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Welcome back to the new season of football language podcasts from Languagecaster – this is our 11th year. This weekend sees the start of some of the European football leagues, the Community Shield in England and of course the final of the Women’s European Championship in the Netherlands and we’ll be looking ahead to those games in this week’s show. We’ll also be explaining some football words and phrases – the verb to fancy, the phrase financial fair play and the nickname the Lionesses – asking a quiz question and of course talking about our predictions for the big games from this weekend. There is also a transcript for those who wish to practise their reading and listening skills (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Football Language Podcast: 2017 Women’s European Championship Final
Transcript of the show
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone and welcome back to a new season – our 11th – of football-language podcasts for all those who love the beautiful game. My name’s Damian and I’m here in London where the weather is bright and sunny. Hello Damon, how are things there in Tokyo?
DB: Hot, Damian. Very hot indeed, but it’s good to have the season to look forward to. Very exciting indeed! How are things over in London?
DF: Well, the mood here in east London is one of shock and anticipation. Shock as Usain Bolt was defeated last night in the final of the 100 metres at the World Athletics Championships taking place here in Stratford.
DB: And anticipation?
DF: Well, the 2017-18 football season is almost here and fans up and down the country are hoping that their team can do better than last year. I wonder whether that will be the case for our teams Damon? What do you think of Liverpool’s chances this season?
DB: There’s no reason they can’t do well. I like their their new signing Salah, but maybe they lack a little bit in defence, so I’m guessing a 4th or 5th place finish. And what do you feel about Tottenham now they are an established top four side?
DF: Well, regular fans of the podcast will know that I am always a little pessimistic about Spurs’ chances and with the team playing their home games at Wembley Stadium this season and no signings having been made yet I don’t think there is any change there. I would be happy with a top four finish but I am also hopeful – there’s that word again – that they could spring a huge surprise and win the title for the first time in over 50 years.
DB: Yes, it’ll be interesting to see if Spurs can turn Wembley into a fortress, which was what White Hart Lane was last season. Now, what’s on the rest of the show today?
Line up
DF: Well, we will start with a review of some of the football stories from the week in the good, the bad and the ugly. Then we will have a quiz question connected to the 2017 Women’s European Championship Final followed by some of our listeners’ posts and questions. We then explain some football-language phrases from the week, includingA the verb to fancy, the phrase financial fair play and the nickname the Lionesses and then look ahead to some of the big games taking place over the weekend, including that final from Holland and the traditional season opener in England: the Community Shield game between London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea. Remember, we have a transcript for the show which you can find by coming along to languagecaster.com and of course don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast,A so you won’t miss any of the shows throughout the season.
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that was in German. Right, what was good from the world of football this week?
Good
DF: I suppose we have to say that it was a good week for Paris Saint-Germain as they stunned world football by signing Brazilian star Neymar Jr from Barcelona for a transfer record fee ofA a‚¬222m or about A£200m. That figure is more than double the previous highest transfer fee – Manchester United spent A£90 million on Paul Pogba last season – and has raised the profile of the Paris club to a new level. PSG, who started their Ligue 1 campaign with an easy 2-0 victory over Amiens, have also seen their main challengers Monaco lose many of its top stars so a good week for the French club indeed.
Damon, anything else that was good from the week?
DB: Well, the Lionesses, the English women’s national team, may have been beaten by the hosts Holland in the semi-final of the 2017 European Championship during the week but they managed to draw over 4 million viewers on British TV – the biggest ever TV audience for a women’s football match in the UK. The game is growing here in the UK.
DF: Yes, I was one of those 4 million viewers and it was a brave attempt by the Lionesses, but in the end they were well beaten by the Dutch side. Damon, anything bad from the world of football caught your eye this week?
Bad
DB: Well the flipside of your good story for PSG is the crazy amount of money it involved. That eye-watering transfer fee for Neymar paid by PSG, or the Qatari government, who back the team, is just crazy and makes financial fair play, which we’ll talk about later, look ridiculous. It also is a step closer to when players are bigger than clubs, which can only be bad for the heart of football, which is based on local fans supporting their local team – now the focus seems more on the money and the players than on the team and its traditions. Bad for the Catalan side (Barcelona), too, who may feel they are falling further behind their La Liga rivals Real Madrid.
How about ugly?
Positive
DF: Well, we normally have a story about something negative here, but as it’s our first show of the 2017/18 season, I thought I’d go with something positive, so this week we have the good, the bad and the positive. Hats off to Juan Mata of Manchester United, who has promised 1% of his wages to go to charity. This is part of an initiative called Common Goal, and Mata will donate his 1% to a charity calledA streetfootballworld, which uses football as a way to help struggling communities around the world. And Mata is also trying to get other footballers involved and to also pledge 1% of their salaries. I think we can all agree this is a very positive step. Well done Juan Mata!
DB: Yes. Brilliant stuff – footballer in good story about money! Wow! Next up we have this week’s quiz question.
Quiz question
DF: OK, this week’s question is connected to the Women’s European Championship taking place in the Netherlands. We want to know which country has won the most titles? We’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
Follow us
DF: OK, we’d just like to remind people to get in touch with us and spread the word if you like our show and our site.
DB: Yes, it is always great to hear from our listeners and you can of course email us directly at admin@languagecaster.com and you can follow us on all the usual places, that’s twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We’d like to say hi to Sand4ra who tweeted us a question about the word ‘dispossessed‘. Well, when a player is dispossessed it means that he or she has lost the ball – they have lost possession. Sand4ra also asks about the word ‘campaign‘ and sends in the following example:
Nottingham Forest began their campaign with a win over Millwall
Well, campaign refers to the season: e.g. Spurs are hoping to start their campaign with a win. Now, war references like campaign, battle, attack, defend, to marshall the defence and shoot are common in football. Can you think of any others? Let us know by coming along to our website, or forum or dropping us a line or sending us a tweet or a message on Facebook.
DB: Damian, what football language have you come across this week?
Football Language: Lionesses
DF: Well, I am going to start with a football nickname. Many national football sides have a nickname a€“ the Azzurri is the Italian teama€™s nickname, the Japana€™s womena€™s team is known as Nadeshiko, the English mena€™s national team are known as the Three Lions, while the English womena€™s team are known as the Lionesses a€“ the female form of the animal lion. So, for example: The Lionesses were beaten by the hosts Holland in the semi-final of the Womena€™s European Championship. Do you know any other nicknames for women’s football teams Damon?
DB: I know that the Australian women’s side are the Matildas and they recently beat Nadeshiko Japan – nadeshiko is a type of flower but also roughly translates as ‘ideal woman’.
DF: Good one! Any other language from the week?
Football Language: Financial Fair Play
DB: Well, as we mentioned earlier, this week Brazilian star Neymar moved from Barcelona to French side Paris Saint-Germain for a new world transfer record of a‚¬222m, more than double the previous highest transfer fee, which raised questions about the idea of financial fair play. This is an initiative set up by UEFA a€“ the European football body a€“ to a€˜a€¦improv(e) the overall financial health of European club football.a€™ In simple terms this means that a club is not allowed to spend much more than it earns and if it does then UEFA will decide on a punishment a€“ maybe a warning, a fine, a deduction in points or maybe limiting the number of players allowed to be registered in a competition. Simply, it tries to ensure that bigger clubs do not spend more than smaller clubs. However, there are ways around this UEFA initiative meaning clubs can still spend more than it makes when buying players which makes FFP a€“ Financial Fair Play a€“ a fairly weak deterrent.
Football Language: To fancy
DF: Yes, I don’t think UEFA will be punishing PSG somehow. Now I’m going to focus on the verb ‘to fancy‘. To fancy someone of something means to like someone or something; if you say you fancy someone, it means you are attracted to them. In football, we use this phrase to talk about which team we think will win a competition (it isna€™t often used to talk about one game). At the beginning of the football season, pundits and fans talk about who they think will win the league, who they fancy to win the league. It can also be used to talk about one-on-one battles: Player A fancies her chances against Player B. This means she thinks she can get past or do better than her opponent. So, for example Deli Alli, the Spurs player, was recently quoted onA Goal.com 2016 saying: a€œWe know how good we are as a team and we fancy ourselves against anyonea€.
Predictions: The 2017 Women’s European Championship Final
DB: Next up we have our predictions battle in which Damian and myself will try and predict some of the big games from the weekend. Next week will see us begin our regular weekly Premier League predictions but this week we focus on the women’s 2017 Euro final and the Community Shield in England.
The Netherlands v Denmark
DF: I am going to start with hosts Holland taking on Denmark in the Euro final. I saw the Dutch side outsmart England in the semi-final I feel the home support and the fact that they are undefeated in the tournament means that they will win their first ever international trophy. Maybe 3-1 to the home side. Damon?
DB: Denmark have beaten Germany on their way to the final – not many sides have done that, but this is their first tournament and I think home advantage will be a big factor as you said – 2-0.
Community Shield: Chelsea v Arsenal
DF: The Community Shield is the traditional opening game of the season and usually sees the previous season’s FA Cup and League title winners facing off against each other. So in a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final we have a London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea. Damon, what do you think? Who do you fancy?
DB: Well I fancy Arsenal. This game is pretty hard to predict as we don’t know how seriously the teams will take it, as they have an eye on the opening league fixtures, but I’ve got a feeling Arsenal may just pull off a surprise and beat the champions. 2-1 to the Gunners.
DF: I’m hoping for a 0-0 draw with lots of red cards! Now Damon, we also have a new predictions competition to talk about.
2017-18 Predictions Battle
DB: Yes. Just like last year we are going to only focus on the Premier League with listeners to the show also being able to participate in our predictions battle. Simply come along to our site at languagecaster.com, sign in (for free) to the 2017-18 predictions competition – you can see that at the top of the menu bar on our site – and make your choices. Do you think you can beat either Damian or myself?
DF: Now, it’s three points for a correct score and one point for the right result so, let’s say that Liverpool beat Watford 2-0 next week and Damon, you have put the Reds down to win 3-0 then you would score 1 point. Of course, if you had guessed 2-0 to Liverpool then that would mean three points for you.
Fantasy football
DB: Now, we also have a fantasy football league that you can join – our third. Go along to the Premier League Fantasy Football site and sign in to the languagecaster league by using the code 1363855-327167. Last season Brendan Rovers was the champion – our second ever winner – so we are all out to try and topple him. Have you picked your team yet Damian?
DF: Not yet but I am going to try and keep it Tottenham focused!
Quiz Answer
DB: OK, let’s return to the quiz question we asked earlier – we wanted to know which country has won the most Women’s European Championship titles and the answer is of course Germany with eight wins followed by Norway with two. Well done if you got that right and we’ll have another question for you in next week’s podcast.
Good bye
DF: Right. That’s it for this week’s podcast – drop us a line and let us know what you think of the show.A Don’t forget to submit your predictions for the month of August and to enter a team in our Fantasy Football Competition.
DB: Yep, enjoy all of the football this week and see you next week for the first week of the 2017-18 Premier League season. Ta-ra!
DF: See you soon. Bye bye.
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here
If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
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