Archive for March, 2010

Last week was International Friendly week, with some of the big guns getting good wins – Spain were particularly impressive with their 2-0 win over France. Crouch also shined for England in their 3-1 win over Egypt. The feud between John Terry and Wayne Bridge continues with all eyes on a handshake. In South America there were good wins for Lanus and Cruzerio, but a shock loss for Estudiantes in the Copa Libertadores. The debate about the ‘English’ style of play resurfaces after a terrible tackle left Arsenal’s  Aaron Lennon’s leg broken in two places. Chester City FC were thrown out of the Football League in England and now have to hope they can rebuild a new team – all because of debts £26,000 – compare that to the £700,000,000 owed on loans by Manchester United and you can see the gap between the haves and have nots.  And of course there was lots lots more. For more football news come to our site, read the posts and check out our links section.

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PREDICTION

This week’s featured match is Chelsea v Internationale in the second leg of the Champions League knock-out phase

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

This week’s English for football phrase is to give the ball away cheaply. This expression is used to describe a situation in a game when one team, under little or no pressure, loses the ball to the opposing team. It is similar to an unforced error in tennis. We use the word cheaply to describe the fact that the opposition have not had to work hard (or ‘pay’) to get the ball back. Coaches and fans become very frustrated when their team gives the ball away cheaply as it may prevent an attack from building or worse may give the opposing team a chance to counter attack. To give the ball away cheaply.

Click here for more football cliches and football phrases.

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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

How many times has India qualified for the World Cup?

a. never
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3

Answer next week.

The answer to last week’s question, ‘When was the last time Aston Villa won the Carling Cup?’ The answer is c – 1996. Villa are second in the ranking with 5 wins behind Liverpool on 7.
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For all students of the beautiful game

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On this week’s show we ask, ‘why hasn’t football taken off in India, the second most populous nation on Earth?’. Remember you can also:

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 Print This Post | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

More trophies for Alex Fergeson as Man United pick up some silverware in England, good results for some of the big teams in last week’s international friendlies, a horror tackle and injuries put players out for the season 8and the World Cup), and some strange motivational tactics in the Bundesliga all feature in this week’s the Good the bad and the Ugly.

The Good

Good for Manchester United as they get the first silverware of the season in England – that’s if you don’t count the Community Shield, the season opener won by Chelsea. They beat Aston Villa 2-1 and lifted the Carling Cup trophy for the fifth time, equal second in the all time ranking with the team they beat, Villa but still behind Liverpool’s seven wins. The game was not without incident as Nemanja Vidic, as last man, should have been sent off for a blatant tackle in the penalty box in the fourth minute. Phil Dowd the referee decided simply to award a penalty. After escaping going a man down, Manchester United slowly took hold of the midfield and the game, and Owen and Rooney were on target to win the game. And with league leaders Chelsea also losing to Manchester city, it was a good weekend for the Red Devils. continue

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Last week, I visited Mumbai, India. Mumbai is arguably the most cosmopolitan city in India, the business centre, and home to 12 million Mumbaikers. While I was there I saw people walking around sporting Manchester United and AC Milan fake tops, Beckham T-shirts, and in the shop windows there are Chelsea, Man United, and Real Madrid school bags. Despite this, I hardly saw anybody playing football in the streets or in the many parks and beaches in the city. And there was nothing about local football in the newspapers. Why don’t most Indians play or follow football?

 Print This Post | Subscribe: Predictions

A big game from the Indian Professional League, some relegation battles from the Premier League in England and the second leg matches from the Champions League all feature in this week’s predictions, which of course can be heard on our podcast. Our guest this week is Marc who is a fan of Spurs. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Current Scores: DB 122 | DF 112 | Guest 102

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 Print This Post | Subscribe: English Football Phrase

Each week we explain a soccer phrase or cliché on our weekly languagecaster podcast. You can find many more examples by going to our football cliché page here.

Listen here to this week’s football phrase

This week’s English for football phrase is to give the ball away cheaply. This expression is used to describe a situation in a game when one team, under little or no pressure, loses the ball to the opposing team. It is similar to an unforced error in tennis. We use the word cheaply to describe the fact that the opposition have not had to work hard (or ‘pay’) to get the ball back. Coaches and fans become very frustrated when their team gives the ball away cheaply as it may prevent an attack from building or worse may give the opposing team a chance to counter attack. To give the ball away cheaply.