Archive for August, 2009

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La Liga kicks off this weekend and on this week’s main report we ask whether the Spanish League is now better than the Premier League. Explanations of key terms are explained in bold at the end of the transcript below.

Listen to this week’s show here

TRANSCRIPT

Spain or England?

The much-anticipated Spanish football season, La Liga, kicks off this weekend, and it is one which Ronaldo now claims is the best league in the world – though that may only be because of his recent move there. But maybe Ronaldo has a point; has a shift occurred in the power structure of club football? continue

La Liga kicks off this weekend and on this week’s show we ask whether the Spanish League is now better than the Premier League. We also review the big football stories from around the world in the good, the bad and the ugly, including violence in East London. Come along to the site at languagecaster.com to read about these and many other footballing stories. continue

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

La Liga kicks off this weekend and on this week’s show we ask whether the Spanish League is now better than the Premier League.

• Read our football news review in the good, the bad and the ugly
• Check out a new football expression in English for Football
• Follow the weekly predictions battle between Damon and Damian in the Predictions competition
• Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript
• For learners of English check out our Football Language Resources page with:
• Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)
• Worksheets and transcripts

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

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Football news from Japan, Northern Ireland and the Premier League in England all feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly section of 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.

Good

In Japan, Shimzu, one of the original J-League sides from 1993, crushed derby rivals Iwata 5-1 and move up the league into third (see the goals here). Not only a fine win, but it also puts pressure on the two leaders Kashima and Kawasaki.

And talking about fine wins, Burnley add Everton’s scalp to that of Manchester United in another home win for the newly promoted side who have now picked up six points out of nine and are well on the way to making their home ground, Turf Moor, a fortress. continue

This week we’ve got some big games starting in the Premier League with Manchester United taking on their big rivals from London, Arsenal, in an intriguing fixture. Big teams clash in Ligue 1 as Marseilles host Bordeaux, in Serie A, where AC Milan take on champions Inter, and in the Bundesliga as last year’s winners Wolsburg travel to Bayern Munich. And finally, La Liga kicks off and we’ll see how the new-look Real Madrid side do against Deportiva La Coruña.

 Print This Post | Subscribe: Football Quiz | Answers here

In this week’s quiz we feature Brazilian World Cup superstar Pelé. The answers to the quiz below can be found by reading the post about his life here.

1. How many World Cup tournaments did Pelé play in?
a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. 5

2. How many World Cup goals did Pelé score?
a. 8
b. 10
c. 12
d. 14
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 Print This Post | World Cup Stars

Listen to this week’s show here

Transcript

Each era has its heroes and stars. Today’s football world is dominated by players like David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, who are role models to many young players, but I wonder how long their influence will last.

There is one player that has stood the test of time and is the greatest World Cup player of all time. Pelé appeared in four World Cups, 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970, scoring 12 goals – the third most by any player – and creating many more. It was his first and last tournaments in Sweden and Mexico respectively that cemented his reputation as a world great.

In 1958, Pelé was 17 and had been playing for Santos and Brazil for one year. No one could imagine what an impact the boy from Três Corações in the south of Brazil would have on the tournament, but by the time he had scored four goals, including a hatrick against France in the semis, on the way to reaching the final everyone knew he was special. In the final, he scored one of the goals of the century – a precise chest-down, a deliciously weighted lob over a defender, polished off with a clinical volley. Pelé scored another as Brazil overcame Sweden 5-2 He became and the youngest player to score a hatrick in a World Cup, and appear and score in a final. continue

It’s the second week of languagecaster’s football podcast and already there has been lots of action. In this week’s podcast we turn to La Liga to preview the start of the season in Spain. As always we review the football stories from around the world in the good, the bad and the ugly: women fighting and injuries in the Premier League all feature. Come to the site at languagecaster.com to read about these and many other footballing stories.

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FEATURED POSTS

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PREDICTION

Featured match

Tottenham visit their London city rivals West Ham Tottenham have got off to a flyer and will be hoping to stay top with a victory.

Can you do better than these predictions? Any comments? Come along to the prediction section on the site and let us know.

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

For this week’s English for football we have the phrase ‘to be sidelined‘. This phrase is a passive construction: that means it is made with the ‘be’ verb and the past participle of the verb, in this case ‘to sideline‘. The passive construction is used when someone or something has something happen to them. To sideline means to put on the side, to remove from the centre or the main action. To sideline someone means to keep them out of the main action. In football, players are often sidelined by injury: they get an injury and cannot play. This week, Fulham played in the new Europa competition and their striker, Andrew Johnson picked up a bad injury – he dislocated his collar bone. He will be sidelined for two months. He was sidelined by the injury.

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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

Burnley have never been in the Pemier League before the season. Including Burnley, how many teams have played in the Premier League since it started in 1992?

a) 32

b) 38

c) 48

d) 51

Answer next week.

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This week’s POLL

This week’s poll asks which team do you think will win the Premier League in 2010. Come along to the site in order to vote.

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Write to us at admin@languagecaster.com if you want to have your say on our weekly podcast.

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For all students of the beautiful game

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On this week’s show we start a feature which takes a look at some of the great World Cup players through the ages. Of course next year is the 2010 World Cup, so we hope you’ll enjoy our look at some of the best players to grace any football field. To start we look at Pelé.

• Read our football news review in the good, the bad and the ugly
• Check out a new football expression in English for Football
• Follow the weekly predictions battle in the Predictions competition
• Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript
• For learners of English check out our Football Language Resources page with:
• Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)
• Worksheets and transcripts

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon

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Winners from London and in the Bundesliga, injuries in the Premier league, women fighting all figure in this week’s good, bad and ugly section.

Good

Two from two for Wolfsburg. The German champions continue their good start with a 3-1 away win over Cologne. Obafemi Martins, a recent transfer from ex-Premier League side newcastle, scored the clincher when he came on for his debut as substitute. Meanwhile in Japan, it was good for the rest as first and second place teams Kashima and Kawasaki both lost. Niigata and Osaka are now only three behind second place Kawasaki. With the two top teams meeting early next month, they’ll be hoping they can close the gap even further.

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