to strike on

[Girion23]

Guido Burgstaller struck early on.

What does it mean? It's associated with football. "Burgstaller scored a goal"? What's the meaning of "on"?

I've faced lots of these kind of phrases reading articles about football and I'm confused. I want to understand everything, every single word must be clear for me.

 

[emsr2d2]

Early on" here means "in the early stages of the game".

I went to the cinema early on in the evening and then I went to a party.
It's a four-hour play but the fight scene takes place early on.
Earlier on today, I swam in the sea.

With the first and third sentences, "on" could be omitted. In the second, it can't.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

Hi.:-D

Did you, ems, miss the opening quotation marks in the beginning of your post, please?