Archive for October, 2009

This week’s good, the bad and the ugly features stories from the upcoming World Cup qualifiers as well as a shock salute from Spurs-fan Damian to Arsene Wenger. Whatever next, Damon to congratulate Sir Alex Ferguson?

Good

Just to prove that we are balanced here at languagecaster, my good this week goes to Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger who completed 13 years in charge of the second-best team in North London (sorry!). He has become the longest-serving manager of the Gunners and in that time he has won 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups and overseen the transformation of the club into one of the most popular teams around the world – though obviously I don’t completely agree! continue

Argentina have two crunch matches coming up this week that will go a long way to deciding whether the albiceleste will make it to South Africa in 2010. Is it possible that Lionel Messi and coach Diego Maradona will not be there? Or like Brazil in 2002 will they finally come good and then go all the way and win the tournament? Let us know what you think by voting in the poll below.

Liverpool slump to their third defeat. Losses to Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham mean that Liverpool have already lost more games than the whole of last season. But it’s still early in the season, isn’t it? Plenty of time to turn things around! This campaign will be different. there are new challengers, Manchester City, Aston Villa, and Spurs are in the top half too!

If only I could believe it. A nerdy but unscientific look at the stats reveals a black pit of despair. In the big leagues, you don’t get much chance to slip up, as a look at the past decade reveals. Most championships are won with less just less than five losses. That leaves Liverpool with two more to go!

Mind you, back in 2005 – Yes, that’s the year the Mighty Reds triumphed in Istanbul, winning the European Cup for the 5th time. Stop yawning! – Liverpool lost 14 times and were beaten by Chelsea in October. There’s hope for something yet! I might just check out tickets for Madrid on the 22nd of May…

Blackpool’s impressive start to their Championship campaign has resulted in a Scotland call up for Charlie Adam, who is aiming to warm up for Scotland’s friendly in Japan next weekend by bouncing back to the top of his game at Crystal Palace tomorrow. Blackpool are currently 7th in the Championship and remain the only club to beat high flying Newcastle as yet in the league.

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This week’s main report looks at one of the countries that has already qualified for the 2010 World Cup – Paraguay. The transcript of the report is below.

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Listen to the report here

Transcript

Bigger than Japan but smaller than Spain, a population slightly larger than Denmark, but smaller than Hong Kong, and looking forward to their eighth appearance in the World Cup Finals, more than Portugal but fewer than Hungary – which country am I talking about? continue

We’re on the road to the World Cup, and this week languagecaster takes a look at one of the countries that has already qualified – not a big name, but a country hoping for big things. Come along to the site at languagecaster.com to find out which country we are featuring and to read about many other footballing stories.

As a subscriber to our newsletter, you will also be in with a chance of winning a Brazilian shirt this week.

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PREDICTION

This week’s featured match is our first Paraguayan match,  Cerro. Porteño vs Nacional Asuncion.

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

This week’s English for Football phrase is the expression collector’s item which refers to something that is both interesting and at the same time quite rare. In football we often use this phrase when someone who does not usually score a goal manages to get one. Last weekend Manchester United’s John O’ Shea scored his first goal for the club in two years – a real collector’s item. We can also use it when referring to team runs so Portsmouth have lost seven games on the trot so if they were to win this weekend  it would be a real collector’s item, A Collector’s item

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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

Paraguay first played an official international game in 1919 against Argentina. What was the score?

a) Paraguay 5 – 1 Argentina

b) Paraguay 3 – 1 Argentina

c) Paraguay 1-3 Argentina

d) Paraguay 1-5 Argentina

Answer next week.

Last week we asked, ‘What was the last German team to play in a Champions League final?’ The answer was d) Bayer Leverkusen

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For all students of the beautiful game

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During the build up to the World Cup in South Africa, languagecaster will take a look at some of the countries taking part as well as taking a look back at some of the great players in World Cup history. This week we turn the spotlight on one of the less famous South American countries, Paraguay.

It’s also your last chance to sign up to our newsletter and have a chance of winning a Brazilian shirt!

• 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
• 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 from previous podcasts
  

Giant-killing in the Champions League, troubles for two London clubs and one from the south coast of  England all get a look in on this week’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

Good

Always good when a minnow brings down a giant, and that is exactly what happened last night as FC Zurich stunned AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro. A fantastic night for the Swiss team, who it should be remembered are their nation’s champions unlike AC Milan, saw Hannu Tihinen, the scorer, Milan Gajic, and Alain Rochat take on household names like Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Inzaghi and Pato. Realistically, this could be the Zurich side’s 90 minutes of fame as it’s unlikely they’ll last the course. But well done FC Zurich. continue