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Each week the languagecaster team will explain a football phrase or cliche for learners of English who love the sport. On this week’s show we introduce the phrase ‘a sweet strike’. Click on the link below to learn about the word or phrase, while you can also read the transcript. 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: A sweet strike

This week’s football phrase is a sweet strike. To strike is a verb, which means to hit, and in football to kick or to shoot, and in this phrase strike is used as a noun. The adjective sweet means very good, beautiful or great, and often is used when the player hits the ball in the perfect place. In combination, a sweet strike means a fantastic shot, perhaps a volley that is beautifully timed, an unstoppable piledriver, or a great free kick. The phrase can also be used with strike as a verb, as in, he struck the ball sweetly. This weekend, Gareth Bale scored a goal against Manchester City with a sweet strike on the edge of the area, but it wasn’t enough to stop his side, Spurs, from losing. A sweet strike.