In this second post, we have another two! Let’s start off again with the saying.

Das Runde muss ins Eckige

the round (thing) must go into the square (thing)

Very much football-related, and not very translatable to English, this saying has quite some background meaning. Of course, it talks about the football entering the goal, which it has to do so you can win the game. This saying started as a citation that is attributed to earlier coach of the German team Sepp Herberger, but has grown into a legitimate saying by now.

Use

The saying basically points out that no matter how nice you play, how great the passes are or what techniques you use, what matters in the end is the goal. And this can be translated to every day life situations, too. If you have a goal before you, you need to reach it. It does not matter how much time you invest in it or what detours you take, the goal is what you have to get to. And it also does not matter if you stood Abseits (offsides) or not. Which is hard to explain anyway:

Das Runde ist ins Eckige gegangen, und jetzt sind wir Weltmeister!  (The round went into the square, and now we are World Champion!)

Aus dem Konzept bringen

To put somebody off his/her stride

Also one that is quite football-related. Sorry guys, you could not expect something else after yesterday :-). Also this expression’s origin is not very clear, but the meaning is clear, so it probably just followed from language development.

Use

The expression is used to describe you are confusing somebody. Konzept means “idea” or just “concept”. So, when adapting this onto football, a player or team that plays a certain strategy, executes that idea, can be put off that concept, that stride. So: Die Deutschen bringen die Brasilianer aus dem Konzept (The Germans put the Brazilians off their stride).