(ThyBlackMan.com) Soccer is enjoying a real surge in interest amongst American viewers and there are a number of high-profile international players from the top leagues around the world, who have come to the U.S in recent seasons.
Although a sprinkling of overseas stars is nothing new, for those of us old enough to remember when arguably the greatest player on the planet, Pele, pulled on New York Cosmos jersey back in the 1980’s, the latest crop of stars represents a new era.
So if you are one of the many sports fans who love the NFL but have also started to develop an interest in following soccer, you might feel a bit short on knowledge of the rules of the game and its history.
Soccer is definitely here to stay in the U.S and the popularity of the league is growing all the time, so while you get your bearings, here’s how to fake it until you make it as a seasoned soccer fan, by getting a handle on the rules and etiquette of the game.
Football, but not as we know it
The fundamental point to get a handle on is the fact that all of the major soccer leagues in the world refer to their game as football because they don’t have the NFL, although everyone knows it as soccer too, so no problem there if you start talking to an overseas football fan about soccer.
The aim of the game of soccer is to score more goals than your opponent in order to win the game, which is played in two 45 minutes periods, so a total of 90 minutes playing time.
These periods of play are called halves, so there is the first half and the second half of a match and if the game extends beyond this, it is called injury time, where they add the equivalent amount of minutes where play was stopped to treat players for injuries.
League or knockout competition
The English Premier League is considered to be one of the best soccer leagues in the world and you can often get to see some of the top games on cable or if you get a chance to visit the UK, check out the best place to buy football tickets, so you can witness the action first hand.
League games have a scoring system which is the same across most major soccer leagues including the MLS, which is 3 points awarded to the team who wins the match and 1 point each if the game ends in a draw, where the scores for both teams are the same.
There are also knockout cup competitions played where there has to be a winner at the end of the game. Of the scores are level at the end of 90 minutes, there is normally extra-time, which is another 30 minutes of play to try and settle the game, followed by penalties if 
the scores are still level.
Penalty kicks are then used to decide who wins and who gets knocked out of the competition. Bothe teams take six penalty kicks and whoever scores more goals with their penalty kicks will be the winner, with sudden-death used after 6 penalties each, putting pressure on each player who steps up to score a goal or risk elimination.
Fans are all the same when it comes to rules
All fans around the world are the same in many ways, as they often claim a poor refereeing decision has cost them the game when their team loses.
NFL fans are well used to watching replays and having endless discussion about a decision taken by the officials and if you are going to display the characteristics of a typical soccer fan, start practicing your moaning about how poor the referee was to miss an obvious foul, award a dubious penalty to the opposition or strike out a goal because a player was deemed to be offside.
Offside rule
The offside rule in soccer is often the biggest topic for discussion amongst fans and even seasoned fans still don’t truly understand the rules fully, so don’t feel left out if you struggle with this aspect of a soccer game to begin with.
The basic idea of the offside rule is that a player is considered to be in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponent’s goal line than the ball and the second last opponent.
In simple terms, you can’t try and take an unfair advantage by hanging around in your opponent’s goal area just waiting for the ball to come to you, so you have to be no worse than level with the last outfield player when you receive the ball.
The referee makes a split-second decision to disallow a goal or stop play if a player is ruled offside, but when TV replays show the decision to be wrong and that a goal should have counted, this where you start to become a true soccer fan, with the debate that follows.
It shouldn’t take too long to get to grips with the rules of soccer and after a few harsh refereeing decisions go against the team you are supporting, you will soon start to behave like a seasoned soccer fan.
Staff Writer; Patrick Moore
