Okuzeka
Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Match Actions & Skills

Save

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

/seɪv/nounCore term

In football (soccer), save means: A goalkeeper's action of stopping a shot or header from going in by catching, blocking or pushing the ball away.

In Turkish: kurtarış

How it is used

Goalkeepers make, produce or pull off a save. A diving save, a double save and a point-blank save are common in commentary. Save is also a verb: "He saved the penalty." Statistics count saves for each goalkeeper.

Example sentences

  1. What a save! She tipped it round the post with her fingertips.

  2. Our keeper saved two penalties in the shootout.

Common collocations

  • make a save
  • diving save
  • double save
  • save a penalty
  • fingertip save
  • goalkeeperThe player who defends the goal and is the only one allowed to handle the ball, but only inside their own penalty area.
  • shotAn attempt to score by kicking or heading the ball towards the opponents' goal.
  • clean sheetA match in which a team, and especially its goalkeeper, does not concede a single goal.
  • penaltyA shot at goal from the penalty spot, 11 metres (12 yards) from the goal line, given when a defender commits a direct free-kick offence inside their own penalty area.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Match Actions & Skills

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: