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Do the double: In this football language podcast we look back at a weekend full of cup finals across Europe as many teams tried to do the double. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can 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.
Learn English Through Football Podcast: Do the Double (2024 Domestic Cup Finals)
DF: Hello everyone. You’re listening to languagecaster.com’s football-language podcast. The show for everyone who wants to practice their English and who loves the beautiful game of football. My name is Damian and I am based in London and I am one half of the Languagecaster team – the other member is Damon who, of course for regular listeners who will know, is based in Tokyo, Japan.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Tagalog)
Now, last weekend saw lots of domestic cup finals being played across Europe and on this week’s podcast we are going to take a look at four of them. Now in all of these finals one of the teams was trying to complete a double: that’s winning the domestic league and cup. So, we are going to look at the FA Cup in England, the Coupe de France, the Scottish Cup and the Pokal from Germany. Do you remember which teams were going for the double in those finals and how many of them were successful?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from Umid in Tashkent (Uzbekistan))
Vocabulary
Now before we take a look at these finals let’s take a look at the phrase, ‘the double‘ and how different verbs can collocate or go with this word in football:
- To do the double
- To complete the double (To complete a league and cup double)
- To win the double
- To deny (a team) the double [so, to stop them from winning the double]
- To clinch the double
- To secure the double
Now, five of these phrases all really mean to win the double. So, to do the double; complete the double; clinch the double; secure the double – with one of them, ‘to deny the double’ is to stop the other team from winning the double.
We are also going to be looking at the phrases, ‘to pounce on‘; ‘the Old Firm‘; ‘ to battle past‘ and ‘to defy‘ – do you know what these words mean?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Hungarian)
FA Cup: Manchester United v Manchester City – Defy the odds
To defy the odds means to do well or in this case to win when no one is expecting you to do so; it is unlikely that the team wins but it still happens. The phrase probably comes from the world of betting and gambling and means that United surprisingly beat the favourites – they defied the odds. In this BBC report, they suggest that United defied both the odds and their critics; they defied their critics which means they did not listen to those who had criticised them; they performed in a much better way and ended up winning the title. We could also say that City were denied in their attempt to win the double – they were stopped by United. OK, so no double in England for City but how about the team going for the double in Scotland?
Scottish Cup: Celtic v Rangers – To Pounce
Pokal: Leverkusen v Kaiserslautern – Battle past
Coupe de France: PSG v Lyon – Complete a domestic double
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
Glossary
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in French. If you’d like to add another stinger in another language you know then drop us a line at admin@languagecaster.com.
Remember, that here on our site you can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed, along with hundreds more football-language expressions by coming along to our football-language glossary.
A-BC-DE-FG-HI-K L-NO-QR-ST-VW-Z0-9Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a Brazilian fan).
Contact
DF: OK, if you have any questions or comments about any of the words and phrases from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. And you can also look out for us on social media – come along and say hello. We also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football.
Subscribe to our Podcast
DF: And of course don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts. We have recently posted a podcast on the phrase, ‘successive title‘ after Chelsea won their fifth WSL title in a row. You can access all of our other football-language podcasts at Languagecaster.com.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Vietnamese).
Goodbye
DF: Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this short podcast with lots of vocabulary support. Come along and have a look. OK, that’s it for this podcast in which we looked at the phrase, ‘do the double‘. We also explained the phrases, ‘to pounce on‘;A ‘ to battle past‘ and ‘to defy‘. Let us know if you hear any of these phrases in any language over the next week or so.
DF: Enjoy all the football this week including of course the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Dortmund – who do you think will win? Well, my head says Madrid by my heart says Dortmund. Let’s see what happens. We’ll be back soon after with some more football language. Until then, bye bye!