What is the meaning of the phrase ‘deflected’ in football?

* Find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below.

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Deflected

Deflected is this week’s English for football phrase. This verb describes the action of making something change direction. This normally happens when a ball hits another player, or a player deliberately gets in the way of the ball and touches it. Most of the time in football this verb is used with the ball, pass, or shot as the object. So, the shot was deflected means that the shot’s direction was altered or changed from its original path. We can combine the verb with words such as ‘wide’: deflected wide describes a shot that perhaps hits another player and then misses the goal. It can also be used with ‘in’, deflected in: in this case the shot hits a player and the change of direction beats the keeper and results in a goal. The noun form is a deflection and the adjective is deflected (eg. a deflected shot).

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* Example: Eriksen headed in from close range to double Spurs’ lead after Lennon’s shot was deflected by Nemanja Vidic’s block.. (BBC Report)

* Example: Mirallas mis-kicked a great chance and also had a deflected effort go wide. (BBC Report)

* Example: The German crossed for Eto’o, who looked to have the simplest of finishes until Barry’s brilliant saving tackle deflected his shot over. (BBC Report)