Here are some of the words and phrases that we used on this week’s show. Check out the BBC’s football vocabulary page here

• to be fired - to lose a job

Steve Staunton and Martin Jol were both sacked this week.

• bear some responsibility - to take some responsibility, be blamed somewhat.

The Irish players should bear some of the responsibility of Staunton’s sacking.

• to lose the players - to lose the respect of the players (lose the dressing room)

It is alleged that Steve Staunton lost the players and had to go.

• to see-saw - end to end, the game changes dramatically

The derby game see-sawed throughout as we did not know which team would win.

• as clear as day - extremely clear, obvious

Damon felt that the penalty was as clear as day in the derby match.

• footballing powerhouses - very strong teams with big traditions.

Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool are European footballing powerhouses. 

• to jump on the bandwagon -  to join a fashion or trend late, to support a winning team.

Damon feels that gordon Brown is simply jumping on the bandwagon by supporting England.

• grovelling - asking for forgiveness

Dida was grovelling at the last home match after his Celtic debacle.

• seeing eye to eye - agreeing with each other

Steven Gerrard and Rafa Benitez do not seem to see eye to eye with each other.

• gutted - disgusted, very upset

I was gutted that Damon got three points for predicting the derby game correctly.

• flying high - doing very well, high up the table

Man City are flying high at the moment.

• to tail off - to lose form

Roma have tailed off a little in recent times.

• to run away with - to be dominating

Bayern are running away with the Bundesliga.

•  sticky patch - not playing well at the moment

Valencia are going through a sticky patch at the moment.

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 Leaners' pod 12 - The World's game [10:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week, Damon and Damian look at why football is the world’s most popular sport footballing cliche.

Try out our worksheets or online quiz to help you practice your listening and vocabulary skills. If you click on the audio when it is playing on an iPod you can see the transcript as you listen. It’s a great way to practice listening and fluency!

Transcript

Why is football the world’s game? Why is it followed with so much passion?
With football all too often being in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past twenty or thirty years, it is easy to forget that this sport is followed by more people than any other on the planet. Forget hooliganism, pampered players, diving - or simulation if you like, money destroying the soul of the game. Football was, is and will be ‘the beautiful game’. continue reading

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Here are some of the stories featured on this week’s show. You can listen to the podcast here.

Good

• Steve Staunton was sacked as Ireland’s manager after two years of poor results, woeful performances and inept tactics. Great player, poor manager. Report from the Telegraph newspaper continue reading
  

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 Podcast 12 - The beautiful game [25:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Damian and Damon bring you a slightly more philosophical look at football in their podcast for learners of English and fans of the beautiful game in this week’s free show.

On this week’s show Damian and Damon:

• Review the football week in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Explore why football is the world’s favourite game
• Introduce a new Vox Pops topic
• Explain a football cliche
• And continue their weekly battle in the predictions competition

For learners of English there are also

• Worksheets and transcripts
• Vocabulary lists
• Online quizzes
• Weekly blogs from our football-crazy writers in fans’ forum

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Some great games in this week’s predictions including el Superclásico in Mexico: Mexico City’s America take on second city’s Guadalajara. We also look at games in England, Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

Damian and Damon are still neck and neck in the predictions battle. What do you think the scores will be?

Week 12 (2007/8) Predictions

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Here are some of the words and phrases that we used on this week’s show. Check out the BBC’s football vocabulary page here

England probably will not qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament.

• to bid - to ask permission to do something, to try to win something

England have bid to hold the 2018 world Cup.

• hosts - the country where the finals are played (the home team)

England and Russia both want to be hosts of the 2018 World Cup.

• tactically inept - has little knowledge of the game

Steve Staunton is tactically inept and should be fired.

• to unfurl a banner - to open a flag/banner

Inter Milan fans unfurled a banner with derogatory remarks tat attacked the opposing team.

• highly-charged affairs - very tense matches

The Liverpool-Everton game is usually a highly-charged affair.

• bragging rights - be able to boast about winning

Fans of teams that win a derby enjoy the bragging rights in their local area.

• to endure taunts - to receive verbal attacks

If you lose you endure taunts from the opposing fans.

• Merseyside - The area around Liverpool

I hope that this year’s Merseyside derby is a good game.

• The Old Firm - a name used to describe Celtic and Rangers

The Old Firm derby is the biggest n the UK.

• to wrap up - to seemingly have it won, easy victory

Bayern Munich have wrapped up the Bundesliga title.

• to hit the nail on the head - exactly right

Damon hit the nail on the head with his prediction last week.

• raising your eyebrows - suggest you may disagree with someone, be surprised at a comment.

I raised my eyebrows at Damon’s suggestion that Brazil would win easily.

• media frenzy - large press interest

When England play there is a massive media frenzy.

• postponed - cancelled, the game will be played another day

NZ versus Fiji was postponed after trouble with visas.

• a humdinger - a really exciting game

Madagascar against Comoros islands was a humdinger that finished 6-2.

• resurgence - doing well again

There has been a resurgence in Scottish football.

• to be on fire - playing well at the moment

Espanyol are on fire at the moment having won 4 out of 4.

• to tip - to predict

Damon tipped Barcelona to win 3-0.

• to be billed as - to be called, described

Napoli-Roma is billed as a southern derby.

• face off - to play each other

Spartak Moscow and FC Moscow face off this weekend.

• I don’t have a clue - I have no idea!

Damon does not have a clue which team will win!

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 Enhanced Podcast [8:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week, Damon and Damian look at football derbies and a footballing cliche.

Try out our worksheets or online quiz to help you practice your listening and vocabulary skills. If you click on the audio when it is playing on an iPod you can see the transcript as you listen. It’s a great way to practice listening and fluency!

Transcript

Football experts will tell you that the most important thing about the game is winning. It does not matter how well or how badly you play as long as you win, as there is nothing greater than winning. Well, maybe there is one thing, beating one of your local rivals for example, which then makes that victory even sweeter. continue reading

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Back in the summer before the season was underway, I made a few predictions: Manchester United would struggle to score without Saha upfront, Chelsea would get off to a bad start and Liverpool would end up top of the table by the end of October. Man U then continue reading

5 Comments »

 

 Enhanced Podcast [17:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Damian and Damon bring you football news from around the world for learners of English and fans of the beautiful game on their free weekly podcast.

On this week’s show Damian and Damon:

• Review the football week in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Focus on football derbies
• Introduce a new Vox Pops topic
• Explain a football cliche
• And continue their weekly battle in the predictions competition

For learners of English there are also

• Worksheets and transcripts
• Vocabulary lists
• Online quizzes
• Weekly blogs from our football-crazy writers in fans’ forum
• Derbies transcript

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Here are some of the stories featured on this week’s show. You can listen to the podcast here.

Good

• Great for Argentina as they are the only team with 6 points from 2 games in the South American World Cup Qualifying Group. Juan Ramon Riquelme scores two amazing free kicks in the win against Chile. Messi scores a cracker in the win against Venezuela 4 days later. continue reading
  

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Germany did just enough to qualify for Euro 2008 this week. A draw and a home defeat are hardly flattering, but the business is only just beginning. The national team still seems to be riding a wave of confidence. Players that hardly rate (or are even unknown) outside of Germany are proving again that the Bundesliga is producing quality on the international level. Ever heard of Trochowski or Jansen? What about Odonkor? continue reading

1 Comment »

After last week’s internationals we return to league games this week with matches from The Premier League, The Scottish Premier League, La Liga, The Bundesliga, Serie A, The Greek Super League, The Russian Premier League, The Apertura in Argentina and the Primera Division of Chile. Phew!

Damon leads by 3 points but form counts for nothing as there are many derby matches this week. Think you can do better than Damon or Damian? Then post your predictions and comment below.

3 Comments »

Here are some of the stories featured on this week’s show.

Good

• Lionel Messi is on fire as Barcelona destroy 3-0. Here is a video of his goal. continue reading
  

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Here are some of the words and phrases that we used on this week’s show
Check out the BBC’s football vocabulary page here

e.g. The World Cup qualifiers have started in South America.

• on the bench - to be a substitute

Shevchenko is still on the bench for Chelsea and is upset

• call girl - a prostitute

Trentino 1921 are being sponsored by a local call girl business.

• centenary - 100 year anniversary

Ancona celebrated their centenary recently.

• red-hot favourites - no one believes that the team will lose

Bayern are red-hot favourites to win the Bundesliga.

• bucket loads of goals - lots of goals scored

Klose and Toni have scored a bucket loads of goals for Bayern this season.

• concede goals - allow goals to go in against you

Bremen are conceding a lot of goals at the moment.

• promoted - moved from one division to a higher division

Karlsruhe were promoted last year to the top division in Germany.

• yo-yo club - a team that goes up and then down to the division below

West Ham are a bit of a yo-yo club.

• finding their feet - becoming accustomed to, get used to

Both teams are still finding their feet in the Bundesliga

• looking rosy - looking good, positive

It’s not looking rosy for German teams at the moment in the Champions League.

• knocked out - eliminated from the competition

Tonga have been knocked out of the World Cup already.

• spots - places in a competition

There are 31 spots available in the World Cup.

• play-off - a winner-take-all game, i.e. the winner goes to the finals.

The winner of Oceania plays the 5th team in Asia in a play-off.

• hosts - the country that holds the competition

South Africa are the hosts for the next World Cup.

• preliminary match - a match to decide which team qualifies that is held at the start of the competition.

There are 2 preliminary matches being held in Africa this weekend.

• gruelling - very tough

The South American qualifying competition is extremely gruelling.

• to be sewn up - already decided

It seems that the Bundesliga is already sewn up.

• double blow - hit twice, suffer twice

Liverpool scored late to prevent Spurs winning and give Damon a perfect prediction - a double blow for Damian

• to blitz - to destroy, to beat someone easily

Lazio were blitzed by Milan 5-1.

• To take apart - to beat easily, play very well.

Barcelona took Atletico Madrid apart 3-0.

• bogey team - a team that always does well against another team

River are becoming Boca’s bogey team - they may have the sign over them.

• flying high - doing well

Scotland are flying high at the moment

• to shoot themselves in the foot - to make a silly mistake

Will Scotland shoot themselves in the foot and not beat Ukraine.

• to get stuffed - to be beaten badly

Damon thinks Ireland will get stuffed by Germany.

• the reverse fixture - the previous game between the two teams

Spain beat Denmark in the reverse fixture so the Danes are looking for revenge.

• to be suspended - cannot play because of bad behaviour.

Chile have many players missing as they are suspended.

• artificial pitch - a plastic pitch with no grass

Russia play England on an artificial pitch.

• to be thumped - to be beaten badly

I think they will be thumped by Sweden.

• first leg - the first of two matches

Thailand won the first leg 6-1.

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In sharp relief to all the groanings and teeth-gnashings of recent posts, one trend has become blindingly obvious: CITY ARE BACK! The diabolical pairing of disgaced former Thai prem and laughing stock Sven-Goran Erickson has resulted in the heavenly resurgence of Manchester’s cooooooolest purveyors of the beautiful game (City, you fool). continue reading

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