O atacante está perto do gol.

They are articles and a contraction:

• o atacante = the attacker
• do gol = de + o gol = of the goal / to the goal / near the goal, depending on context

In Portuguese, nouns usually take an article more often than in English. So o atacante is very natural for the attacker.

With perto, Portuguese normally uses de:

• perto de = near

Since gol is masculine and singular, de + o becomes do:

• perto do gol = near the goal

Because estar is used for location or position.

• está perto do gol = is near the goal

In Portuguese, ser and estar both mean to be, but they are used differently:

• ser = identity, classification, permanent characteristics
• estar = location, condition, temporary state

So here, the attacker’s position on the field is a location, which is why Portuguese uses estar.

Because perto normally needs the preposition de.

So the structure is:

• perto de + noun

Examples:

• perto da escola = near the school
• perto do carro = near the car
• perto do gol = near the goal

You cannot normally say perto o gol in standard Portuguese.

Atacante usually means attacker, forward, or striker, especially in soccer.

In a soccer context:

• o atacante = the attacking player / the forward

Depending on the team formation and context, English might translate it as:

• attacker
• forward
• striker

So it is a sports term, especially common in Brazilian Portuguese because soccer vocabulary is very common.

Almost, but not exactly in every use.

In Brazilian Portuguese, gol commonly refers to:

• a goal in soccer
• the scoring event
• sometimes the goal area/frame depending on context

Examples:

• Ele fez um gol. = He scored a goal.
• perto do gol = near the goal

The Portuguese word comes from English goal, but it has been adapted in spelling and pronunciation.

In Brazilian Portuguese, gol is usually pronounced roughly like gohl.

A simple English-friendly approximation:

• gol ≈ gohl

A few notes:

• g is a hard g, like in go
• o is like the o in go, though Portuguese vowels are not exactly the same as English ones
• l at the end of a syllable in many Brazilian accents can sound a bit like w, so some speakers may sound closer to gow

The accent mark shows the stressed syllable and helps distinguish the form.

• está = is
• stress falls on the last syllable: es-TÁ

This is the ele/ela/você form of estar in the present tense:

• eu estou
• você/ele/ela está
• nós estamos
• eles/elas estão

So the accent is part of the correct spelling of this verb form.

Yes, you often can.

Both are natural:

• perto do gol = near the goal
• próximo do gol = close to the goal

Perto is very common and simple. Próximo can sound a little more formal or descriptive, depending on context.

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, perto is extremely common.

The normal word order is:

• O atacante está perto do gol.

This is the most natural order in everyday Portuguese:

• subject + verb + complement

You might hear different word orders in poetry, dramatic speech, or very marked emphasis, but for normal speech and writing, O atacante está perto do gol is the best choice.

Yes. Gol is masculine:

• o gol
• do gol = de + o gol

If the noun were feminine, you would use da:

• a escola
• da escola = de + a escola

So:

• perto do gol because gol is masculine
• perto da bola because bola is feminine

Not directly. The sentence literally describes physical position:

• O atacante está perto do gol. = The attacker is near the goal.

If you want to say close to scoring, Portuguese would usually use a different structure, such as:

• O atacante está perto de marcar.
• O atacante está prestes a fazer gol.

So perto do gol is about being near the goal itself, not necessarily near the action of scoring.