a foul or a handball within their own penalty area. The shot is taken from a designated spot right in front of the goal and, more often than not, the goalie doesn’t have a prayer.
Penalty shootout: Often used to decide who wins games that are tied after regulation time and overtime. Both coaches choose five cool customers each to step up for a penalty kick. The team with the best out of five shots wins.
Push pass: A pass made with the inside foot for the best control and accuracy.
Reverse pass: Dribbling in one direction then passing the ball in the opposite direction.
Set play (or set piece): Plays that have been created during practice to score from free kicks and corner kicks. These plays give each player a certain job to do and, if they’re practised, are often the best scoring chances.
Sliding tackle: Sweeping along the ground to knock the ball from the opponent with an extended leg. You must slide from the side, not the back, and go for just the ball. A poor or overly aggressive tackle can result in a foul, a card, injury and dirty looks.
Through pass: Passing the ball through opponents to a running team-mate. An accurate though pass creates breakaway opportunities.
Throw-in: When a ball goes out of bounds, a member of the team that didn’t touch it last throws the ball back into play. You must throw with two hands over your head and your feet must not leave the ground.
Trap: Controlling a passed ball – either on the ground or in the air – with your feet or chest. Keeping possession of the ball allows you to quickly pass, dribble or shoot.
Wings: The outside lanes of the field. Midfielders called right and left wingers look to deliver the ball to open forwards in the centre of the field.
Yellow card: A warning given by a referee for severe fouls and bad sportsmanship, like overly aggressive tackles or complaining about a bad call. If this happens twice, you’ll receive the yellow card’s mean cousin, the red card. See one of these and you’re out of the game immediately.
Deb has always been a mad reader and writer and often gets lost in her imagination. After studying teaching, she travelled to America, the UK, Africa, Europe and Asia, and drove around Australia. She studied Communications before working in TV for nine years, most of it as the producer/writer of Cheez TV at Network TEN. She then began writing the Max Remy Superspy series. Deb grew up in Sydney, Australia, and lives there now with her partner Todd. Deb says: ‘I grew up playing lots of sports, but despite how hard I trained, I was never very good at any of them. Like Jasper, though, I loved playing! Especially as part of a team. My grandad was also born in Malta, just like Jasper’s. I’d love to be a soccer legend too, but I guess I’ll have to be happy with my own daydreaming and kicking the ball around the park with my friends.’
Johnny Warren MBE, OAM, was nine when he was rejected by his local Under 12’s team because he was ‘too small and needed to go home and eat more porridge’. Despite this, he went on to lead the Socceroos as captain and vice-captain through three World Cup campaigns, from 1964 to 1974. Johnny witnessed every stage of Australian football for over fifty years, from the days when you were called names if you played soccer to today, when players such as Harry Kewell are celebrated in Australia and prized by overseas clubs. In 1988, he was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2004 soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, awarded Johnny the prestigious Centennial Order of Merit. Johnny died in 2004, but his contribution to Australian football will not be forgotten.
Jasper Zammit is going to be a soccer legend. He can see the crowds roaring his name, can hear the commentators saying how fantastic he is, can see the soccer ball whizzing towards the goal … But right now he needs to concentrate, instead of daydreaming about the future right in the middle of a game with his actual team, the Rovers Under-11s!
When a new girl, Lil, joins the team, Jasper thinks he’s found someone as obsessed with soccer as he is. She even has a plan to help Jasper get his soccer-mad grandad and his dad to start talking to each other again after their big fight over Jasper’s dad quitting his job. There’s one hitch – Lil’s dad is the reason Jasper’s dad lost his job in the first place. Can the two still be friends?
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It’s a few weeks before the finals and Coach Wallace has to go overseas, but he leaves the Rovers in the hands of a new coach who is keen, charming and knows his stuff. But with winning being the only thing he cares about, his coaching methods lead to bitter divisions and a game that is no longer fun. When Lil’s brother arrives home from playing for the state team, he helps the Rovers devise a plan to get them back on track. But will he be able to save them from total collapse? Time is running out and he’s their only hope.
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Find out more at www.maxremy.com.au
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