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Euro 2012 Football Phrase: A Deflection

During the Euro 2012 tournament the languagecaster team will be looking at some of the words and phrases that emerge from the competition. Today we explain the phrase ‘a deflection‘. You can understand more about the word or phrase by listening to the mp3 and reading the transcript below. You can also find many more examples by going to our football phrase page here football cliches here and our huge football glossary here.

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Listen here: A deflection.mp3

Today’s Euro 2012 football word is ‘deflection‘ which is the noun form of the the verb to deflect which in football means that the direction of the ball is randomly changed due to it hitting against something else – usually another player. It is often difficult for players, especially defenders and the goalkeeper, to react when a ball is deflected as they are not expecting this to happen. In the Euro 2012 Group B match between Germany and Portugal, Mario Gomez scored the winner after a deflected cross confused the Portuguese defenders. A deflection.

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4 comments
    • Hello Richard,

      Thank you for the question.

      I think the adjective ‘dominant‘ describes Man City rather than being linked with the verb ‘to inspire‘. Dominant means to be superior – much better – than the other team, while to inspire means to make someone do something better. So in this example, David Silva helped his side (Man City) to be better than the other side.

      I hope that helps

      Damian

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