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Chelsea are still way out in front of the chasing pack and can pretty much wrap up the title if they beat Arsenal in this weekend’s London derby. On the show, we also discuss some football words and phrases, including break the bank and some sent in by a long-time listener José – ‘dogpile’ and ‘piggy in the middle’. To start the show, we will review some of the footballing news in our good, the bad and the ugly section. And of course, you can read the transcript for the show in our post below (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast 2016-17: London Derby
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Transcript of the show
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster’s football language podcast. My name’s Damon and I’m in a sunny Tokyo with spring not too far away. Now, unfortunately, we dona€™t have Damian down the end of the phone line in London this week, but Ia€™m sure he is looking forward to the football this weekend just as much as I am and I hope you are too listener.
Line up
OK, we’re going to start the show with the good, the bad and the ugly – three stories from the week’s footballing news. Then we’ll discuss a few phrases from football, especially a couple sent in by José from Brazil – dogpile and piggy in the middle. And just before our predictions at the end of the show, we’ll have our weekly quiz question, which this week is connected with penalties.
Yes indeed. You are listening to languagecaster.com and that was in Brazilian. Drop us a line at admin@languagecaster.com if you have the message a€œYou are listening to languagecaster.coma€ in your language. OK, let’s kick off with some of the good news from the world of football.
Good
Congratulations to Egypt and Cameroon as both teams reached the final of the African Cup of Nations. Egypt squeezed past Burkina Faso 4-3 on penalties after the game was deadlocked at 1-1 after extra time. In the other semi-final, Cameroon had an impressive win over one of the pre-tournament favourites, Ghana. The Indomitable Lions beat the Black Stars 2-0. The final is on Sunday and there is no clear favourite. Hopefully it will be a cracker!
Bad
Now for bad. Things are looking very bad for the current reigning Premier League and English champions, Leicester. The East Midlands side that shocked the football world by claiming the Premier League title last year, are now sliding down the table towards the relegation places. The manager who took them to the title, Ranieri, could even face the chop, be sacked,A if he can’t stop the rot. The Foxes sit in 16th place, two points above Crystal Palace in 18th and the drop zone. Rumours of player unrest with the manager and a run of only 2 wins in 13 outings mean alarm bells are ringing at the King Power stadium.
Ugly
And I’m going to finish in the ugly section not with an ugly, we’ve had too much bad news in the world recently, haven’t we? Hats off to MLS club Orlando City who have decked out 49 of their new stadium’s seats in rainbow colours in a tribute to the 49 people who were murdered in an anti-LGBT attack in one of the city’s nightclubs last June. Wonderful gesture!
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Quiz question
OK, it’s time for our weekly quiz question and this week our question is about penalties. Specifically penalties in the Premier League this season. Which team has been awarded the most penalties this season? Answer at the end of the show.
Now next up we explain some football language that has emerged from the week.
Football Language: Break the Bank
First. The transfer window in England has closed. Which teams broke the bank? Many teams are buying players and letting others go. If a team spends a lot of money on a player, we can say they splash out, but if a team pays an extremely high price for a player, a price that theya€™ve never paid before for example, we can say that they a€˜broke the banka€˜. To break the bank means to spend a surprising amount of money. Some recent example from the newspapers have been: “Barcelona will have to break the bank if they want to make Andre Gomes their third signing of the summer”, and “Chelsea ready toA break transfer bank to buy Juventusa€™ Leonardo Bonucci”.
Football Language: Piggy-in-the-middle and dogpile
Next up wea€™ve got two phrases sent in by long-time listener José from Brazil. Hi José! The first is piggy-in-the-middle, which José tells us is ‘bobinho’ in Portuguese. This is when one player is chasing the ball, which is being passed around him by at least three players. Chasing the ball, the player looks a bit silly as it is easy for the other players to keep passing the ball when he or she gets close. Piggy in the middle – often used to describe warm up exercise when one player is in the middle of a ring of others practicing one touch passing.
And the second, which I hadn’t heard of is make a dogpile, which describes the action of a player who scores and then slides in celebration. Then his or her team mates all jump on top of him or her making a pile of bodies. Now I found out after a bit of research that this is often used in America. Thanks José and wea€™d be happy to hear from any other listeners with their football phrases!
Predictions
OK listeners, next it’s predictions. Remember you can try your luck in our monthly predictions or for the whole season by coming along to the site languagecaster.com, clicking on the link at the top to the predictions league and making a free account. In this season’s competition Damian is way out in front with 169 points and Ia€™mA trailing behind in second with 126. Yikes!
Let’s see if I can make up any ground. We’re going to start with the early kick off between Chelsea and Arsenal
Chelsea v Arsenal
OK. I was fairly happy that Liverpool played well against Chelsea on Tuesday, even though they only got a 1-1 draw, but that was Chelsea playing away. In this game, Chelsea will be hosting a fragile looking Arsenal, who were beaten by Watford mid-week. But, I think this will be a draw, which will be fine for Chelsea and not enough for Arsenal – 1-1 for me.
Crystal Palace v Sunderland
Next is a relegation six-pointer. Both teams need the points. Palace, in 18th, have finally won a game under new manager Allardyce. Sunderland, in 20th spot, on the other hand, haven’t won in 10. Despite drawing against Damiana€™s team Tottenham, I’m going for a home Palace win – 1-0.
Leicester City v Manchester United
OK, and finally we’ve got the struggling league Champions Leicester taking on Manchester United. This has got away win written all over it. 2-0 to United. Listeners, what do you think? Come along to the site before next weeka€™s fixtures and give us your predictions!
Quiz Answer
OK, just before we go here is the answer to our quiz question. We asked which team has been awarded the most penalties in the Premier League this season. The answer is Manchester City, with 7. They are followed by Liverpool and Tottenham on 6 each. All three strong attacking sides! We’ll have another question next week.
Good bye
DB: OK. Cheers everyone. Ta-rah!
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
