Archive for May, 2011

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It’s our last podcast of the 2010-11 season, but we’ll be back at the end of June as we follow the Women’s World Cup and the Copa America. On this week’s show – Damon and Damian review their teams’ seasons. As always, on this week’s free pod you can also:

• Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript and vocabulary
• Learners of English can review the footballing news from around the world in our good, the bad and the ugly section of the show
• Check out a new football expression in English for Football
• 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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In our last main report of the 2010-11 season, Damon and Damian review the footballing year for their clubs – Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC – a season of two halves for one and a roller coaster ride for the other.. There is a transcript below, while explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post, while other key phrases (in blue) also have meanings explained.

Liverpool FC (Damon)

Time to revisit the the comments I made about Liverpool as they kicked off their season with a new manager but under the cloud of unwanted owners.

I said, ‘Hope is something that Liverpool fans have again after their new manager, Roy Hodgson, has introduced a new confidence.’

Well, how wrong I was! Roy Hodgson was a disaster for Liverpool. Here’s a stat: If Hodgson had remained as manager, on the form of his first 20 games Liverpool would have finished with 47 points – that’s bottom half of the Premier League. continue

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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliche 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 cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

Listen here: Leave everything on the pitch.mp3 | See the complete list here

This week at languagecaster.com we have a footballing cliche – ‘to leave everything on the pitch’. The pitch is, of course, the field the match is played on, and the ‘everything‘ in the cliche refers to all the team’s effort, all the player’s energy. When there is a very important match, especially a cup final, managers want their players to give their all, to give a 100% – or give a 110% as another cliche has it. So, to leave everything on the pitch means to try your best, give everything, so that win or lose you have no regrets. This weekend, Manchester United and Barcelona play in one of the biggest football cup finals in the world and their fans will be hoping that each player leaves everything on the pitch.

Leave everything on the pitch

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Well this is it. The final week of languagecaster’s predictions. Damian has already sown up the crown, his third, after his points haul last week. Congratulations! It’s the Champions league final, a promotion play-off worth tens of millions of pounds to the winner as they get to play in the Premier League. We also have some international friendlies. Check out some language used in making predictions here. This week’s final guest predictor is Yuli, an Iwate fan. Thanks for all our guest predictors over the season.

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The 2011 Spanish League season has ended and on this week’s main report we take a look back at some of the highs and lows of La Liga. There is a transcript below, while explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post, while other key phrases (in blue) also have meanings explained.

The Top

Barcelona won their third title in a row under inspirational manager Pep Guardiola and yet again they did it in style. They won by 4 points from arch-rivals Real Madrid despite easing off towards the end of the season. The Catalan side won more games than any other team, conceded fewer goals, won the Fair Play award in Spain and of course have the top three players in the world in Iniesta, Xavi and Lionel Messi. The Argentinian scored 51 goals in all competitions and had 18 assists in the league – undoubtedly the player of the season. Yet Messi was not the top scorer in Spain – instead the Pichichi went to Portuguese star Ronaldo who scored a record-breaking 40 league goals. His side finished second again and yet again ‘Los Blancos‘ scored more than a 100 goals but once Barcelona thrashed them 5-0 in the Camp Nou in November – ‘Una Manita‘ – they were always playing catch-up. Despite not winning the title, their coach Mourinho’s first season can be seen as somewhat of a success as he did win the Copa del Rey and took the club to the semi-final of the Champions League for the first time in nine years. The dominance of the big two in Spain continued with Valencia in third finishing 27 points behind the leaders, while they were walloped by Madrid at home 2-6. The remaining Champions League spot went to Villareal but they finished 35 points behind Barcelona – another statistic to suggest that La Liga’s two-horse race will continue next season. continue

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The 2011 Premier League season has come to an end and the winners and losers have been decided. On this week’s main report we take a look back at some of the highs and lows of the English football season. There is a transcript below, while explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post, while other key phrases (in blue) also have meanings explained.

The Top

The 2010-11 champions are of course Manchester United who eventually finished nine points clear of runners-up Chelsea to win their 19th league title – which is a record. It was United’s year despite some pundits questioning whether this team was as good as previous sides. Their away form was not the best but they managed to win all but one of their home matches – very impressive indeed. United also had the league’s joint top goalscorer in Dimitar Berbatov – he managed 20 goals but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who saw the Bulgarian as the Red Devils’ player of the season. That accolade would probably go to evergreen Ryan Giggs who won his 12th title, a fired-up Wayne Rooney, captain of the side Nemanjar Vidic or bargain of the season Javier Hernandez. ‘Chicharito‘, with his 13 league goals, was seen by many as the buy of the year although Dutch master Rafael Van de Vaart sparkled at Spurs, Luis Suarez shone at Anfield in his short time there, while the expensive Manchester City duo of David Silva and Ya Ya Toure did more than enough to justify their expensive transfer fees and salaries. continue

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It’s the business end of the season in many of the top European leagues and we feature some of the big games from the foot of the table in England, the top in France, as well as Cup finals from Scotland and Germany. Check out some language used in making predictions here. This week’s guest predictor is Joe, a West Ham fan.

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A great week for Manchester as both United and City win trophies – United win their 19th League title and City win their first silverware in 35 years – the FA Cup. However why was the final played on the same day as Premier League games? You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.

The Good

A huge weekend for the city of Manchester as their two clubs won major trophies on the same day. Manchester City have finally won their first piece of silverware for 35 years after defeating first-time finalists Stoke City 1-0 at Wembley. Mega-rich City fully deserved their win with former Barcelona star Yaya Toure scoring the winner in the second half to send the sky blue side of Manchester into raptures. Coach Roberto Mancini has now won a trophy and secured a Champions League spot for next season in only his second season and with the club expected to further bankroll the ‘project‘ it appears that City could well become a force over the next few years.

Earlier on in the day, City’s rivals Manchester United wrapped up their record-breaking 19th League title with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Welsh winger Ryan Giggs have now won 12 league titles each – that’s more than most club totals. Many pundits had written them off earlier in the season – particularly as their away form has not been the best – but under Ferguson they went unbeaten at home, scored more goals than any other team and when it was the business end of the season they showed more bottle than any of their rivals. Worthy winners.

It was also good for Scottish side Rangers as they won their 55th League title – a world record – while it was also a good weekend for Ajax as they won their first Dutch title in seven years.
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Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliche 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 cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

Listen here:To be in your own hands.mp3 | See the complete list here

This week’s English for football phrase is ‘to be in your own hands’ which means that a team is in control of their own destiny, they do not have to rely on other teams or results. Currently, in the relegation battle at the foot of the English Premier League, Blackpool can win their last game and still go down – their chance of survival is out of their hands; while if Blackburn win their last game they will stay up – their fate is still in their own hands. To be in your own hands.

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This week’s podcast has a report by our German correspondent, Hans. he takes a look at the very strange situation this weekend when Managers may want their teams to lose. As always, on this week’s free pod you can also:

• Listen only to the main report here – complete with transcript and vocabulary
• Learners of English can review the footballing news from around the world in our good, the bad and the ugly section of the show
• Check out a new football expression in English for Football
• 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