Archive for November, 2010

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OK, not an English word per se but it is to do with football and it is very, very topical. ‘Manita‘ is a Spanish phrase meaning ‘little hand’ and is used when one team thrashes another by a 5-0 scoreline, each finger representing one goal. In the first of this season’s Spanish title play-offs, I mean El Clásico, Barcelona destroyed Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid 5-0 at home in the Nou Camp. This is regarded as the perfect victory by Spanish football fans and was the first time there had been a ‘manita’ in El Clásico since January 1995 when Ivan Zamorano bagged a hat-trick to destroy their rivals 5-0. That particular game was sweet revenge for ‘Los Blancos’ as they avenged a 1994 defeat by the same scoreline, this time thanks to a Romário hat-trick for Barcelona. No hat-trick this time but 2 goals for Villa and 1 each for Jeffren, Xavi and Pedro condemned Jose Mourinho to his first ever five-goal defeat. Barca go top for the first time this season and no doubt the recriminations will now begin for Jose The ‘Special One’? More like The Special Five!

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On this week’s podcast we feature the exciting run-in to the Brazilian Championship. Remember on this week’s show you can also:

Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript and vocabulary

Check out a new football expression in English for Football

Learners of English can review the footballing news from around the world in our good, the bad and the ugly section of the show

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

A page with all our Football vocabulary posts

Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)

Worksheets and transcripts from previous podcasts

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking here

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Tottenham, Colorado, Barcelona, Samuel Eto’o and Luis Suarez all feature in the Good the Bad and Ugly review section of the show, while we also try to predict whowill come out on top in some of the big games in our weekly predictions . We also have a report on the exciting climax of the Brazilian Championship with an interview with our Brazilian football expert Marcelo. For more football news come to our site, read the posts, listen to our main reports and check out our links section.
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FEATURED POSTS

Download the latest podcast here

Read our fabulous Glossary of footballing phrases

Listen to something from our back catalogue:  David Beckham’s move to LA Galaxy in January 2007

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon
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PREDICTION

This week’s featured match sees Tottenham Hotspur play Liverpool in the Premier League. Below is Damon (a Liverpool fan) and Damian’s (remember, he’s a Tottenham fan!) predictions – what do you think?

Damian: 1-1 | Damon : 2-1

Check the rest of this week’s predictions here

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

This week’s English for football is ‘to lose the plot‘. A plot is the main events of a story, it explains what will happen. It can also refer to a secret plan. To lose the plot means to do something unexpected, unplanned, and a little bit crazy. The actions are strange and indicate that the person is not rational, not thinking clearly. Joey Barton, an English footballer playing for Newcastle is an example of someone who lost the plot. Over the past few years, he has been in trouble with the police for a violent attack, and in trouble on the field several times for dangerous tackles and violent conduct. Recently, however, he has been playing well and sensibly – until early this month in a game against Blackburn he punched an opposing player in the stomach off the ball. He has been banned for three games and he definitely lost the plot in that match.

Click here for more football cliches and football phrases.
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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

Which Brazilian team won the 2009 Championship?

a. Flamengo
b. Vasco da Gama
c. Fluminense
d. Sao Paolo

Answer next week.

The answer to last week’s question, which was the first British team to win a European trophy was of course Tottenham (1963 against Atletico Madrid in the Cup Winners Cup)
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Come along to our online shop and browse books and DVDs related to football and English language teaching and learning.

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Check out the site for the latest polls – at www.languagecaster.com | Click here admin@languagecaster.com if you want to have your say on our weekly podcast. You can also follow us at Twitter

For all students of the beautiful game

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This week’s main report is all about football in Brazil. There are only two games remaining in this season’s championship (Campeonato Brasileiro) and so on this week’s show we talk to our Brazilian football expert, Marcelo, to give us his opinions on the run-in to the Brazilian title.

Transcript

DF: Now, on this week’s main report we are going to be talking all things Brazilian football as there are only two games remaining in the Brazilian championship, it’s a really exciting finish. We have three teams in with a chance of winning the title. Now, with me today I have got a Brazilian football expert, Marcelo. Marcelo, how are you?

Marcelo: I’m fine Damian

DF: Good, good, now Marcelo you’ve got some good news before we start talking about the top division, you’re local team are champions, is that right?

M: Yes, ABC from my city Natal and we won the third division so we are Brazilian champions…of the third division.

DF: So, promoted to the second division next season?

M: Yes, next year, yes

DF: Congratulations. Now this season, as I said, there are only two games remaining at the top of the Brazilian Championship. First of all can you tell me which of the three teams still have a chance of winning the league?

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

The champions being crowned in MLS, great results for Barca and Spurs, a dismal run for the Italian champions, headbutts and biting all make it to our review of the football news around the world. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post.

The Good

A great week for Colorado as they win the MLS Cup after beating Dallas last weekend, a good week too for Barcelona as they first hit 8 goals against a hapless Almeria side and then 3 more in an away victory at Panathanaikos in the Champions League. But time for a bit of favouritism on languagecaster as my team Tottenham finally beat their arch-rivals Arsenal at The Emirates – the first time in 17 years we have won away – and we did it in style after coming from two goals down at half-time. Spurs followed this up with a 3-0 defeat of Werder Bremen in the Champions League to progress to the knockout stages with a game to spare. Very good indeed. continue

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On this week’s predictions we turn our eyes to Brazil and the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, as well as El Clásico in La Liga. Languagecaster’s Damian and Damon will also be hoping they have bragging rights next week as their teams – Spurs and Liverpool – clash in the Premier League. There’s a relegation six pointer and a big match up in Serie A too. All of these matches feature on this week’s languagecaster.com podcast.Check out some language used in making predictions here

Current Score: DB 52 | DF 55 | Guest 46

	DB	DF	Guest	Result
Corinthians v Vasco da Gama	2-1 (1)	1-1	0-0	2-0
Palmeiras v Fluminense	0-2 (1)	0-1 (1)	2-0	1-2
Barcelona v Madrid	1-2	2-1 (1)	4-0 (1)	5-0
Tottenham v Liverpool	2-1 (3)	1-1	0-0	2-1
West Ham v Wigan	1-1	1-0 (1)	3-0 (1)	3-1
Sampdoria v AC Milan	0-1	0-0 (1)	0-0	1-1

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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliché for learners of English who love the sport. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that. You can find many more examples by going to our football phrase page here football clichés here and our huge football glossary here.

To lose the plot | See the complete list here

Transcript

This week’s English for football is ‘to lose the plot‘. A plot is the main events of a story, it explains what will happen. It can also refer to a secret plan. To lose the plot means to do something unexpected, unplanned, and a little bit crazy. The actions are strange and indicate that the person is not rational, not thinking clearly. Joey Barton, an English footballer playing for Newcastle is an example of someone who lost the plot. Over the past few years, he has been in trouble with the police for a violent attack, and in trouble on the field several times for dangerous tackles and violent conduct. Recently, however, he has been playing well and sensibly – until early this month in a game against Blackburn he punched an opposing player in the stomach off the ball. He has been banned for three games and he definitely lost the plot in that match.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On this week’s podcast we interview three football fans, James, Hans and Dave, and ask them which teams they believe will finish at the top and the bottom of the Premier League. Remember on this week’s show you can also:

Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript and vocabulary

Check out a new football expression in English for Football

Learners of English can review the footballing news from around the world in our good, the bad and the ugly section of the show

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

A page with all our Football vocabulary posts

Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases)

Worksheets and transcripts from previous podcasts

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking here

continue

Joey, Nani and Cristiano all feature in the Good the Bad and Ugly review section of the show, while we also try to predict who will be crowned MLS Champions, which teams will come out on top in some big Champions League games, which team from north London, Aresenal or Tottenham will have bragging rights in one of the biggest derbies in England and more in our weekly predictions . For more football news come to our site, read the posts, listen to our main reports and check out our links section.
________________________________________

FEATURED POSTS

Download the latest podcast here

Read our fabulous Glossary of footballing phrases

Listen to something from our back catalogue: 5 Questions about football derbies

Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon
________________________________________

PREDICTION

This week’s featured match sees Arsenal take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. Below is Damon and Damian’s (remember, he’s a Tottenham fan!) predictions – what do you think?

Damian: 1-3 | Damon : 2-1

Check the rest of this week’s predictions here

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FOOTBALL EXPRESSION

This week’s English for football phrase is to fear a backlash which means to be provoked into a reaction after something strange or surprising has taken place. So after their shock defeat at home against Sunderland, the reigning champions Chelsea are hoping to bounce back against Birmingham next weekend. Indeed, the Birmingham side fear a backlash as the wounded Chelsea look to demonstrate to their rivals that last weekend’s game was only a blip. To fear a backlash

Click here for more football cliches and football phrases.
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This week’s QUIZ QUESTION:

Which English team was the first to win a European trophy?

a. Arsenal
b. Manchester United
c. Liverpool
d. Tottenham

Answer next week.

The answer to last week’s question, ‘Who has won more derby matches, Inter Milan or AC Milan,’ was Internationale, who have won 64 times compared to AC Milan’s 60 victories.
________________________________________

Come along to our online shop and browse books and DVDs related to football and English language teaching and learning.

________________________________________
Check out the site for the latest polls – at www.languagecaster.com | Click here admin@languagecaster.com if you want to have your say on our weekly podcast. You can also follow us at Twitter

For all students of the beautiful game

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A busy week of international sees some good and bad news for Portuguese football stars and Joey Barton makes it to our ugly section again. Good to have him back! These stories all feature this week in languagecaster’s review of the footballing news from around the world. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post.

The Good

Well, we all know that international friendlies are a waste of time – at least that’s what England manager Fabio Capello and Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni might be saying after England and Ireland were both beaten 1-2 at home (by France and Norway respectively). But for one country this international week was a very good one indeed. Portugal thrashed Spain – a full-strength Spain – 4-0 in Lisbon on Wednesday night to record their third victory in a row under new manager Paolo Bento and claim some form of revenge for their World Cup defeat to their Iberian neighbours in South Africa in the summer. Martins scored the first, then former Spurs player Helder Postiga scored twice before Almeida netted the fourth to give Spain their second four-goal defeat in two months. It may have only been a friendly but try telling that to the Portuguese fans. continue