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Learn English Through Football Podcast: The 2016-17 Manchester Derby
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Transcript of the show
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster’s football podcast. Hello my name is Damon andI’m in a hot and humid Tokyo and we’re waiting for a typhoon to arriveA tomorrow. And I’m hoping down the line is Damian all the way overA the Asian and European continents in London.
DF: Hello Damon. Good to hear from you, although I hope the typhoon doesn’t batter you too much. Now, I’m not sure how many of our listeners know about the Irish sport of hurling but I am in a reallyA good mood after the All-Ireland hurling final from last Sunday when my home county Tipperary defeated arch-rivals Kilkenny. It was aA wonderful victory indeed! Now we won’t be talking about hurling in today’s show – but what do we have this week, Damon?
Line up and Quiz
DB: First of all congratulations!What a fantastic victory for the Tip! Now, wea€™re going to start our show this week with our good, the bad and ugly section, with three news stories from the beautiful game this week. But before that, we have a quick question for our listeners: Now, as everyone knows the big game this weekend in the Premier League is the Manchester derby and so what we want to know is what were the two scores from this game last season – what was the score when City hosted United and also in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford? We’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
Good
DB: OK, let’s talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. And I7m going to start with good. Now in last week’s quiz we asked which told you that Gibraltar and Kosovo were the two sides making their debuts in World Cup qualifiers and though Gibraltar lost 1-4 to Greece the Kosovans managed a creditable draw away in Finland for their first ever World Cup point. It was also good for Saudi Arabia, Australia and Uzbekistan as they all began their World Cup campaigns in Asia with two victories out of two. In South America it was a good week for Brazil as they beat Colombia 2-1 to record their second win in 5 days to move in to second place along side Argentina and are now only a point behind leaders Uruguay.
DF: Yes, well done to those teams and also to Ireland who drew 2-2 away in Serbia in Group D to claim a valuable point and also to the minnows from the Faroe Islands who held Hungary to a draw in their group B game, while we shouldn’t forget ‘Big Sam’s’ debut as England manager when they scored in the last seconds away at Slovakia to register their first win of the new manager’s reign. How about bad Damon? What was not so good for you this week?
Bad
DB: Only 8 weeks ago Portugal were defeating hosts France in the final of the 2016 European Championship but neither side made a good start to their respective World Cup qualifying campaigns. France were held to a scoreless draw by Belarus in group A – a group that also includes Sweden, Bulgaria and Holland. Meanwhile, Portugal were defeated away in Switzerland 2-0 in group B which was a real shock for the newly-crowned champions of Europe. Two bad results for two favoured teams.
DF: Yes, it’s going to be difficult to qualify from European groups with only one team certain of making itA to Russia, so it’s going to be tough for both teams.
Ugly
DF: I might be biased here as a Spurs fan but Slovakia’s captain Martin Skrtela€™s constant fouling on England striker Harry Kane was rather ugly indeed. He received a second yellow card – eventually – after a stamp on the Tottenham forward that left his side down to ten men and which allowed England to grab that late win.
Football Language – Soft Penalty
DF: Now, next up we focus on some of the football language from the week and there was one phrase from the World Cup qualifier between Ireland and Serbia – soft penalty. As you know referees award penalties for an infringement (or a foul) in the penalty area, for example a defender may handle the ball or foul an opponent but sometimes it is not always easy to make these decisions. We use the phrase a€˜soft penaltya€˜ to describe a situation when a referee gives a penalty that should not really have been given; perhaps a player had dived or pretended to win the penalty. The opposite of soft penalty would be a stonewall penalty which is a clear penalty with no doubt attached to it. Any other language caught your eye this week, Damon?
Hexaganol
DB: Another football phrase that football fans may have come across this week is ‘Hex‘ which is short for hexaganolA and this refers to the final play-off group in the CONCACAF region for teams in north and central America. Hex refers to the number 6 – a hexagon is a shape with 6 sides – and as there are 6 teams remaining in the competition it is known as the hexaganol.A Now, the USA and Honduras both qualified for the ‘Hex‘ this week and they join Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica to see which three teams will make it to Russia in 2018. Anything else Damian?
Paralympics
One more thing Damon, this week sees the start of the paralympics in Brazil and I just wanted to highlight the two football tournaments taking place there. One is five-a-side (teams of four plus a keeper) who are visually impaired – which means that may not have full sight – and so players have to rely on their coaches and the keeper (who does not wear an eye mask) for instructions. Brazil are the holders and favourites but teams such as Spain and Argentina will also fancy their chances of a medal.
DB: And the other football competition?
DF: Yes, the other one is a seven-a-side tournament for players with cerebral palsy – that’s a neurological condition (the brain) – and other brain injuries with Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands favourites for a medal here. We’ll be following both of these tournaments in our upcoming podcasts.
Follow us
DF: Now remember, if you come along to Languagecaster.com you can find a massive collection of more football terms, phrases, vocabulary and football cliches in our language glossary.
DB: If you have more words and phrases you think we should add or want explaining then contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
DF: Don’t forget, you can also follow us on Facebook a€“ Learn English Through Football a€“ we had lots of new follows and likes this week including Matt, Meedy, Marc, Abed and Khon Tar, while on twitter where our handle is @languagecaster, we’d like to say thanks to all those who have contacted or re-tweeted us over the past few days. Our social media presence is increasing as we also have a new instagram account where you can see lots of football photos from the languagecaster team.A Damon, your last photo was taken at a referee’s training day in Tokyo – is that right?
DB: That’s right indeed. I spent a whole Sunday from nine in the morning till half past five in the afternoon trainingA for my first refereeing qualification. And I think that allowsA me to referee at the city league level or younger. So I’m quite proud of the fact that I can dish out yellowA cards and redA cards willy nilly.
DF: That’s fantasticA stuff,A congratulations on that. I wonder if you would haveA awarded such as soft penaltyA in that game between Serbia and Ireland
DF: Great stuff – I wonder if you would have given such a soft penalty in that game between Serbia and Ireland?
DB:I doubt it. I’ve got very great vision and I probably would have seen it was a dive and given a yellow for simulation. Now Damian, it’s time for this week’s predictions.
Predictions
DF: Yes, that’s right. Next up we have our predictions battle in which both of us will try and predict some of the big games taking place this weekend. After a short international break the Premier League predictions are back and remember you can take on both Damon and myself in our online predictions competition. Simply come along to our site at languagecaster.com, log in (for free) to our predictions competition a€“ you can see that at the top of the menu bar on our site and then of course just make your choices. Ita€™s 3 points for a correct score and one for the right result. Now the current overall leader in the competition is still Aung Kyaw, who is from Burma with 27 points followed by Tokyo Red, myself and Jose – that’s the top 4. But we also have monthly competitions so if you haven’t entered your scores yet you can do so for September now.
By the way, Damon you did really well last week in the international games as you correctly predicted a 1-0 away win for England, a win for Brazil against Colombia and you also said that Ireland would draw away in Serbia – top predicting skills there! How about this week?
DB: Well, this week we have three games to talk about on the show and the first is, of course, the Manchester derby between City and United. Damian, what do you think?
DF: Both sides have a 100% record, both sides are playing well under their new managers – no love lost between Jose and Pep – I’m going to go for a draw. 1-1 for me. How about you?
DB: No, I’ve got a feeling that Manchester City are going to slip up here and I think Manchester United are going to win a prettyA exciting game 2-1.
DB: Now, in our second game we feature the champions, Leicester, who travel to a new-look Anfield in what is a mouth-watering game. Damian, what do you reckon?
DF: Liverpool have been playing well and they will be excited to play their first home game of the season after the refurbishments (or upgrade) to their stadium. I reckon they will beat Leicester 2-1.
DB: I think this is going to be a headline game. I think it’s going to be Liverpool stamping their authority by beating the Champions 3-0.
DF: OK. Well, our last game of the week sees Swansea City hosting Chelsea, what do you think?
DB: I think this is going to be a headline game… just joking, but I do think actually Chelsea are going to thump Swansea 4-0.
DF: Yes, I agree. Chelsea will be too good for the Swans – 3-0 for me.
DB: Now what do you think listener, what do you think will happen in this weeka€™s games? Come along to our site at languagecaster.com and let us know. Don’t forget to join our predictions competition, or indeed our fantasy football competition – we can be found at the Premier League Fantasy Football site and sign in to the languagecaster league by using the code 968273-255268. We now have 13 payers – welcome to Marko and Michal – how are you doing in the league Damian?
DF: Not too good actually, I’m down in 10th place and thanks to Sergio Aguero’s three-match ban that we spoke about last week I will have to make a transfer I think – who should I play up front with Harry Kane?
DB: Suggestion? By the way, Brendan Rovers is at the top of the league after 64 points last time out and he’s followed by Crazy Old Man Gang and Gleeson’s Earguard and I’m in 12th place just off the bottom!
Quiz Answer
DF:A Just before we go here is the answer to the question we asked at the start of the show – what were the two results from last season’s Manchester derbies? Damon, as a Liverpool fan I’m sure you remember them very very well!
DB: A Not at all! No idea! The first game at Old Trafford ended in a scoreless draw – 0-0 – while the match at The Etihad finished 1-0 to Manchester United – a Marcus Rashford goal claiming all three points for the Red Devils.
Good bye
DB: That’s all we have time for this week, so enjoy all of the football everybody and I hope your team does well. Don’t forget to drop us a line or ask a question on our football language forum here at languagecaster.com.
DF: Yes, enjoy all the football and see you next week when we’ll be looking back at some of the big Champions League stories – including Spurs’ home match against Monaco at Wembley Stadium – and of course following the paralympics from Brazil. 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
