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The World Cup is a week old and if you are struggling to keep up or simply have no idea what’s going on and you need some language for those World Cup conversations, then here’s a list of 6 talking points to help you through till next week at least. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

1. Vuvuzela

If you don’t know what a vuvuzela is then you are on the wrong site. Annoying drone of angry bees or fantastically atmospheric backdrop to the tournament? There is talk of a ban but that would be hard to implement and extremely unfair to the hosts. Should it be banned? Let us know here.

2. Lack of Goals

The atmosphere is fantastic, the stadia are brilliant, Messi looks like he is up for it but where are all the goals? After the first set of matches there were a total of only 25 goals from 16 matches which makes it fewer than the Italia 90 World Cup which is long-regarded as the most boring in recent times. No one wants to lose the first game but where is the sense of adventure that teams had in Germany 2006?

3. The Ball

The Jabulani, the official World Cup football, has been called the roundest ball ever produced by Adidas. They would though. Commentators, managers and fans are suggesting that the misplaced passes, over-hit crosses, goalkeeping mistakes and the lack of decent long shots have been caused by the unpredictability of the ball. How can it be unpredictable when the ball is the roundest ball in football history? Stop complaining and get on with it, after all, it’s only a ball. continue

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This World Cup Stars post features possibly the greatest player of all time, Diego Maradona. To help you understand a little better there is a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post

TRANSCRIPT

Pele may have won more World Cup titles, Ronaldo may have scored more goals, Lothar Matthäus played more games but no one has dominated the World Cup as much as Diego Maradona. He won the trophy in 1986, scored 7 goals in 21 consecutive appearances over four tournaments from 1982 to 1994 and was never far from the centre of World Cup controversy. The sad departure in 1982, the ‘Hand of God’ and subsequent wonder goal against England in 1986, the tears in the final of 1990 and the drug scandal in 1994 have all meant that Maradona is a definite part of World Cup history. continue

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Transcript

Each era has its heroes and stars. Today’s football world is dominated by players like David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, who are role models to many young players, but I wonder how long their influence will last.

There is one player that has stood the test of time and is the greatest World Cup player of all time. Pelé appeared in four World Cups, 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970, scoring 12 goals – the third most by any player – and creating many more. It was his first and last tournaments in Sweden and Mexico respectively that cemented his reputation as a world great.

In 1958, Pelé was 17 and had been playing for Santos and Brazil for one year. No one could imagine what an impact the boy from Três Corações in the south of Brazil would have on the tournament, but by the time he had scored four goals, including a hatrick against France in the semis, on the way to reaching the final everyone knew he was special. In the final, he scored one of the goals of the century – a precise chest-down, a deliciously weighted lob over a defender, polished off with a clinical volley. Pelé scored another as Brazil overcame Sweden 5-2 He became and the youngest player to score a hatrick in a World Cup, and appear and score in a final. continue

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Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson died last weekend. In this post we take a look back at one of the most respected English managers in the game. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post to help you with comprehension. When you have read the article take the quiz on Bobby Robson’s life here.

Football has often been described as a cut-throat business with little room for sentiment or even respect. So the passing of Sir Bobby Robson, the former English national team coach, last week was sad for many reasons but mainly that amid the nastiness and back stabbing that makes up current day football, he proved that it was possible to be both a gentleman and a winner. continue

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The second tier of English football, The Championship, kicks off this week and in this post we take a look at which teams we think will be involved in the promotion race or the relegation battle. To help you understand this reading there is a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post

The English football season gets underway again this weekend with 24 teams from the Championship battling it out over the next nine months. With the Premier League often facing accusations of being boring thanks to the dominance of the top four, the Championship is always a much more open affair. Games come thick and fast and reputations often count for nothing. The league is always tight and one good run can see a team break into the play-off spots but conversely a bad run can drag you down to the relegation zone.

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It seems that America is fallng out of love with David Beckham. Read the article on the former England captain’s current troubles at his club LA Galaxy. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post to help you with comprehension.

David Beckham’s return to LA after his Italian break has not proved to be as welcoming as he might have expected. First on the attack was newly-restored Galaxy captain Landon Donovan who questioned Beckham’s commitment to the team after the former England captain extended his stay at Serie A side AC Milan at the end of last season. Next up were the New York fans who made Beckham’s first MLS appearance for nearly six months an uncomfortable one in Galaxy’s 3-1 victory last week. continue