"It would be nice to know things like 'suspension', volley, clearance, nutmeg (kicking the ball through a player's legs (was once told it was something to do with coffee?!!)) etc, as well as phrases/related idioms. In fact, anything would be helpful and appreciated. Cheers.
Salopian
(Yhden ottelun)
pelikielto Adjust numbers to suit...
...suoraan ilmasta... (watch out for
lentolyönti in tennis)
I'm working on a suitable equivalent for clearance... probably
purku(pallo)
You probably mean
"vei pakin kahville", but that can as easily mean you send him the wrong way, or sell a dummy. Strictly speaking the through the legs stuff would be more likely to be (
panemaan pallon pelaajan)
längistä (läpi) (or "sisään" if it's through the keeper's legs). In any case, it's all connected with
harhautus, which can also be applied to "dribble". The Portuguese Pony-Boy does a nice
askelharhautus
filmaus - what van Nistelrooy would normally have done, but to his credit he stayed on his pins the other night.
1-2 =
seinä(syöttö)
and on this subject, of course it's a defensive wall -
muuri - at free-kicks... "kolmen miehen muuri..."
Playing someone in the hole behind the strikers -
piilokärki, piilokärjellä
flick, backheel =
kantapääkikka
laitalinkki - someone playing out wide, often in a wing-back role, overlapping. Not really an out-and-out winger, which would be
laitahyökkäjä
taklaus, of course. And
liukutaklaus for slide tackle, but mind you don't go in over the top
jalkapohja(t) edellä, as that's what did for poor old Eduardo, and willget you a
suora punainen. However much you claim desperately that "pallo oli välissä" (that's when the offender makes that ridiculous ball-shape with his hands as the ref goes for his breast-pocket).
keskinäinen ottelu, head-to head, for when you have to determine who goes through...
ristipallo - is also cross, but more often used for a long ball out to the wing, or a long ball from right to left to pull the defence out of place. Also
poikittaissyöttö
A cross into the box is more likely to be
korkea/matala keskitys.
Kaaripallo - lob, sort of, or simply a high ball
Hyötynäkökohta - ref sees foul but plays advantage rule
haltuunotto - often used with
pehmeä/kova and also switched with
kosketus, for a player bringing the ball down/under control
ajanpeluu - what Arsenal do by the corner flag, and what can get you a yellow card if the ref is inclined
pelisilmä (often combined with gushing words like "loistava") to suggest someone reads the game well.
lohdutusmaali - what Russia got against Spain.
etu/takatolppa near/far post (positioning at corners)
paitsioansa offside trap. Beat it and you could be "yksin läpi" (one-on-one with the keeper)
pallon alla behind the ball, as in
...ainakin 9 miestä pallon alla miltei koko ajan... doggedly defensive play
Liikkuminen tyhjään tilaan moving into space, finding space
tahaton - (allegedly) accidental, often comes up in handball cases, or when someone gets injured by a stray elbow (yeah, sure, that was an accident)
karvaus - ermmm... well, it means umm.. pushing up and challenging for the ball early, not allowing the other lot to build in midfield. But what the hell would it be in English? There wasn't much of it in the Greece-Sweden game, at least in the first half. Better term would be
prässääminen, anyway. But you hear it often enough.
sisäteräsyötto, ulkoteräsyöttö, hevosenpotku, miesvartiointi, aluevartiointi, kuljetus, voimakas yläkierre, tyhjä maali, huti(potku), molarin moka, saksipotku, "Jumalan käsi" (any time anyone deliberately handles it, esp. with a view to scoring) - the list is endless...
Handball is
käsivirhe, BTW.
One thing more... most of the time the TV commentators are reading from the UEFA media hymnsheet, and you'd be as well off learning all the numbers from 1 to 20 million instead, since as likely as not they are telling you how old he is, how tall he is, how much he weighs, how many games he played for Accrington Stanley last season, how many goals he scored in the Bognor and District Champions League, and how much he is allegedly worth or how much he earns every second. This is particularly true of the infamous Hoo-Pee, who will almost certainly miraculously get the gig for the Final, in spite of the fact that he knows about as much about football as you or I know about the nightclub scene on Pluto.
Mighty pissed off that Torres was so generous tonight with that first goal. I mean, he's a nice young lad and all that and it was the right thing to do, but I had him in my fantasy football line-up (along with 150,000 other people) and I could have done with the extra points. Especially after that dolt of a French coach left out Evra and my two Italian world-beaters proved to be less than useless.
-pallo?)
)
I'll go through it all in the evening before the next match. 
