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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Match Commentary Phrases

Nil

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

/nɪl/nounCore term

In football (soccer), nil means: Zero, used in British English when saying football scores aloud, as in two-nil for 2-0.

In Turkish: sıfır

How it is used

Scores are read as "three-nil" or "one-nil to the visitors", and a 0-0 is "nil-nil" or a goalless draw. Level scores use all: 1-1 is "one-all". American speakers usually say "two to nothing" or "two-zero".

Example sentences

  1. We won two-nil, and it could have been more.

  2. It finished nil-nil, but it was an entertaining game.

Common collocations

  • one-nil
  • nil-nil
  • two-nil up
  • one-nil down
  • scoreTo get a goal by putting the ball into the opponents' net. As a noun, the score is the number of goals each team has at a given moment.
  • clean sheetA match in which a team, and especially its goalkeeper, does not concede a single goal.
  • drawA result in which both teams finish the match with the same number of goals. As a verb, to draw means to finish level.
  • beatTo win a match against another team. You beat a team, but you win a match, a game or a trophy.

More terms: Match Commentary Phrases

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