H, I don't know much about the rules of soccer (this won't surprise you) but I would have thought that if the ball had been kicked from the south west corner, and was kicked back to the south west, then that would be the same direction. [Of course, if it had been kicked forward in the same direction it would be heading north east].
Stuart T, yes I know what what you mean. After the match they interviewed the manager of one of the teams who began every answer by saying "Yeah ... look ... listen ... " before launching into some implausible excuse about losing the game.