Archive for February, 2009

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The leagues in Europe are getting closer to the finishing line. Everyone wants to win at the start of the season, but now many clubs are just looking to avoid the drop. This week we look at the teams who are nervously hoping they don’t drop down a division this summer.

In addition we:

• Review the football news in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Introduce a new football expression in English for Football
• And continue the predictions battle in the Predictions competition

For learners of English check out our new Football Language Resources page with:

• Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)
• Worksheets and transcripts
• Vocabulary lists

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

Transcript

It’s only natural for the spotlight to be turned on the races for the championships at this stage of the season. Barcelona and Manchester United are both seven points clear and the title is within their grasp, Inter look comfortable but not clear while in the Bundesliga things are much more exciting. But as night follows day, Spring comes after winter, where there are winners there are losers. This week we take a look at those teams in danger of dropping from the heights, being relegated to the second tier in England, Spain, Italy and Germany. continue

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Champions League action this week dominates the news, but there was also a bit of fighting on the football pitches of the world! Click on the links below to find out more on all of these stories. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the page.

The Good

English clubs in the Champions League got off to a good start. The four teams didn’t concede a goal and three, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool beat their opponents 1-0. Liverpool’s one goal, scored by Yossi Benayoun with a header from the six yard line, is a crucial away goal and they will be happy they put an end to Real Madrid’s 9 game league winning run. Drogba seems to be finding his form again for Chelsea under their new manager Hiddink as he found the net for the Blues. Arsenal were more continue

A terrible week again for Damon the predictions race, and Damian has really made up some ground. This week languagecaster look at some top versus bottom clashes, as some of the title contenders take on those threatened by relegation. There’s also a juicy tie with Barcelona visiting Atletico Madrid – can the Catalan’s bounce back after losing to Espanyol, and a Cup final in England with Damian’s team, Tottenham hoping to overcome Manchester United.

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After almost a three-month break the Champions League is back and languagecaster previews the 8 mouthwatering ties that lie ahead. Will it be another all-English final or will the winner come from Spain, Italy or … Greece?

In addition we:

• Review the football news in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Introduce a new football expression in English for Football
• And continue the predictions battle in the Predictions competition

For learners of English check out our new Football Language Resources page with:

• Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)
• Worksheets and transcripts
• Vocabulary lists

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

 
Transcript
 

After the rather dreary and predictable set of first round group matches the Champions League begins in earnest with next week’s knockout stage. 16 teams will play two legs to determine the quarter-finalists. Last year’s beaten finalists Manchester United and Chelsea are joined by two more clubs from England, as well as four from Spain, three from Italy, two from Portugal and one each from Germany, France and Greece. So, who are the favourites, the dark horses and the outsiders in this year’s competition? continue

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A low-scoring round for the languagecaster ‘experts’ last week means that both Damon and Damian will be looking for some points from this week’s set of matches. Guus Hiddink’s first match in charge for Chelsea, the Catalan derby in la Liga, the Ruhr derby in Germany, as well as four matches from the last 16 of the Champions League make up this week’s predictions.

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Jose Mourinho, David Beckham, Arsenal and a poor translation all feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly – the review of the football week on languagecaster’s football podcast. Click on the links below to find out more on all of these stories. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the page.

It was a good weekend for Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side as they defeated city rivals AC Milan 2-1 in the derby last Sunday. The current champions are now 9 points clear at the top of Serie A after Juventus were held to a draw, Roma were thrashed and Fiorentina also drew. It looks like a fourth-straight title is all but wrapped up for Jose’s men. continue

So, what do you think?
Last week players set off for various parts of the world to play games that are largely forgotten this week. Does anyone care that Spain beat England, or France lost. How did Holland go? Can you remember? Because the fact is that these games are played by different rules. Coaches can change the whole team at half time – give the younger players some time on the pitch, whilst everyone else uses it as a break from the real pressures of club football. John Terry said as much in the wake of the Scolari sacking.
Of course it is a good way for players to collect caps (Beckham being a good example), and it can be entertaining (full houses at many games), and coaches can tinker (Germany had several debutants), but the reality is that friendlies are meaningless and little can be read into the results. I am sure that when the ‘real’ games are back on the tackles will have a little more bite. There must be a better time in the calender for national squads to get a little practice than last week. Your thoughts please.

Learn some of the words and phrases from languagecaster’s Good, Bad and Ugly section of the podcast. For more English practice check out our worksheets, football glossary and English for football phrases.

• Outfielder: all players except the goalkeeper on a football team

Example: David Beckham receives his 108th cap for England. That equals Bobby Moore’s record as an outfielder with the most caps for England.

• Look set to do: ready to do, will do

Example: The LA Galaxy stroke AC Milan star looks set to beat Moore and move second in the all time list behind England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton. continue

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After all the recent news about managers being sacked, canned, given the chop, released, fired, languagecaster takes a look at the language we use to describe a managers job. We also …

• Review the football news in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Introduce a new football expression in English for Football
• And continue the predictions battle in the Predictions competition

For learners of English check out our new Football Language Resources page with:

• Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)
• Worksheets and transcripts
• Vocabulary lists

Transcript

Now as we have already mentioned, football managers have been in the news this week with some high-profile sackings and plenty of gossip surrounding possible new appointments. So, on languagecaster’s main report this week we take a look at some of the language used to describe the life of a football manager. continue

International friendlies and World Cup qualifiers dominated last week’s football, along with the sackings of coaches, Craig Bellamy and David Beckham who all feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly.

Good

David Beckham receives his 108th cap for England. That equals Bobby Moore’s record as an outfielder with the most caps for England. The LA Galaxy stroke AC Milan star looks set to beat Moore and move second in the all time list behind England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, who got 125. Surely, Beckham can’t play for England a further 18 times to beat that!
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