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It’s international week again, with World Cup 2018 qualifiers being held across the globe. This means we have no Premier League predictions this week, but we will have a few thoughts on who we think will be relegated and who will secure top-four Champions League places. Of course, we have some good, bad and ugly news from the world of football, including a nasty challenge in the Ireland v Wales match. After that, we will talk about two phrases for football, one, the cliche ‘not that kind of player‘ and the other, a daisy cutter. Read the transcript for the show in our post below (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast: Nasty Challenge
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Transcript of the show
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster’s football language podcast. My name is Damon and I am talking to you from a grey and wet Tokyo – good for my balcony plants but not great for football. Apologies for no podcast last week, Damian and myself were super busy, but this week I hope Damian can join me. Damian, how are things?
DF: Hello Damon, good to hear from you. I am here in London where my plants are enjoying the sunshine and blue skies as spring finally decides to arrive to the UK.
DB: Brilliant.
DF: As you’ve already mentioned, last week we did not have a podcast but we are back this week and we will be looking at some of the World Cup qualifiers that have taken place this weekend. Damon, what else is on the show today?
Line up
DB: Well Damian, as you said, there are World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies taking place, we don’t have our regular Premier League predictions at the end of the show, but we will finish with a bit of chat about relegation and top four spots. And to start, we’ll have our good, the bad and the ugly section, which includes news about a nasty challenge, an amazing miss, and a milestone for a football legend. We’ve also got our useful football language, too – so let’s get cracking.
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Japanese. Drop us a line here at admin@languagecaster.com if you have the message a€œYou are listening to languagecastera€ in your language.
Now next up we have the good, the bad and the ugly.
Good
DB: So, what was good Damian?
DF: Well, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made his 1,000th appearance this week as he captained the Azzurri to a 2-0 win over Albania in a World Cup qualifier. The 39-year old has played over 160 times for the national team and has played for two Serie A clubs: Parma and Juventus where he has won seven league titles, a couple of Coppa Italias, a Serie B title. He has, of course, also won a World Cup winners medal in 2006. I wonder how long Buffon will go on for?
Bad
DB: That’s amazing, isn’t it? Well, bad, I’m going to talk about a frantic game between Manchester City and Liverpool, which was played at 100 miles an hour, with both teams going at each each from the whistle. It was great entertainment, but there was some very poor finishing from the players on display, especially Sergio Agüero, from City, and Adam Lallana, for Liverpool. Lallana’s miss from six yards out with the goal at his mercy was the worst miss, however. Firmino had handed the chance to Lallana on a plate, with the keeper beaten, no defenders around, and the goal gaping. Instead of finding the net, the Liverpool player somehow missed the ball completely and the chance went begging. His only excuse could be he’d run himself into the ground by that point and did well to even be in the position to score. Bad finishing all round, but particularly bad from Lallana!
What about ugly, Damian?
Ugly
DF: Well, this week’s ugly is about the challenge on Irish captain Seamus Coleman by Welsh defender Neil Taylor in their World Cup qualifying group D match on Friday evening. The reckless tackle resulted in Coleman breaking his leg and Taylor receiving a red card. Very ugly indeed.
Follow us
DF: Now, remember that you can follow us on twitter where our handle is @languagecaster, and you can find us on Facebook Learn English Through Football, and we’d like to say hi to all those who have followed or liked us recently – and we’ve had lots and lots of followers – including Victor, Ric, Thang, Reyser, Sai Man, Cira, Raileanu and Vrunda. We also have an Instagram page – where we have recently posted pictures from Tokyo, the London Stadium and from a non-league game down in the south-west of England and of course you can contact us directly at admin@languagecaster.com. We’d love to hear from you and hear what you think of the show! Get in touch and spread the word!
DB: Yes indeed. Spread the word and a special thank you to @PeterPun for a very kind review of our site on his excellent educational blogA eltplanning.com. Much appreciated! @PeterPun is an Arsenal fan, and I wonder how he feels about the situation with their manager Wenger. Let us know Peter!
DF: We also have a forum where you can read and discuss football language and recently Hyuna has been on to ask about the phrases ‘to ask questions’; ‘to get bodies forward’ and ‘Hollywood pass’. Thanks for the questions, Hyuna. Come along to the forum and see what we said about those questions.
Quiz question
DF: OK, time for a little quiz question. Europe is entering the final few months of the season and all eyes are on the leaders of each country’s league. Our question this week is which teams are currently third in the European big five leagues – that’s Spain, England, Germany, Italy and France. We’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
DB: Now next up we explain some football language that has emerged from the week. Damian, what’s our first football language phrase?
Football Language: Not that kind of player
DF: Well, this is linked to the ugly section that we spoke about earlier on. This… the phrase ‘not that kind of player‘. This phrase is often used by managers or pundits after a game when one member of a team has injured an opposing player with a bad tackle. Now, the tackle by this player may have been a dangerous one a€“ an x-rated tackle a€“ perhaps the player tackled from behind, or went over-the-top or used a two-footed tackle meaning that the opposing player has little chance to protect him or herself. The manager may defend this player by saying that normally he or she does not tackle like that a€“ he or she does not have a reputation as a dirty player a€“ and so will use the phrase a€˜(s)hea€™s not that type of playera€™.A So for example, the Welsh manager claimed that his player was a€˜not that type of playera€˜ after his reckless tackle badly injured an opponent.
DF: I just wonder Damon, when you do that tackle then you become that kind of player, no?
DB: You may do indeed.
DF: Anything else Damon?
Football Language: Daisy cutter
Predictions
DB: Now, as we said at the start of the show there are no predictions this week in the Premier League, so we thought we’d have a go at making some early predictions on which teams will be relegated and which teams will finish top four in the Premier League.
The top four
DB:A Damian, currently the top four in England are Chelsea on 69 points with 28 games played, Tottenham on 59 and 28 games, Man City on 57 and 28 games and Liverpool – go on you reds – on 56 with one more game played. I think it is going to stay exactly the same after the last ball of the season is kicked. You?
DF: Well, Damon I am not sure as Man United are playing well and on an undefeated run, while Arsenal cannot be ruled out with Sanchez in their team. I think … Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and… United. Sorry Damon!
DB: You’ve got to be kidding me!
Relegation
DF: Now let’s take a look at the bottom of the table and the clubs that are in the drop zone. We’ve got Sunderland at the bottom with 20 points after 28 games; two points above them are Middlesbrough who have also played 28. And a further two point ahead, also with 24 points, are Hull, who have played one more game, 29. What do you think Damon, will these three all go down?
DB: Well, it looks likeA it, especially as Crystal Palace in 16th place have a four-point cushion over Hull and a game in hand. They’ve also hit some good form. Swansea could be in trouble, though, as they are only threeA ahead of Hull and five ahead of Boro, who have a game in hand. I reckon Sunderland and Middlesbrough are doomed and will be joined by Swansea – I just think Hull’s home form may save them. You?
DF: No, I think the current bottom three: Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull City will all go down to the Championship.
DB: Well, we’ll see come the 21st of May! And it’s also time to see if our listeners correctly answered our quiz question.
Quiz Answer
DF: That’s right. We asked which teams were currently thirdA in the big five leagues in Europe. We’ve just heard that Man City are third in England, but what about the other leagues? Well, if you got Sevilla in Spain, Nice in France, Dortmund in Germany and Napoli in Italy, you can congratulate yourself on knowing your European football!
Good bye
DB: Indeed you can. And that wraps up this weeks show! Ta-rah!
DF: See you next week when we will be looking at the Merseyside derby and Manchester City taking on Arsenal.
DB: Come on you Reds!
DF: 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
