This post explains the football phraseA ‘underestimate a side‘. If you have questions or comments, please email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
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Football Language:A To underestimate a side
To underestimate a side: Now, the verb ‘estimate’ means to make a guess at something; to make an approximate calculation of something but to underestimate means that your guess is lower than it should be, maybe because you have failed to take into account many things. In football, when a bigger, more powerful side take on a team from a lower division they may become over-confident and fail to prepare for the challenge in the right way and this is the meaning of underestimate the challenge and this can mean a surprise win or a shock. So, for example, in the third round of this season’s FA Cup, Premier League side Fulham probably thought they could easily defeat League Two side Oldham, especially at home, but the lower-ranked side shocked their Premier League rivals and won 2-1. Fulham probably underestimated the League Two side.
Example: Valverde warns Barcelona not to underestimate Sevilla (Belfast Telegraph January 22nd 2019)
Example: Croatia were underestimated by English pundits – Luka Modric (BBC July 12th 2018)
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