Archive for September, 2011

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Each week the languagecaster team will 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, while you can also read the transcript below that. You can also find many more examples by going to our football phrase page here football cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

Listen here: be ruled out.mp3

This week’s English for football phrase is ‘to spare their blushes‘. To blush is when your face turns red because you are embarrassed – perhaps you have made a mistake or people are laughing at you. To spare means to save from, to forgive. So, in football, the phrase to spare their blushes is used often when a team that is favourites to win a game against a smaller, less fancied side, avoids defeat. Perhaps they are losing, but in the final minutes they get an equalising goal. This happened this week, when Manchester United played Swiss side Basle at home. The Red Devils were losing 3-2 but in the 90th minute they scored an equaliser to spare their blushes.

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On this week’s main report, Hans, our German correspondent spotlights Bayern Munich, a team that has had a fantastic start to the season in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. This report has a transcript below and 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. There is also a worksheet with answers.

Most people associate the Bundesliga with Bayern Muenchen. There are other big teams, including champions Dortmund, Hamburg and Schalke, but it is the team from the southern state of Bavaria that is best known.

This is probably because Bayern have been the most successful team, winning every possible trophy in their long history, including the European Cup, or Champions league four times and 22 Bundesliga titles.

So naturally every season eyes turn to the south to see how they will perform, and in 2011/2012 the word that describes their current form is “unbelievable”. Bayern have been simply unstoppable in recent weeks. Since their only loss in the first round, they have gone undefeated in 6 games, scoring 21 goals whilst not conceding a single goal, and added to this they have won both their champions league games without conceding. continue

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On this week’s predictions, in England some big derbies, a reminder that the FA Cup is under way, and top games from Serie A and the Bundesliga. You can listen to Damon and Damian discussing their predictions on this week’s show. Check out some language used in making predictions here. This week’s guest predictor is Mika from Japan.

Current Score: DB 35 | DF 32 | Guest 22

If you would like to be a guest predictor for a week, let us know here

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In the seventh podcast of season 6, we take a look at La Liga and which teams will struggle for survival and which teams will be fighting for the title and a Champions League spot. Remember, 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

 Print This Post | Subscribe: Weekly Football Phrase

Each week the languagecaster team will 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, while you can also read the transcript below that. You can also find many more examples by going to our football phrase page here football cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

Listen here: be ruled out.mp3

This week’s English for football phrase is to be ruled out. To be ruled out means to be prevented, to be stopped from doing something. This phrase is often used in football when a player is injured and a team decides they cannot play. In this situation, they say the player is ruled out from playing.  This week, the Premier League team Arsenal have announced that Jack Wiltshire will be ruled out for months because he has injured his ankle and needs an operation.

To be ruled out

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This week’s main report takes a look at this season’s Spanish League: La Liga 2011-12. This report has a transcript below and 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. There is also a worksheet with answers.

Worksheet: La Liga 2011-12

Introduction

When Sevilla’s president Jose Maria Del Nido recently claimed that La Liga was “…not just the biggest joke in Europe, but in the world. It is a third-world league in which two clubs take the others’ television money,” many found it hard to disagree with him. After all no other club apart from the ‘Big Two‘ have won the league in the past seven seasons with Barcelona winning five of those titles. To underline their dominance the current holders of both the Spanish and European titles, Barcelona then went out and bought one of the most coveted players in Europe – Alexis Sanchez – as well as Cesc Fabregas. Del Nido’s claim may be a little exaggerated but when both Barca and Real hammered their opponents on day one of the league few saw any other challengers for La Liga’s crown this season. But things may be changing and this year’s title race may be one of the most exciting in recent times. continue

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On this week’s predictions we feature games from Spain’s La Liga, as well as some of the big Champions League matches taking place next week. You can listen to Damon and Damian discussing these games on this week’s show. Check out some language used in making predictions here.This week, our guest predictor is John, a Brighton and Hove Albion fan

Current Score: DB 30 | DF 20 | Guest 17

If you would like to be a guest predictor for a week, let us know here

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In this week’s review section, we look at stories from some of the biggest clubs in Europe: Man United, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below, or highlighted in blue.

Good

It has been a very good week for European powerhouses Manchester United and Bayern Munich as both moved clear at the top of their respective domestic leagues. United beat title rivals Chelsea 3-1 to record their fifth straight win and this victory sees them move two points ahead of Manchester City. United have now scored 21 league goals, which is a Premier League record for the first five games of a season, and already their striker Wayne Rooney has hit nine of those. Amazing stuff indeed from the Red Devils. Meanwhile in Germany Bayern Munich won their eighth consecutive match after defeating Schalke 0-2 away from home with coach Heynkes claiming it was their best second half of the season so far. The Bavarian side have only conceded one league goal and managed to score 18 and all this while Robben and Gomes sit on the sidelines. Would anyone bet against a United-Bayern double this season?
continue

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What has been the best ever side to represent your favourite club? In the sixth podcast of season 6, the team at languagecaster.com takes a look at Tottenham’s best ever side – the 1961 Double-winning side. Remember, 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Who is the greatest player to have played for your favourite team? What was your greatest moment as a fan? These and other similar questions are often asked by football supporters all over the world and so on this week’s main report we ask what has been the best ever side in your favourite club’s history with Damian focusing on the Spurs team from 1961-63. This report has a transcript below and 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.

Introduction

As many of you will know I am a Spurs fan and though we are regarded as a relatively big club that has won many honours both domestically and overseas, I have never seen my team win the English league title. Indeed, Tottenham have only won the English league title on two occasions: in 1951 and in 1961 when they went on to become the first team to win the double in the 20th century. The UEFA Cup winning teams from 1972 and 1984 have rightly gone down in Spurs’ history, while the club’s 8 FA Cup titles sees them in third place overall on the winners list. Spurs have also had a host of wonderful players down the years: Gascoigne, Lineker, Klinsmann, Ardiles, Villa, Jennings, Hoddle, Archibald and Waddle but none of these ever played on a title-winning team and so for this reason it has to be said that the best ever team to represent the club is the 1961-63 side.

The 1961 Double

Managed by the wonderfully astute Bill Nicholson, the team won its first eleven league matches – an unprecedented feat – and went on to score over 100 goals to win the league by 8 points from second place Sheffield Wednesday. David Goldblatt in his book, The Ball is Round, noted that Nicholson ‘insisted on a game built on possession and position, thinking spatially, and short accurate fast passing’ – a style that is similar to that of the present day Barcelona! Tottenham had a wealth of talent in their team: a strong defence that included Scottish international Bill Brown in goal and England defenders Norman and Baker, while in midfield another Scot Dave Mackay combined with Irishman and captain Danny Blanchflower to dominate opposing teams with their power and intelligence. Up front the pace and trickery of Welsh wizard Cliff Jones complemented the power of England’s centre forward at the time Bobby Smith. continue