In this post we explain the phrase ‘rollercoaster‘ when it is used in football after Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola used it to describe his side’s 6-3 win over Leicester. You can find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below and you can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here. If you have questions or comments, please email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Language: Rollercoaster
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In this year’s Boxing Day fixture between Manchester City and Leicester the Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola described the game as a rollercoaster with his side eventually winning 6-3. Now a rollercoaster is a type of fairground attraction in which people can ride in a carriage that moves up and down (sometimes quite steeply) around a rail track. We can also use this phrase to describe a situation or feeling that is rather unstable, for instance, things move one way and then another, while it can also mean that we do not know how something might end.
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In football, a rollercoaster of a game is one that moves in different directions throughout the 90 minutes; one team scores and plays well and then maybe the opposition scores and plays well which means we don’t really know how the match will end.
In Manchester City’s 6-3 win over Leicester City, the home side raced to a 4-0 lead at half-time before Leicester staged a comeback with three goals in ten second-half minutes to put them right back in the game but Man City then scored two more goals to kill off any Leicester revival. So Manchester City were comfortably winning at half time, then they became increasingly nervous in the second half, before feeling comfortable again at the end – a real rollercoaster of a Boxing Day fixture!
- Example: a€œNine goals on Boxing Day, it was a rollercoaster game,a€ Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told beIN Sports following the 6-3 win over Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium (Eurosport.co.uk, December 26 2021).
🗣 “It was a rollercoaster.” 😅
Pep Guardiola says Man City’s 6-3 win over Leicester City was an entertaining game for everyone pic.twitter.com/CDsMkoaqKQ
a€” Football Daily (@footballdaily) December 27, 2021
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