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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Match Actions & Skills

Smother

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

verbAdvanced term

In football (soccer), smother means: To secure a low or loose ball by covering it closely with the hands and body.

In Turkish: topun üstüne kapanıp kontrol etmek

How it is used

Used especially of goalkeepers: smother the ball or smother a low attempt.

Example sentences

  1. The goalkeeper smothered the loose ball before the striker could reach it.

    Close coverage prevents the opponent from playing the loose ball.

  2. She smothered the low shot instead of pushing it back into traffic.

    The technique ends the contest by keeping the ball under control.

Common collocations

  • smother the ball
  • smother a low shot
  • smother at the striker's feet
  • goalkeeperThe player who defends the goal and is the only one allowed to handle the ball, but only inside their own penalty area.
  • saveA goalkeeper's action of stopping a shot or header from going in by catching, blocking or pushing the ball away.

More terms: Match Actions & Skills

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