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In this football language podcast we look back at one the contenders for goal of the tournament by the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick and in particular how it was described in the press here in the UK. You can read a transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Language Podcast: Euro 2020 Day 4 Patrik Schick’s Goal
DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian again from the Learning English Through Football team – I hope you are all doing well. This is our second football language podcast from day 4 of the Euros because we wanted to look at some of the language used to describe the second goal from the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick in their 2-0 win over hosts Scotland in Group D. The Czech striker scored his second goal in the 52nd minute with a wonderstrike from over 49 metres – a record distance at the European Championships – but how was this goal described?
Was it a chip, a lob or a dink? Remember that a chip is when a player raises or lifts the ball when the ball is on the ground whereas a lob would be to raise the ball while the ball is off the ground and a dink would be a lifted shot or pass from a shorter distance. In this case, Schick hit the ball on the ground while it was moving first time so I am not sure if we can just call it a chip – I wonder if there is another term for this goal or even if we might call it a ‘Schick goal’ in the future?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish).
We decided to look at how some of the UK press described this contender for goal of the tournament from Schick and so we’ll start with The Guardian who called it, ‘… a booming curler over the keeper’. The word ‘curler‘ describes the direction of the shot – the player curled or bent the ball over the keeper – while the word ‘booming‘ describes the power with which Schick hit the ball; a booming strike would be a really hard shot for example. The BBC described Schick’s shot as an ‘incredible halfway-line goal‘ which focuses on the distance rather than the power or accuracy but the report then goes on to say, ‘his astonishing arching shot arrowed over Marshall‘ which uses the verb ‘to arrow‘ meaning speed and accuracy while an ‘arching shot’ is one that would travel in the direction of an arch – so up and down – and this is how it went into the net over the goalkeeper Marshall.
The Independent newspaper likened it to a golf shot suggesting that it was not an accidental shot or a fluke: ‘Patrik Schicka€™s carefully planned a€˜golf shota€™ joins list of immortal goals‘, while the Daily Mirror also used some golfing terminology with the verb ‘loft‘ which means to raise or to chip the ball: ‘He lofted a beautiful curling effort first time which soared over the despairing Marshall’s head and into the net‘. Here the writer uses the noun ‘effort‘ (or attempt) for the shot or strike and uses beautiful and curling to describe it. They go on to say that the ball ‘soared over‘ the keeper which meant that it flew – and continued to fly – over the despairing keeper which means that the keeper had no hope at all. Finally, on the BBC Scotland website there were some quotes from former internationals with one describing it like this: ‘He’s shaped it outside the post, and brought it back underneath the crossbar beyond David Marshall‘. Here he means that Schick has hit the ball in such a way that it looks like it is going wide of the post (so shaped it outside the post) but then it comes back (curve or bend it) and entered the goal just below the crossbar.
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Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish).
Good Bye
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com – that message was in Polish. It would be lovely if we received some more languages from our listeners, particularly from some of the other Euro 2020 teams – we think we have 11 now – so if you fancy sharing a recording in your own language that send it on to us via admin@languagecaster.com. Simply record the phrase ‘you are listening to languagecaster.com’ in your or indeed any other language. Thank you. Don’t forget that there’s a transcript to this podcast and lots of vocabulary support which you can access by coming along to our site. Remember that you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or you can drop us a line at: admin@languagecaster.com.
OK, that’s it for this short podcast and we hope you enjoyed our look at some of the words that the UK press used to describe the wonderful Patrick Schick goal – arched, curved, curled, soared and booming. Maybe you can let us know how this goal was described in other languages? Don’t forget you can also come along and play in our predictions competition, vote in our Euro 2020 poll and find lots of football language on our site at languagecaster.com. Enjoy all the football and we’ll see you again soon. Bye bye.
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Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
