What do football terms like clean sheet, brace and nutmeg mean?
Football has a large informal vocabulary, much of it opaque to newcomers. The common terms:
Clean sheet — conceding no goals in a match. From the goalkeeper's sheet remaining unmarked.
Brace — two goals by one player in a match. Three is a hat-trick.
Nutmeg — playing the ball between an opponent's legs and collecting it behind them. Considered mildly humiliating for the defender.
Assist — the pass directly leading to a goal.
Own goal — putting the ball into your own net; it counts for the opposition.
Offside trap — defenders stepping forward in unison to leave an attacker offside.
Parking the bus — defending with nearly the whole team behind the ball, making no attempt to attack.
Box-to-box — a midfielder who contributes in both penalty areas.
False nine — a striker who drops deep instead of staying high, drawing defenders out of position.
Route one — a direct long ball forward, bypassing midfield.
Set piece — a restart from a dead ball: free kick, corner, throw-in.
Derby — a match between two local rivals.
The treble — winning the league, the main domestic cup and the premier European competition in one season.
Squeaky bum time — the tense closing weeks of a title race, a phrase coined by Alex Ferguson.
Bosman — a free transfer at the end of a contract, named after the 1995 court case that established the right.
Sitter — a chance so easy that missing it is notable.
Regional usage varies, and American English uses "shutout" where British uses "clean sheet".