The Bundesliga wakes up again this week after the winter break when Bayern visit Rostock on Friday night. It will be interesting to see how the second half of the season unfolds.At the top, Bayern have a slender lead, on goal difference over Werder Bremen. This has been mentioned many times in recent weeks with Bremen mocking their arch rivals that all the money they spent has gained them no extra points. Bayern meanwhile are hoping to send Captain Oliver Kahn into retirement with the treble by winning the league, the cup and the UEFA cup. continue reading

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Which side can claim the title of being “the people’s club”?

Gone are the glory days of the 70’s and 80’s when Liverpool were England’s most hated team. As the team’s triumphs have waned, the club has slowly transformed itself into a side of the people. Witness Robbie Fowler’s support of the dockers in the 90’s (he owned people’s hearts long before he got hold of their houses), as well as the Reds’ parochial loyalty to a string of mediocre players and managers. continue reading

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A Languagecaster exclusive! here is the team that Don Capello will be announcing to the waiting England fans before their friendly against Switzerland on the 6th of February. Don’t ask us how we did it, but it’s safe to say that we are all very confident of our source. So here it is:

GK - Ben Foster  

M. Richards——- R. Ferdinand ——– Terry ——– L. Baines

Gerrard ——- O. Hargreaves ———- D. Barry 

Theo Walcott ——–  Rooney ———- Joe Cole

 

• Subs: David James, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, David Bentley, G. Agbonlahor, Gary Neville, M. Carrick

Oh, hang out! Apparently this isn’t ‘offical’ yet. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Here are some of the word and phrases that featured on this week’s full podcast show. You can practice your vocabulary with our online crosswords and quizzes here.

• to be relevant - to be important, be connected to important events 

We’ll be asking whether the cup competitions around Europe are relevant today’s footballing world. continue reading

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 Enhanced Podcast [5:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On this week’s show Damon and Damian take a look at cup competitions in England also Damon has a new English for Football phrase.Try out our worksheets or online quiz to help you practice your listening and vocabulary skills.

• Transcript

We all know that football is a simple game - whichever team scores more goals wins, and this simplicity is embodied in the idea of cup football. It is death or glory, if you win you progress to the next round and if you lose you are out and you don’t play any more, nothing could be simpler. continue reading

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

Good

 

• The African Cup of Nations has been a great success so far with lots of goals and exciting games. Here are video highlights of some of the games.

Ghana - Guinea

Nigeria - Ivory Coast continue reading

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Here’s a question for you. What links the following Spanish teams? Sevilla, Espanyol, Betis, Zaragoza, Mallorca, Deportivo de la Coruna? Hard though it is to believe they make up the last 8 winners of the Spanish domestic cup competition, La Copa del Rey. No victories for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico or Valencia this century with Real not having won the cup since  1993. Whereas in England there are complaints that there is little chance of an upset in Spain the complaints revolve around the big clubs not taking the competition seriously at all. continue reading

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 Enhanced Podcast [18:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On this week’s show we ask if the romance of the cup has disappeared as the Carling Cup semi finals and the FA Cup 4th round take place in England. We also…

• Review the football week in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Have a new Vox Pops topic
• Introduce a football expression in English for Football
• And continue their weekly battle in the predictions competition

For learners of English there are also

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

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Damian continues his comeback and is now only 7 points behind Damon in the predictions race. This week we feature games from The African Cup of Nations, The FA Cup, Portugal and France’s top leagues, Serie A and La Liga.

Think that you know more than our ‘experts’? Then post your predictions below.

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I am delighted, really delighted after last night’s stunning win to book our place in the Carling Cup final and not for the obvious reasons either. Not the fact that we destroyed our rivals in a semi-final of a cup competition (’run riot’ BBC, ’spellbinding’ The Guardian and ‘incredible thrashing’ The Sun) nor that the crestfallen Arsenal players fought amongst themselves, which suggests that the match had been scripted, well, by me. continue reading

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Happy days on the blue half of Merseyside :) Up to 4th in the league much to the dismay of our “top 4/big 4″ neighbours across the park, and within touching distance of a first appearance at the New Wembley. It’s always a good time to be a blue, but more than ever right now. continue reading

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One Keano with 100 Tottenham goals that is. Congratulations Robbie on becoming only the 15th Spurs man to do it and the first since Teddy Sheringham.  That’s 100 goals in 228 games which is a pretty good return for someone known as a scorer of great goals rather than a great goalscorer. Here are a few of them

Former manager, Martin Jol  thinks he’s one of the best, read what he says in The Times article from this week. Robbie has 101 Premier League goals in total and at only 27 years old has every chance to move up the all-time list where he currently lies 13th. Any takers on naming the 12 players above him in the list?

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Liverpool’s American owners falling out with each other, trying to milk their asset for all it’s worth, the manager’s position in doubt, poor performances on the pitch - players’ heads down and no inspiration - stadium plans cut back… And now, Liverpool fans are praying for a middle-eastern consortium to buy the club to save the day. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. No not yet. We can still believe. The title is coming back, just not this year - again! 

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 Enhanced Podcast [8:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

On this week’s show Damon and Damian take a look at the African Nations’ Cup in Ghana. Damian also has a new English for Football phrase.Try out our worksheets or online quiz to help you practice your listening and vocabulary skills.

• Transcript 

 This cup keeps getting bigger and bigger in terms of worldwide interest, and even though Africa only has one team, Nigeria, ranked in FIFA’s top 20 there’s no doubt that Africa produces  continue reading

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Here are some of the word and phrases that featured on this week’s full podcast show. You can practice your vocabulary with our online crosswords and quizzes here.

 

• The second coming - a reference to a belief that a messiah will come to earth again.

It’s good for newcastle fans. They got Kevin Keegan, King Kev, the second coming… continue reading

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