Mai tsaron raga ya tsaya kusa da raga.

Literally, mai tsaron raga means something like the one responsible for guarding the goal/net.

• mai = a person associated with something, often owner of, one with, or person who does/has
• tsaro = guarding, protection
• raga = goal / net

So:

• mai tsaron raga = the person of goal-protection
• natural English translation: goalkeeper

This is a very common Hausa way of forming nouns for people by using mai plus a following phrase.

Because tsaron is the linking form of tsaro when it is followed by another noun.

Compare:

• tsaro = protection, guarding
• tsaron raga = protection/guarding of the goal

This -n sound often appears when one noun is connected to another in a possessive or descriptive relationship. In English, we might think of it as similar to of:

• tsaron raga = guarding of the goal

So in mai tsaron raga, the middle part is a noun phrase meaning goal-protection.

ya is the 3rd person singular masculine subject marker. In this sentence, it corresponds to he.

So:

• Mai tsaron raga = the goalkeeper
• ya tsaya = he stood / he stopped / he remained

Hausa often uses this kind of subject marker before the verb. Even when the subject noun is already stated, the subject marker still appears:

• Mai tsaron raga ya tsaya = The goalkeeper he stood/remained

That is normal Hausa grammar, not emphasis.

Because in Hausa, the subject noun is commonly followed by a subject pronoun/marker before the verb.

So the pattern is often:

• Subject noun + subject marker + verb

In this sentence:

• Mai tsaron raga = subject noun
• ya = subject marker
• tsaya = verb

This is one of the things English speakers often notice first, because English normally does not repeat the subject like this.

tsaya can mean several related things, depending on context:

• to stand
• to stop
• to remain / stay

In this sentence, because of kusa da raga (near the goal), the sense is most likely:

• stood near the goal
• or stayed near the goal

So ya tsaya kusa da raga suggests that the goalkeeper was positioned there, not necessarily that he suddenly stopped moving.

kusa da means near or close to.

It is made up of:

• kusa = nearness / near
• da = with / to / and, depending on context

Together, kusa da functions like a prepositional expression:

• kusa da raga = near the goal

This is very common in Hausa, where meanings that English expresses with one preposition are sometimes built from two words.

Because the two instances of raga do two different jobs:

• in mai tsaron raga, it is part of the noun phrase goalkeeper
• in kusa da raga, it is the object of near: near the goal

So the sentence is structurally like:

• [goalkeeper] [he stood] [near the goal]

English can also repeat the same noun in a sentence, so this is not unusual once you see the structure.

It can mean net, and in sports contexts it can also refer to the goal.

So in this sentence:

• mai tsaron raga is naturally understood as goalkeeper
• kusa da raga is naturally understood as near the goal

The exact English word depends on context, but in football/soccer language, goal is the best translation here.

Hausa does not use the the way English does.

So a noun like raga can mean:

• a goal
• the goal

and the context tells you which one is intended.

Likewise:

• mai tsaron raga can mean a goalkeeper or the goalkeeper

In this sentence, the translation naturally uses the because the situation is specific.

Yes, the subject marker would usually change.

Here you have:

• ya = he / masculine singular

For a female subject, you would normally use:

• ta = she / feminine singular

So:

• Mai tsaron raga ta tsaya kusa da raga. = The goalkeeper stood near the goal.
  if the goalkeeper is female

The noun phrase mai tsaron raga itself does not have to change here; the agreement is shown by the pronoun/subject marker.

The structure is:

• Mai tsaron raga = subject
• ya = subject marker
• tsaya = verb
• kusa da raga = prepositional phrase

So a simple breakdown is:

• Subject + subject marker + verb + location phrase

That gives:

• Mai tsaron raga | ya | tsaya | kusa da raga

For an English speaker, the most unfamiliar part is usually the extra subject marker between the subject noun and the verb.

You can definitely build similar phrases with mai. It is a very productive pattern in Hausa.

Very roughly, mai + noun/phrase often means:

• person with ...
• person who has ...
• person associated with ...
• person responsible for ...

So mai tsaron raga is not just a memorized whole; it also reflects a broader pattern in the language. That said, as a sports term, it does function as the normal expression for goalkeeper, so it is worth learning as a chunk too.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide is:

• Mai ≈ my
• tsaron ≈ tsa-ron
• raga ≈ raa-ga
• ya ≈ yah
• tsaya ≈ tsa-ya
• kusa da ≈ koo-sa da
• raga ≈ raa-ga

A rough full approximation:

My tsa-ron raa-ga yah tsa-ya koo-sa da raa-ga

The most important thing is to pronounce ts as a real cluster, not like plain s.