In this football language post we explain how the word ‘dispatch‘ can be used in football. Don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary and we also have a page full of football cliches. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Language: Dispatch
The verb ‘to dispatch‘ has a couple of meanings: to send something such as a message or a letter, while it can also have a meaning of to shoot something (e.g. to dispatch a shot). In football, dispatch has a couple of meanings. A team can dispatch another team which means that they have defeated or beaten them; in the following example you can understand that Spurs defeated Dortmund in their Champions League game (3-1).
Example: ‘Harry Kane, fortune and fortitude help Tottenham dispatch Dortmund’ (Guardian Newspaper, 13 September 2017).
Another meaning of the verb to dispatch in football is when it is used to describe a successful penalty – to dispatch a penalty means to score from the penalty spot. Here’s another example from a Spurs game in which the Tottenham striker Harry Kane successfully scored his penalty.
Example: ‘… there was little doubt Kane was going to dispatch the penalty’ (Ham and High, September 2018)
A third example of the verb ‘dispatch‘ means to shoot, so a forward can dispatch the ball into the net. Here’s an example from FIFA.com’s official website for basic techniques when shooting.
‘This (shooting) is an action with the objective of dispatching the ball into the opponenta€™s goal.’ (FIFA.com)