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At the sports website XtraTime.in, you can find the phrase:

Barcelona had no difficulty in thrashing the Spanish second division Hercules 7-0 to advance to the last 16 of the King’s Cup. At home, the team secured the elastic score without Messi, Suarez and Neymar – the trio Won off on Wednesday. (reference link)

Does elastic score mean that the team won by a big difference?

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    Never heard of the usage. It might be some specialised "sports commentary" thing, but looking at the full article, I get the impression it's "creatively translated" from a different language. For example, I find it hard to see how In the first leg of the match, the match had already equalized in a 1-0 lead could be a special domain-specific usage.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 14:44
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    'elastic score' has no meaning in English. I suspect this is a mistranslation from Spanish.
    – John Feltz
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 14:46
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    With only a single (highly suspect) example, I think it's "Unclear" what's being asked about here.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 14:48
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    Actually there appear to be a definition of elastic soccer myfootballgames.co.uk/game/5/Elastic-Soccer.html
    – user66974
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 14:49
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    @Lambie: I looked at the link for about 10 seconds before posting my first comment, at which time I'd have given odds of 10:1 on it being a translation. Noting that you don't think so, I just gave it another 20 seconds, and I'd now say the odds are at least 100:1.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 14:56

2 Answers 2

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And in PT-BR it means winning by a big difference.

The usages I have found in English seem to mean this too. Additionally, there are strong indications that most of the people who use this expression are Brazilian:

Human-Genocide: I still see a BIG "we can't do it" in the eyes of Asian and African teams with big teams coming to this like if it's a shore and worth nothing, making them lose by 5 or 6 rather than a competitive 2 - 0.

Annotator: It's quite rare to see any Asian or African side losing by an elastic score.

Match Thread: Guangzhou Evergrande vs Atletico Mineiro (Club World Cup 3rd place playoff)

For that example, /u/Annotator's profile implies that they are Brazilian (because they say "in Brazil" as if they live there).

In this example, there's a pretty clear connection with Portuguese (from context, it's likely Brazilian Portuguese), since that's what the rest of the page uses:

Nicknamed The Glorious applied by knockouts in the early twentieth century , the football team is responsible for more elastic score in the history of Brazilian football : 24x0 Sport Club on the hose .
BOTAFOGO FR - Ninguém Cala o Nosso Amor!!

This all points to "elastic score" being a literal translation of the (Brazilian) Portuguese idiom. But it's not idiomatic in English.

It's far more idiomatic to call this a blowout instead.

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  • Here is the term (no score though) in Portuguese: drible elástico, and here is the translation of the definition: An elastic [shot or kick] is when a player is stopped in front of the player marking him and touches the ball twice with the same foot, thereby changing the movement of the ball. See it here: dicasdeboleiro.com.br/dicas-dribles-de-futebol/
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:07
  • Also: The 'Ronaldinho elastico' is a dribbling technique where the attacker fools the defender with deft footwork. :)
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:11
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    I found the PORTUGUESE: :) esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2016/12/21/…
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:43
  • Here is the explanation of this newish expression: 'placar elástico' é sinônimo de goleada=placar elástico is synonymous with score many goals one after another. esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/campeonatos/copa-do-brasil/…
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:44
  • What a funny thing. This is forum dedicated to English language and usage and here we have citations from texts that are google translated at best. Frankly, I find this literal translations shameful.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 15:02
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The BAD English: The home, the team secured the elastic score without Messi, Suarez and Neymar – the trio Won off on Wednesday.

The GOOD Portuguese: Em casa, a equipe assegurou o placar elástico sem Messi, Suárez e Neymar - o trio ganhou folga nesta quarta-feira (21). https://esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2016/12/21/barcelona-da-folga-ao-trio-e-avanca-na-copa-do-rei-com-gol-de-brasileiro.htm

The RIGHT translation: At home, the team thrashed its opponents with one goal after another without Messi, Suarez and Neymar - the trio were not playing [had the day off] this Wednesday.

Placar élastica = to thrash their opponents with a series of goals [as was the case here: 7 TO 0]

The DEFINITION in Portuguese, translated: Pode ser que o jogador tenha se expressado mal, mas fato é que no linguajar do futebol, 'placar elástico' é sinônimo de goleada.

It may be that the player expressed himself badly, but the fact is that in football lingo, "placar elástico" is synonymous with a series of goals. https://esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/campeonatos/copa-do-brasil/ultimas-noticias/2012/04/10/gremio-ignora-vantagem-e-mira-placar-elastico-contra-o-ipatinga-em-casa.htm

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