The world says "football," and we say "soccer." We say "football," and the world says "huh?"
Our version of football--pointy-ended ball and helmets--is not played in much of the world. But soccer is the most popular sport in the world (under the name football). And billions of people around the world will be watching the World Cup coming this summer, the quadrennial world championship.
Where DID soccer come from, and how did it get so popular everywhere but here? Answers to these questions and more appear in Laurent Dubois's book The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer. Tune in and tell the difference between a set piece and a scissor kick.
