Archive for May, 2010

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It looks like Damon is going to win this year’s predictions battle unless Damian can come up with something special in the final week. Lots of European leagues are coming to the end of their seasons and so we have some very important games from La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League as well as the Europa League final. This week’s guest is Brian who is a Fulham fan and very much looking forward to that final.

Way back in August I posted a Preview to the Championship (The English 2nd tier) in which I attempted to predict which teams would be promoted or relegated. Languagecaster readers should pat themselves on the back as they tipped Newcastle, West Brom and Cardiff to make it but how well did I do?

The Good

First up I predicted that Newcastle would go up as champions which may seem rather obvious now, after all the club has more fans than any other team in the league and has a squad of players that many Premier League clubs envy. But at the time, Newcastle were in disarray and indeed I wrote at the time…

Off the field they are a shambles… Newcastle’s confidence is low and some have even suggested that, like Leeds and Charlton in recent years, they will ‘enjoy’ consecutive relegations and drop into League One. I disagree, I think they have enough good players to see them through and predict they will go up as champions.

continue

May 2nd 2010, Blackppol FC progress to the play offs for promotion to Division 1, well that was its real name before all of the mass glorification of ‘Premiere League’ status and ‘Champions League’ era. With so much bull shit in the modern game, let’s get back to the good old days of clubs playing and succeeding within their means – COME ON YOU POOL !!!!! Holloway’s Tangerine Army !

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On this week’s podcast we interview a Mexican fan who tells us all about his country’s chances at the 2010 South Africa World Cup. Remember you can also:

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking here

How much do you know about the history of the World Cup? Who won the tournament in 1938? Where was the final played in 1974? Who was the top scorer in 1966? Download the pdf file below, answer the questions and fill in the crossword. There is also an online version and of course there are answers provided.

Across

2. Losing finalists in 1974 and 1978
6. The host nation of the first World Cup
8. One of the losing semi-finalists in the 2002 World Cup
13. The only person to have scored a hat trick in a World Cup final. Geoff ____________
14. Brazil beat which host nation 5-2 in 1958 to win the World Cup?
16. Cameroon and which other African nation have reached the quarter-final of the World Cup – the furthest an African team has made?
17. Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. Which of these four North African nations has never appeared at a finals?
18. Sent off in the 2006 World Cup final
19. First person to win the World Cup as a player
and a manager?
20. Juste Fontaine scored the most goals in one World Cup than anyone else. Which country is he from? continue

First of all, apologies for no newsletter last week. This week we return with lots of football news to review on our weekly podcast. In South America the Copa Libertadores has reached the last 16, while in Europe the Champions League and Europa League finalists have also been decided. Unfortunately for Damon, Liverpool’s dismal season continues as they crash out of the Europa League, though another English team, Fulham, makes club history with their first appearance in a European final. There have been sackings, injuries and fighting – all just another week in the world of football. Listen to some of these stories and lots more football and English practice in the free weekly languagecaster.com football podcast. 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 Liverpool v Chelsea

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

This week’s English for football phrase is the spirit of the game which refers to how the game is played or at least how it is interpreted by those playing it. For many, the only objective of football is to win at all costs which means that players will often act in an underhand manner in order to improve their chances of winning. This might involve diving to try and win a penalty or pretending to be hurt after a tackle. Both of these actions go against the spirit of the game as they not only attempt to cheat but they do so by deceiving their fellow professionals. This week Barcelona player Sergio Busquets feigned an injury which lead to Inter Milan player Thiago Motta being sent off which was definitely against the spirit of the game.

Click here for more football cliches and football phrases.

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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

Four teams have won the Premier league in its 18 year history – Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, but how many teams have played in the Premier League?

a. 35
b. 43
c. 48
d. 50

Answer next week.

Last week’s answer was, England first played in the World Cup in b. 1950
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For all students of the beautiful game

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 Print This Post | Subscribe: Main Report

Each week on languagecaster’s podcast we feature a main report and on this week’s show we continue with our World Cup countdown by taking a look at Mexico’s chances in the tournament. We ask our Mexican football expert Juan Pablo Camargo how he thinks Mexico will fare this summer. You can listen to the report by clicking above and can read the transcript below.

Introduction

Continuing with our preview of the South Africa World Cup we have an interview with our Mexican football expert Juan Pablo Camargo in which he tells us all about his country’s chances at the World Cup. He focuses on coach Javier Aguirre, discusses some of the players to watch out for, gives us an overall tournament prediction and he starts off by talking about Mexico’s chances of getting past the first round.

Group Stage

Juan Pablo: We are in Group A with South Africa, France and Uruguay.
Damian: What do you think?
JP: I think it’s a tough … group, not because of France because of South Africa, they’re playing home and Mexico usually behaves weirdly in the World Cup so they might panic… they might freak out of playing the first game of the World Cup but I think we are definitely going to make the second round.
DF: OK, so you think their chances of qualifying are pretty good?
JP: Yes, Uruguay qualified like, against … they didn’t qualify in the South America … play-off they had to play Costa Rica in CONCACAF to get a spot and historically Mexico always beats Uruguay. And also against France I’m not that worried because in the last three or four World Cups in the group … in the group stage, Mexico has always played well against the big teams like Italy and the Netherlands. We haven’t lost games against the big teams in the last three World Cups.

The Manager

DF: Can you tell us something about the manager of your team? Who’s the manager of the Mexican national team?

JP: The manager is Javier Aguirre. He was the manager in Korea/Japan World Cup and then he went to Spain to Atlético de Madrid he.. ah no, first he went to Osasuna and he got Osasuna in the Champions League for the first time in history and then he went to Atlético de Madrid and also he got Atlético de Madrid again in the Champions League spot and then he has to basically come back to Mexico and save the Mexican team who was really close to not qualify to the World Cup.
DF: Of course you had Sven Goran Eriksson, didn’t you as your manager. How was that seen in Mexico?
JP: That was a weird experience. We think that they… he just went to steal money there and the team did terrible and there’s also like… politics in Mexican football are really, really hard so I think a lot of players just basically boycott… Eriksson because there’s this belief in Mexico that the Mexican manager should be a Mexican because to do a good thing we need someone who understands our leagues so…

The Players

DF: So which players should we keep an eye out for in the World Cup? Which Mexican players will be starring for you?
JP: You should always keep an eye on Rafael Márquez from Barcelona even though he doesn’t really play well in the Mexican team but he scored against Argentina in the last World Cup so I think he will be doing well. We should also keep an eye on the Mexican players that were playing in the Premier League like Carlos Vela, he’s not even starting for Arsenal but he’s pretty good when he plays in the Mexican squad. Also Giovani dos Santos who was playing in Tottenham and then he went to Galatasaray but he’s a young star – he used to play in Barcelona. And now we have a … my friends from Mexico told me we have this new star called (Javier) “Chicharito” Hernández, he’s from Chivas so he’s scoring pretty… he’s scoring in the league a lot and in friendly matches so I think… I hope he’s going to be like … a big player. Never, never forget about Cuauhtémoc Blanco, he’s old but he’s always like the driving power of the team and he has a lot of experience and he’s like …other teams respect him so he’s gonna’ do well too.
DF: I must admit I didn’t think he was still playing, he’s playing in America… in North America yes?
JP: Yes, he’s playing in Chicago Fire but in the break… actually in the break, he’s in a break now so he has to go and play in the second division team in Mexico to be active but now he’s, like, more mature so I think he… he’s definitely is a very important part of the team.

Prediction

DF: Now if Mexico don’t win the World Cup which team do you think will win the World Cup?
JP: I might go for Spain but I think Spain … also tend to freak out in the last minute so I don’t know, I think it’s going to be again … again between Italy, Brazil and the usual teams because I think the competition just helps you to do that, like, to get really easy first stages to get into those … I really hope it’s Spain.
DF: Can you see a dark horse threatening?
JP: Mexico!