Recently, while eating a sushi dinner out with my wife, I had an epiphany that I'm almost positive fixed international relations regarding soccer, or football if you're not American. And that is EXACTLY the problem I've solved, having two words in the same language that both refer to the same widely loved activity is confusing and more often the basis for choosing conflict over comradery. Currently Boston is hosting Scotland for the World Cup. These nationals have literally drunk all the beer in the city while only spread joy and merriment. Boston is in love with them. It is clear to everyone that this beautiful game IS about comradery. So we have to do something about this name situation. 

Swallowing some unagi, I recalled the epic goals exchanged in the Netherlands vs Japan match earlier in the day. Engaged, my wife asked if I'd seen all of this live? "No," I replied, "I only caught the second half live, the first have I had to watch on replay." And that's where the magic came from. Instead of that sentence, imagine this one. "No, I only watched football for the second half, the first half soccer I watched later in the day."

And I agree, that this isn't the most well constructed sentence grammatically, but its use comes from the context clues it provides. 

Here's my solution. Football is how it started, so it is used as the unmodified noun form. Those who watch football know that live is REALLY the only way to watch a team you really love. So, when watching the game live, the sport is called football. But, if you watch a replay or subsequent highlights - you are watching soccer, a word that now signifies not just the game played, but when it was consumed. 

Boom. You keep both words but give them more specific meanings. European fans should like it because it references Europe as the origin AND emphasizes the purity of the game. Americans should like it because trying to call it soccer was ballsy (pun) in the first place, and being let into the international football conversation at all should come with a big ol' "thanks for having us!" 

So there it is. I solved another benign international conflict. 

You're welcome.