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Football Phrase of the Week: Force Extra Time
In this football phrase of the week we look back at the Nations League quarter-final matches and explain the phrase, ‘to force extra time‘ after some thrilling ties. You can read the transcript for this post below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Languagecaster team and I hope you are all doing well. Welcome to this week’s football phrase, which is when we look back at an expression from the weekend’s football. And today we explain the phrase, ‘to force extra time‘ and this comes after some thrilling UEFA Nations League ties over the weekend.
Extra time; Stoppage time; Injury time; Additional time
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Dutch)
DF: Now, before we explain this week’s expression let’s do a quick review and check what is the difference between the following football terms: additional time; extra time; injury time and stoppage time. What are the differences? Which one is slightly different from the others?
Well, extra time is different from the other three as they all relate to time added on by the referee to the ‘regular time’ (so, the 90 minutes). This could be because of stoppages during the game such as goals, VAR checks and injuries. Extra time is played in knock out games when the two teams are level at the end of the match (e.g. 2-2) and is used then to decide the winner. And extra time lasts for 15 minutes each half; so an extra 30 minutes of playing time.
How do you say extra time in your language? Can you make a sentence with this phrase? How about added or stoppage (or injury) time? Can you think of any famous occasions when these phrases have been used? Has your team ever won in extra time? Let us know in the comments or by dropping us a message here at Languagecaster.com.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Danish)
DF: OK, let’s have a look at this week’s phrase.
UEFA Nations League: Extra Time
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It has been an eventful international break with so many wonderful matches taking place. In addition to the World Cup qualifiers happening across the globe there have also been some Nations League play-offs. And well done to Mexico for winning the CONCACAF version – I am sure our friends at Multilingua FC will be very happy indeed! And the ones in Europe saw an amazing set of quarter-final matches. Three of the four ties finished level on aggregate after the end of the second leg. This means of course that the total scores of both home and away matches were the same and the first step in deciding how to separate the two sides is by playing an extra 30 minutes. And as we have heard before, this is known as extra time.
Go into extra time
So, what kind of language is used with this phrase? Well, we might hear a TV commentator say that the game is going into extra time; suggesting that it doesn’t look like there will be a winner. So, we use the verb ‘to go’ or ‘to go into’ with extra time; to go to extra time or to go into extra time: the game went into extra time.
Take the game into extra time
Another verb that is often used with extra time is ‘to take’ – take the game into extra time. And this verb is used when we want to talk about an incident (usually a goal) that causes extra time to happen. Here is how the BBC described France’s equaliser against Croatia and also mentioning the Portugal versus Denmark and Spain versus the Netherlands games:
‘That [goal] took the game to extra time, while Portugal and the Netherlands also took their ties with Denmark and Spain respectively into an additional 30 minutes.’ (BBC.co.uk, March 24 2025)
So, the French goal (from Dembele) meant that the game [tie] was level and had to go into extra time – the goal took the game into extra time. The second part of the phrase is slightly different in that it doesn’t mention the goals that took the game into extra time but instead implies that both Portugal and the Netherlands scored to take the game into extra time – they came from behind to equalise and send the game into extra time (send is another verb we can use with this phrase).
Forced the game into extra time
Now, another verb that we often hear is ‘to force’; to force extra time. I think this verb is used to describe a situation when there’s a late goal or late equaliser and this sends the game into extra time. Here are a couple of examples (one from the BBC and the other from the UEFA website):
- Example: …but Memphis Depay’s penalty nine minutes into the second half and an effort from debutant Ian Maatsen forced extra time (BBC.co.uk, March 24 2025)
- Example: …but they found yet another rebuttal in the 86th minute when substitute Francisco Trincão powered in on the bounce to force extra time. (UEFA.net, March 24 2025)
So, both of these examples highlighted the fact that late equalisers forced extra time.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (from a Spanish fan)
Yes, that message was in Spanish. I know that he will be happy with Spain’s win on penalties against the Dutch side. French fans will also be happy after France went through on penalties, while Portugal won in extra time against the Danes. An amazing night of Nations League football – 21 goals over the four matches, three of them forced into extra time with two penalty shoot-outs eventually deciding the semi-finalists.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (from a French fan)
So, in this week’s football expression we looked at verbs that can go with ‘extra time‘:
- to go into extra time
- to send the game into extra time
- to take the game into extra time
- to force extra time
And again, how would you say these phrases in another language that you know? Can you try and maybe use one of the phrases – maybe with one of your favourite teams? Add it to our forum or to the comments below.
Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll see you again later on in our regular weekly language podcast when we’ll be looking ahead to the weekend’s fixtures including the FA Cup in England and some huge derbies from Spain and Greece. And of course we’ll be explaining more football language. Bye bye.
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