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On this week’ s Learn English Through Football Podcast we’ve got lots of football language for those who love football and want to improve their English language skills. We’ll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly news from last week, feature some English phrases used in football, and look ahead to some of the big games in the Premier League. There is a transcript to the show below and if you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damon= DB; DamianA DF).
Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2018 Manchester City v Chelsea
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Transcript of the show
DF: You are listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hello and welcome to the show for all those who love the game of football and who want to improve their English skills too. My name’s Damian and I am here in a very cold London – we’ve had lots of snow which meant that a lot of matches have been snowed off or postponed although none of the Premier League games have been affected – they have not been snowed off or cancelled because of the snow. Now, normally I would ask our co-presenter Damon what the weather is like in Japan as regular listeners know that he lives in Tokyo but unfortunately he is not on the show this weekend but we will be hearing from him later on in the show when we talk about some predictions. And of course he’ll be back for next week’s show.
Line up
DF: So, what’s on this week’s show? Well, first of all, I’ll be looking back at some footballing news in our section called the good, the bad, and the ugly. Second, we have a quiz question and this week it is connected with the Champions League. Thirdly, we’ll talk about an English for football phrase and this week I explain the expression ‘to gift‘. And finally, we’ve got predictions, where we look at some of the Premier League games taking place including Manchester City hosting Chelsea.
You’re listening to languagecaster.com (Palermo fan)A
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com. Right, next up is the good, the bad and the ugly where we look back at some of the big football news from the week and don’t forget that the transcript from the show can be found at our website at languagecaster.com.
Good
DF: Right, let’s start with the good, and yet again it has been a good week for Premier League leaders Manchester City as they won the Carabao Cup – the League Cup – after an easy 3-0 win over Arsenal last Sunday. This is the first piece of silverware for Pep Guardiola and he, and the club, will be hoping for more trophies this season. The Blues then followed that win up with another 3-0 win over the same opposition, Arsenal, in the Premier League to cap a good week for City and a poor one for Arsenal.
Bad
DF: Now for bad this week I am going to look at a story from the Chinese Super League where Dalian Yifan were thrashed 8-0 by Shanghai SIPG in the opening game of the season. What makes this result so shocking is that Dalian, from the north east of China, have spent A£50 million on three overseas players: Jose Fonte from West Ham and two players who came from Atlético Madrid – Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan. A bad start to the season for Dalian.
Controversial
DF: Now not an ugly story this week but instead one that may well be controversial. This week football’s world governing body FIFA announced that VAR – video assistant referee – will be used in the World Cup this summer. Now the technology has been tested out in some games in England this year but not everyone is a fan as there have been complaints about its effectiveness and the fact that it stops the flow of the game. I wonder what will happen this summer?
Follow
DF: Now, of course you can get in touch with us by coming along to our site at languagecaster.com, while we also have a twitter andA Facebook account. And listeners to the show can also follow us onA Instagram – we’ve had some nice pictures of the snowy weather from the UK and from Damon’s return from injury in Tokyo in this week’s instagram posts. And if you want to contact us by email you can do so by writing here atA admin@languagecaster.com. Now, don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly podcast – you can do this with i-tunes, tunedin, stitcher or any other podcast player and make sure you also tell your friends who are interested in learning more about football language.
Quiz Question
DF: OK, now it’s time for our quiz question this week. This week the Champions League last 16 return legs will take place and so we want to know which four teams played in last season’s semi-finals – which four teams played in the 2017 Champions League semi-finals? And the answer at the end of the show. OK, next we have some English for football.
Football Language: (to) Gift
DF: Now, I’m going to explain the phrase ‘to gift‘. This phrase uses what is usually a noun, ‘gift‘ as a verb, ‘to gift.’ If you gift someone something, you give them something, and in football this phrase is most often used with the object ‘ball’ or ‘goal.’ You gift someone the ball, which means you give the other team the ball usually by mistake; the opposition didn’t have to try hard to get the ball. Similarly, if you gift a team a goal, you allow them to score, usually by being lax or lazy, in defence. Here is an example from the BBC this month, referring to a Hull City versus Barnsley game. This is the Hull manager, Nigel Adkins: ‘We’ve gifted them a goal and they’ve had something to hang onto. They’ve put everyone behind the ball and it’s up to us to break them down.’ So, here the manager is complaining that his team have given a goal to Barnsley, they’ve gifted them a goal. To gift a goal.
DF: Now, don’t forget that we have hundreds more entries on our football-language glossary page here at languagecaster.com for you to check out and if you have any suggestions then drop us a line.
DF: Right, next up is our predictions section and here’s Damon with his predictions.
Predictions
Liverpool v Newcastle United
Crystal Palace v Manchester United
Manchester City v Chelsea
DB: Hello everyone; hi there Damian! Sorry I couldna€™t join you for a live recording, but I thought Ia€™d send my predictions for this weeka€™s games, and wea€™ve got some really interesting ones as the race for the top four places hots up, and of course, as the relegation battle becomes much more real for those in the bottom half of the division.
The first game sees my team Liverpool hosting Newcastle United. Of course, they are managed by Liverpool ex-boss Rafa Benitez, and hea€™s sure to get a warm reception. Hopefully the Newcastle team wona€™t be given an easy reception, though, and Ia€™m, pretty confident the Reds will win this one in an entertaining game – 3-0. That will keep up their challenge for second place in the Premier League.
The next match is Crystal Palace versus the current second place team, Manchester United. Palace can be an awkward team to play at Selhurst Park, their home ground. The crowd are great and the team is generally well organized. They are missing key personnel so it will be a big challenge to get any points from this. But Ia€™m going to stick my neck out and go for a 1-1 draw – thata€™s what Ia€™m hoping for anyway!
The last game could put really a dent in Chelseaa€™s hopes of a top-four finish. Runaway leaders Manchester City will be a formidable challenge for Chelsea who have already been bruised by a defeat at Manchester United. I think this could be a 2-1 City win, which will mean Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United will all pull away from the Blues.
Now, I wonder if Damian agrees with me.
DF: Thanks for those Damon, let’s see, er… yes I think Liverpool will easily defeat Newcastle – probably 3-1 for me (although Newcastle don’t score so many goals). That’s what I thought before the game and of course that game was played yesterday and Liverpool ran out comfortable winners 2-0 so one point each for you and me. As for the Sunday game, well I think City will defeat Chelsea too – maybe 3-1. I am not sure that I agree though with your prediction for the Monday game between Palace and United as I think this is the kind of game that Mourinho’s side will grind out – maybe 2-0 for the Reds for me.
Quiz Answer
DF: OK, now, before we go, here is the answer to the quiz question. We asked which four teams played in the semi-final of last season’s Champions League and the answer is: Real Madrid and Juventus who both played in the final, while they defeated Atlético and Monaco respectively in the semis. Well done if you managed to get that right and of course we’ll have another question next week.
Good bye
DF: OK, that’s all for this week. Enjoy all of the football and next week both Damon and myself will be here again with another football-language podcast and we’ll be looking ahead to the Man Utd vs Liverpool game. 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
