Football starts this Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium. But if you show up in your garnet and black, you’ll notice that the teams on the field are wearing a different shade of red, aren’t wearing helmets and are carefully avoiding handling the ball.

The University of South Carolina soccer venue is one of the few in the country to host a preseason tour of European soccer teams, in this case Liverpool and Manchester United, two of the biggest clubs in a soccer-crazy world. But the version of soccer played by these two English teams is different from what most Williams-Brice regulars might be familiar with.

How can you experience the big event (7:30pm Saturday) and still look smart to the football fans in attendance? We’re here to help.

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The teams

Manchester United and Liverpool are the two most successful English teams of all time. United lead the group with 20 championships, while Liverpool are close behind with 19. The two teams have a long-standing rivalry, not only because of the decades-long horse race between them, but also because their two cities are only 30 miles apart.

The teams are touring the United States as part of the Rivals in Red tour — along with Arsenal, another red-clad London team — before the new English Premier League season kicks off on August 16. The other matches between the three will be played on July 27 in Los Angeles and July 31 in Philadelphia.

If you want to draw a comparison between the two English teams in the American sporting world, you could do worse than with American football coach Ted Lasso, who described both their status and their lack of title success in recent years as “the Dallas Cowboys, and also the Dallas Cowboys.”

How is that offside?

Let’s talk about one of the most confusing aspects of the sport: the offside rule. It’s often a point of contention, even among knowledgeable football fans, when a referee disallows a play or even a goal because a player was offside.

The rule is designed to prevent the offense from placing a player directly in front of the goal and waiting for him to receive the ball, much like the three-second rule in basketball that prevents the center from standing in the lane directly under the basket. The rule prevents an offensive player in the opposing team’s half from being in front of the second-to-last defender (usually the last outfielder in front of the goalie) at the moment the ball is played forward. Otherwise, they cannot be involved in the play.

Even having one part of the defender’s body in front of him — excluding hands and arms, which are already out of play — is enough to disallow a potentially game-winning goal. The rule can benefit a team with a speedy forward who can move quickly from an onside position around the defense to reach the ball.

Before you celebrate your favorite team’s goal, make sure to check if there’s a referee on the sidelines who will raise a yellow flag if an attacker is offside. This way, you can immediately discourage any fans (or players) who aren’t paying attention.

Looking at the clock

Time works differently in football than in other sports you may be familiar with. The game is played in two 45-minute halves, with the game clock usually counting to 45 in the first half and from 45 to 90 in the second.

The clock does not stop, even if the ball is out of play or the referee blows his whistle, and the clock continues into “extra time” at the end of the half to make up the difference. An official on the sideline may hold up a sign at the end of the half to indicate how many minutes are being added, usually between one and five minutes.

In a standard match where the score is tied after 90 minutes, a match ends in a draw. If a winner needs to be determined, the teams can play 30 minutes of extra time. However, for this tour, the teams go straight to a penalty shootout. Five players from each side take a shot at goal from 12 yards out, with only the opposing goalkeeper able to stop them. The team that scores the most penalties is declared the winner, with extra shots being taken if the top five are still tied.

What kind of cards are those?

You want to know the difference between a penalty and a free kick. A foul by any player usually results in a free kick for the offending team. These are awarded anywhere on the pitch and can usually be recognised by the defending players forming a “wall” 10 yards from the ball in front of their goal.

But a penalty kick is awarded when an offense is committed inside the penalty area in an 18-by-44-yard box surrounding the goal, with only the goalkeeper between the player and the goal, just as in a shootout scenario. The penalty area is also the only part of the field where the goalkeeper can handle the ball.

When a player commits a foul, you see the referee reaching into his pocket. If he shows a yellow card, the player is essentially being warned, while a red card means that a player is sent off the game and the offending team has to play the rest of the game with one man less. If a player receives two yellow cards in a game, it has the same effect as a red card, but the referee does not have to show a card for each offense. It depends on the severity of the offense.

Singing in the stands

Off the pitch, you’ll likely see a few other bits of football culture in the stadium. Team scarves with logos and mottos stitched onto them are a signature piece of fan gear at games. They’re usually played in colder weather than Columbia in August, but expect to see a few at Willy-B this weekend.

At Liverpool’s home ground Anfield, fans hold their scarves aloft before every kick-off and sing the old showtune “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which has become a team anthem and even been added as a motto to the club crest. You may want to familiarize yourself with the lyrics, especially if you’ve voted Liverpool as your team for the night.

Although not well known, Manchester United have their own song, “Glory Glory Man United”, with a chorus sung to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and recorded by Frank Renshaw of the 1960s band Herman’s Hermits.