‘To drill’: In this football language post, we focus on one goal in the game between England and Northern Ireland at the Women’s Euro 2022. Read the transcript for this post below, and 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.
(to) drill
England met Northern Ireland in their last group stage game in the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament. The match ended with England comfortable winners 5-0. That means the Lionesses have scored 14 with no goals conceded in three games.
The football language we are looking at is ‘to drill’, and it was used by the BBC to describe England’s second goal, scored by Mead, just before half time.
“Chelsea’s Fran Kirby produced a piece of magic to break the deadlock when she expertly curled the ball into the top corner, before Mead precisely drilled in a low strike to make it 2-0 before half-time.”
To drill a shot is to hit the ball hard and straight, and usually low. It describes a very accurate, powerful shot. Notice the verb is used with an object. In the BBC report Mead drills a low strike and scores. To indicate that she has scored we add the preposition ‘in‘ – to drill in a low strike. In means in the goal.
We can see in the same report ‘in’ being used to describe other goals: ‘Russo came off the bench to score for the second consecutive game, nodding in Mead’s chipped cross, before spinning away and slotting in a second goal in five minutes.
So, with drill, we describe a hard, low, accurate shot. We need an object and can use nouns like a shot, a strike, the ball, and so on. It can also be used to describe a cross, to drillA a cross into the box, for example.
Related Vocabulary
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