Football words and expressions beginning with U,V,W,X and Z

I've already sent on the final version to go up on UE soon, but feedback here will of course be read by other forum users and will try to stick it in a revised version or appendix come the next big football championship. Thanks to everyone who helped, and apologies to anyone whose ideas didn't get in during my final rush to get the 50 (!) page dictionary finished

Unassailable lead - So far ahead in goals or points that other teams can’t possibly catch up
Unconvincing victory - Winning the match in an unimpressive way, for example because the other team was weak and should have been beaten by more goals, or only winning because of luck
Unintentional hand ball - The ball hitting your hand or lower parts of your arm accidentally. This is still likely to lead to a FREE KICK, but not to a CARD
Unsportsmanlike behaviour - Doing something that is within the rules of the game but is still unfair, for example not telling the referee when you know the goal went in off your hand
Unstoppable - A shot that is so WELL PLACED or (more commonly) powerful that the GOALKEEPER has no chance of SAVING it
Unveil - Show a new player or manager to the media and fans, or tell them that a new person has been found, similar to taking the veil off the bride at a wedding
Upright (the) - An informal way to talk about the two POSTs at the edge of the goal, as they are vertical (unlike the horizontal CROSSBAR)
Utility players - Players who can comfortably play in several POSITIONS, sometimes used in a negative way similar to “Jack of all trades”
Versatile - Able to play in several positions
Veteran - A player with lots of experience, and perhaps quite old
Volley - Kicking the ball when it is still in their air and so hasn’t yet hit the ground and bounced, therefore making it more difficult to judge and control
WAGs - An abbreviation of “wives and girlfriends”, used to be negative about the females who used to follow the England team around but were blamed for their bad performances
Wall - Several defending players standing in a line between a DIRECT FREE KICK and the goal in order to make scoring more difficult
Wanted list - A jokey way of talking about which players a MANAGER wants to buy, similar to a poster showing criminals who the police want to arrest
Warm up - (1) Stretching exercises etc before a player starts playing (2) Matches before a championship to allow the team to practice playing together
Wasted ball – A good chance (usually to score) that is not taken advantage of, for example PASSing when you should have taken a SHOT
Water-logged pitch – Rain which hasn’t disappeared from the grass yet, sometimes leading to a match being cancelled if it is very bad
Watertight defence – Players who don’t let goals be scored and maybe don’t let the ball through, like a dam stopping water
Weak effort - A very bad SHOT at goal
Weakened team - Not the best 11 players that the club have, for example because they are resting some of them or some of them are injured
Weaker foot - Your left foot if you are RIGHT FOOTED, or your right foot if you are LEFT FOOTED
Wearing the armband – Being captain
Weight (of a pass) - How much force a PASS is hit with, affecting how far and fast it travels
Well placed - A SHOT or PASS which is put in exactly the right position
Wembley – The most famous stadium in London, NATIONAL STADIUM of England and home of most important English FINALs but not the HOME GROUND of any team
Whistle - (1) The small metal instrument that the REFEREE and LINESMEN use to get people’s attention and indicate things like a FOUL and KICK OFF (2) The sound of that instrument (3) Disapproving noises from the crowd, usually together with BOOs
Wide - On the right and left of the pitch, far from the centre and near the TOUCHLINE
Wide open - See LEAVE THE GOAL WIDE OPEN
Win the ball - Take POSSESSION of the ball, usually meaning TACKLing but maybe also by INTERCEPTing a PASS
Wing - The sides of the pitch, furthest away from the goal and CENTRE CIRCLE, and near the TOUCHLINE. Comes from the wings of a bird or plane stretching left and right from their body
Wingback - One of the possible POSITIONs for a DEFENDER. A variation on the FULL BACK, but with more of an attacking role
Winger- A player who spends most of their time on the edges of the pitch near the TOUCHLINE
Wing-half – Short for “wing half back”, an old fashioned expression for a DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER who plays on the edges of the pitch
Winter break – A time around Christmas when some leagues have no matches
Woodwork – The POSTs and CROSSBAR, because they are traditionally made from wood (unlike the net). Collocations- Hit the +, Off the +
World Cup - Also “FIFA World Cup”, “Football World Cup” and WORLD CUP FINALS. A competition once every four years to decide which NATIONAL TEAM is the best in the world (not necessarily the best team in the world- see TOYOTA CUP)
World Cup finals - Usually called just “World Cup”, it is officially called the World Cup Finals because the QUALIFYING ROUNDs count as earlier parts of the tournament
World XI – A real or imaginary selection of the 11 best players at that time in the world
Wrong flank (the)- The side of the pitch that a player doesn’t usually play on, for example because they are LEFT FOOTED, or because they have SWITCHed FLANKS during the game
Wrong foot- Your left foot if you are right footed and your right foot if you are left footed
Yellow card- A yellow piece of card which the referee takes out of his or her pocket to show to a player who has done something quite bad such as committing a bad FOUL or HANDBALL, but not as bad as a RED CARD offense like fighting. A yellow card often goes together with another punishment such as a FREE KICK. Two yellow cards in one match means a RED CARD, and two yellow cards over a certain period means a SUSPENSION.
Yoyo team- A team that is often goes through PROMOTION and DEMOTION, going up and down like a toy yoyo
Zonal marking – The system by which teams defend by each player taking responsibility for a particular area of the pitch. The opposite of MAN TO MAN MARKING
Index of all other entries here:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ge...ngenglish.html

A note about 'Wembley'. There is a football chant with the words 'We're going to Wembley' - sung during FA Cup games. As the final is normally played at Wembley, this makes sense; it means (as the FA Cup is a knockout competition) 'We're going to win - not just this match, but - the whole competition.'

But while the new Wembley stadium was being built recently (2006-8???), the final was played (for two or three years, I think) at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (three or four hours away). But people still sang 'We're going to Wembley'.

b

Re 'wrong foot'. The definition is OK, but it's not the first meaning that occurs to me. It is used as a verb - meaning 'bypass a tackle successfully by going past the defending player, making him put his weight on the wrong foot - so that he can't move the right way as quickly as necessary'. It's transitive: 'Ronaldo wrong-footed the defender and scored.'

b

You're right, the verb with that meaning is probably more common, but I'm guessing that is actually in Advanced learner dictionaries. I got this from an article or podcast when I hadn't got overwhelmed by the amount of language every single one threw at me, but can't remember which one. I imagine that "wrong foot" with the meaning I put is more usual when talking about an individual shot, while the similar "weaker foot" is more used to talk about a player's skills more generally