Offense is when you try to score a goal on the opposing team’s goal. You get to the goal by passing, dribbling, stringing passes together and shooting the ball.

Defense is when you try to stop the offense from

 scoring on your goal; there are many ways

 to steal the ball from the offense, headers,

 1 v. 1, 50/50 balls, and many others.

Goalkeepers often have to dive to stop a shot or punch it away. Goalies have a special box where they can use their hands, but if they go outside the box, they are a field player. If the goalie does touch the ball outside the box the offense gets a penalty kick. A penalty kick is when the offense lines up 10 yards away from the goal and tries to score.

Referees play a very important role in soccer. They call fouls, out of bounds, and offside’s. There are two cards that you could get. Yellow cards are basically a warning card, but you have to leave the field, but you can enter next stoppage time. A red card means you are ejected from that game and the next game also. Referees generally wear very bright colored jerseys so the teams do not mistake them for teammates. Referees mark down the number of the player that scored a goal. They carry a whistle to stop the play.

Fans get really into soccer all over the world. They may put war paint on, make sounds, like these pictures. Fans are really important to soccer, they pump up the teams. In other sports that is the cheer leaders job, but in soccer there are no cheerleaders. On the field is 11 v. 11. There are 4 sidelines. The two long sides are called touch lines because you get to touch the ball with your hands for throw-ins. The two shorter lines are called end lines because it is the end of the field.