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It’s been anotherA great week of football and we now know who will be competing in the semi-finals of the Champions league, while the race for the top four spots in the Premier League is still on the boil. Teams have securedA promotion, while othersA are still fighting relegation.A Stories from this week’s football feature on the show, so click on the audio below and enjoy! Of course you can read the transcript in our post below (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Languagecaster Football Podcast: 2017 Manchester Derby
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Transcript of the show
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone, my name is DamianA and I’m here in a grey but dry London and of course we are looking forward to a huge weekend – actually a week of football fixtures as there are games on every day from Saturday until Thursday this week: The FA Cup semi-finals, el clasico, the Old Firm derby, and huge games at the top and bottom of the Premier League, including a Manchester derby. Now, down the line should be Damon in Tokyo. Damon, how are you doing?
DB: Hello Damian, I’m well, despite the grey skies today in Tokyo. I hope you’re well and enjoying the football. What did you think of the Champions League semi-final draw?
DF: Well, in some sense I wanted Atlético to avoid Real but I suppose it’s another chance for Simeone’s men to gain some kind of revenge for two recent final defeats against their city rivals. Juventus must be favourites for the other semi-final against Monaco though I have seen a lot of the French side recently and they score goals – Kylian Mbappe, what a player!
DB: Yes.
DF: Now, what’s on the show this week, Damon?
Line up
DB: Well we’ve got our usual line-up with some of the key events in the footballing news, a couple of football for language phrases – to bow out and on the beach – and some predictions at the end of the show, with theA Manchester derby on Thursday being the big one!
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that was, of course, in Spanish.A So, sendA your ‘you are listening to languagecaster.com’ in your language to admin@languagecaster.com.
DB: Right, let’s kick off withA the good, the bad and the ugly; what was good this week?
Good
DF:A Well Damon, it has been good for teams on the south coast of England this week, as Brighton and Hove Albion, Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth all won promotion. Brighton, also knownA as the Seagulls, will be in the Premier League next season, while Plymouth, from Devon, and Portsmouth have been promoted from the fourth tier, League 2, to the third tier, League 1. Of course, in the Premier League we also have Southampton and Bournemouth, two otherA south coast sides. It looks like the traditional powerhouses of football, the north-west and London may have to watch out asA the south coast gets more teams in the top divisions! How about bad, Damon?
Bad
DB:A Yes, good stuff from the the south coast of England. Well, bad has to be the attack on Lyon’s playersA by fans of Corsican club, Bastia lastA week. Pitch invasions by fans are fairly common, and sometimes you may have one fan trying to run on the pitch and confront a player, but the scenes at Bastia’s home ground were a different level. The Lyon team had already been threatened while warming up and then twice during the game their players were attacked by a large group of Bastia supporters, and, it is alleged, club stewards and staff. Surely the Corsican team will be banned and kicked out of the league.
Sad
DF: Yes, pretty bad stuff there from the French League. Well, I am going to talk a little about an incredibly sad story that happened at the Tottenham training ground yesterday as one of the club’s coaches, that’s 44-year old Ugo Ehiogu suffered a cardiac arrest, a heart attack, and died on Friday morning. Now, Ehiogu had had a distinguished career as a top-flight player at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough while he was also capped for England on four occasions. Very sad indeed.
Follow us
DF: Now, remember @languagecaster A is our twitter handle, A Learning English Through Football is where you can find us on Facebook, and you can sometimes see us posting various football-related snaps on our Instagram account. We welcome any messages, likes, retweets and follows, so spread the word!
DB: Yes, get in touch with any football related questions or language. We had a great suggestion from our Brazilian friend, Jose, who suggested theA phrase ‘cut-inside man‘ to describe a player likeA Arjen Robben. Great call, Jose. I reckon Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho is a cut-inside man, although from the left to right! How about in Tottenham’s team, Damian. Is there a cut-inside man?
DF:A Not really in this current team though Gareth Bale did play for us a few seasons ago and he used to play on the right so he could cut inside onto his left – often with wonderful results!
DB: Now Damian, what football language have you come across this week? What’s our first football-language phrase this week?
Football Language: ToA bow out
DF: Well, Damon, I’m going to talk about ‘to bow out’. The expression a€˜to bow out of a competitiona€˜ is used to describe when a team loses in a cup competition, that is, they are knocked out and it suggests that the team were beaten without really getting close to winning. It has a slightly different meaning to the phrase dumped out of a competition which suggests that a team was surprisingly beaten a€“ maybe by an underdog. Sometimes you will the hear the phrase being used along with the name of the competition (bowed out of) or even the round (bowed out at). So, for example, Leicester City bowed out atA the quarter-final stage of the Champions League or Leicester City bowed out of the Champions League.
DF: What other football language have you come across this week Damon?
Football Language: On the beach
DB: OK,A I thought I’d talk about ‘on the beach‘, which is almost a cliche now.A And as we enter the business end of the football season in Europe, you may hear this kind of comment:A a€˜They are already on the beacha€˜. Now, being on the beach means to be on vacation, so when we describe a team as being on the beach, we mean they have stopped working and are thinking about being on holiday. A team that is said to be on theA beach, usually hasA nothing to play for a€“ they will not get relegated, they are out of any cup competitions, and they cana€™t qualify for a tournament next season. These teams are seen as easy to play, as they are unlikely to try hard. You can also say, on the plane to mean the same thing a€“ they are already on the plane. Damian, which teams in the Premier League would you say are on the beach?
DF: I suppose teams that are safe from relegation and that cannot really go much higher in the league, so teams like Stoke City, West Brom and Watford.
Quiz question
DF: Now, this weekend sees the FA Cup semi-finals taking place with Spurs facing Chelsea today and… very nervous… Arsenal taking on Manchester City tomorrow (Come on City) – two mouthwatering ties that are both being played at Wembley Stadium. This week’s question is related to the FA Cup and we want to know which two sides have won the most English FA Cup final titles? We’ll have the answer at the end of the show. So, which teams have won the most FA Cups?
Predictions
DB: Hmmm, I think I know this one. Now, next up it’s predictions!
DB: Yes you are listening to languagecaster.com and that was in French. And remember you can join our predictions and play in our monthly league by coming along to the site, languagecaster.com, and at the top of the page you can see predictions competition – click, sign up or login for free and enter your predictions. Now, the scores between myself and DamianA at the moment are Damian in the lead 218 and myself on 186. But for the month we have Alexxr stillA in front on 20, me on 15 and you, Damian, on 10.
HullA vsA Watford
DF: Right, Damon we have three games as usual and we’re going to start with a must-win game for Hull who are trying to climb out of the relegation zone to safety. They take on Watford, who could be on the beach , as they are safeA in 10th place.
DB:A Yes, I think Watford will be on the beach and Hull will continue their great home form. A home win 1-0.
DF: Yes, I think Hull City will win too – 3-1 – will it be enough to keep them up I wonder?
LiverpoolA vsA Crystal Palace
DB: Now,A Liverpool v Crystal Palace is anotherA potential banana skin for the Reds. I’m always nervous when they place Palace, especially as the south London side have been in good form recently. But I’m going for a 2-0 home win, whichA would really put the pressure on Manchester City and United whoA are chasing Liverpool for the third spot. You?
DF: Yes, Crystal Palace have found some form in recent weeks though they are still nervously looking over their shoulder at the relegation battle. I think Liverpool will be too strong for the Eagles and will win … 3-1.
DB: Hopefully…
Man City vsA Man United
DF: Yes. Now, the last game is ManA City versus Man United, 4th against 5th and of course a derby. Manchester United have been unbeaten this calendar year and City seem to have found their mojo again. What do you think?
DB: Well, I’m hoping for a draw and I think these two teams are just about evenly matched at the moment, so 1-1.
DF: Yes, both teams are playing well but with Manchester United progressing to the Europa League semi-final and also having an injury crisis I think City might edge this one: 2-1 to Manchester City.
DB: Now, this isn’t in our predictions competition, but what about the Chelsea v Tottenham FA Cup semi-final Damian?
DF: I am a little worried, as I said before, about this one as I think Chelsea will have to react after a poor performance last weekend. It will be close, it may even be nasty but I am going for a 1-1 draw and extra time and… hopefully a win for Spurs. You?
DB: I’ve got a feeling this could be one of those classic FA Cup encounters and I’m hoping for lots of goals and I’m actually hoping for your team Spurs to win this one and I think they will: 3-2.
DF: Sounds good, sounds good. Now, if anyone would like to come on the show to talk about some football language or take part in our predictions then drop us a line here at admin@languagecaster.com.
Quiz Answer
DB: And before we go, let’s revisit theA quiz question we asked earlier. We asked which two teams have won the most FA Cup titles. Damian?
DF: Well, this is painful for both of us as Arsenal and Manchester United – that’s our teams’ main rivals – both have 12 wins in the competition although Tottenham have 8 and Liverpool 7.
DB:A Great stuff and we’ll have another quiz question next week.
Good bye
DB: And that’s just about it for this week, enjoy all the football this week, including the FA Cup semi finals! Ta-rah!
DF: See you next week. Bye bye.
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here
If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
