What does the expression "abrir el terreno" mean?

Question

Thanks!

Answer 1

It is a soccer idiom. It means to maniobrate trying to search a bigger space to play.

So, if that phrase is used duringa war, it means the soldiers are plating football? - chileno, Oct 18, 2013

Used in a war situation means to clear the way, for example to launch napalm or bombs from planes, so infantry can advance - caiser, Oct 18, 2013

So, it is dependent of context. you seemed very certain that it was football related and in Spanish can a couple of other things too. :) - chileno, Oct 18, 2013

Answer 2

I haven't heard it myself but I wonder if it might be similar to 'opening the way' (abrir el camino). Just a guess though.

good. bad because the user got through it easy, with no more effort than just asking. - chileno, Oct 18, 2013

Answer 3

Chileno I answer you here because the answer is going to be long and a coment is too small to write it.

We have two similar expressions "abrir el terreno" and "abrir el camino". The first one "abrir el terreno" is used in soccer with the meaning that I explained before. When I have read it the question here the first time I have thought in a war situation, but I just noticed that it is a expression used usually in soccer and it looked to me the most used meaning.

Surelly the expression was used firstly in war situations and it was extended to soccer (the field is usually called "terreno de juego"), it is easy to transfer from one situation to the other using a metaphor.

But "abrir el camino" can be used too when, for example, one o various soldiers go ahead and open the way, so the others can advance safety.

The two more important dictionaries in Spanish, DRAE and Maria Moliner don't have information about "abrir el terreno", so I don't know if this idiom is correctly used in a war situation, but I am sure that it is used in.

Looking in Internet it looks that "abrir el terreno" was used in Argentina the first time, talking about soccer, and now it is widely used in all hispanic world, at least Spain and Mexico use it.

What I think is that it was a military expression used now in soccer too, but I can be wrong and it could be a expression used in soccer and now it have changed the original expression "abrir el camino" in a military situation, both expression are similar and it is easy to use erroneously one instead of the other.

In Spanish abrir el camino o el terreno can be used in either scenarios and others, depending on how "obscure" you wanna be.... correcto? It isn't a matter of changing it just at will, it might be used like that where you live but in real castilian both - chileno, Oct 19, 2013

expressions can be used to mean exactly the same thing, in different contexts.... Qué tal abrir cancha? No necesariamente tiene que ser una cancha de football, pudiera ser que te pida que despejes la cancha para llegar a conocer a una mina, por ejemplo... - chileno, Oct 19, 2013

Answer 4

se refiere al futbol

Answer 5

I believe Kiwi is right, and that it's like the figurative English phrases, open the way, open doors, or blaze a trail.