Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:42 — 25.1MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Blubrry | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
It’s the 2018 FA Cup Semis! Damon and Damian discuss both these two games taking place over the weekend, the footballing news from the week, including a title for Manchester City, some new football language ‘own goal‘ and we also manage to throw in a quiz question and some predictions too! For thoseA wishing to improve their English, there’s a transcript to the show below and if you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damian=DF, Damon=DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast: The 2018 FA Cup Semis
Subscribe to the show and receive automatic downloads every week
-
- Subscribe through i-tunes here
- Click for the latest shows here
- Podcast FAQ
Transcript of the show
DF: You are listening to languagecaster.com. Hello everyone and welcome. Youa€™ve reached languagecaster.com, the podcast and website for football fans wishing to improve their English. Good to have you with us. My namea€™s Damian, and Ia€™m based in London, where we finally have some sunny, spring weather. Ia€™m sure ita€™s sunny too in Tokyo where Damon is. Damon, am I right?
DB: You are indeed. Fine weather over here in Japan. Perfect weather for kicking the ball around or maybe having a nice cold drink with friends! Now, are you nervous, Damian? Your team Tottenham have a big game coming up dona€™t they – the semi-finals of the 2018 FA Cup?
DF: Yes, I am nervous about that game for many reasons indeed and I’ll be talking more about that match later on in the predictions section and the quiz section towards the end of the show. What else is on todaya€™s show Damon?
DB: All the usual sections, so wea€™ll start with a chat about whata€™s been happening in the football world in the good, the bad and the ugly review section – there’s some nice language to be explained there too. Wea€™ve got a quiz question about the FA Cup semi-final as you mentioned and wea€™ll explain some football language in the middle part of the show and this week we’ll talk about the phrase ‘own goal‘. And as you said, wea€™ll have predictions which will wrap up this weeka€™s podcast. Oh yes, and wea€™ve got some importantA announcements to make about our show. Leta€™s do that now.
Patreon – Support Learning English Through Football
DF: Yes, wea€™ve made a few changes to how you, our listeners and readers, access some of our materials. Now wea€™ve been doing this football-language podcast show now for over 10 years…(Here’s a link to our first podcast from the 2006-07 season!)
DB: Yes
DF: …starting way back in 2006 – it was the Germany World Cup Damon, is that right?
DB: It certainly was.
DF: Fantastic stuff! And if youa€™d like to show your support then you come along to our site at languagecaster.com, and we have some information about how you can get access to things like our transcripts, extra football language material, worksheets and answers as well as our up-coming World Cup podcasts and much, much more. You will be able to do this through our new Patreon link which we’ll explain over the next couple of weeks. Now, the podcast will remain, as always, free to download and listen, but we hope you find some of the extra options we are offering worth a few dollars, pesos, pounds, yen, or won or whatever, that would help us to keep our show on the road.
DB: Brilliant, yes, so come along to our website at languagecaster.com to find out more.
You’re listening to languagecaster.com (in Chinese).
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Chinese. Now, we are looking for some more messages in different languages – if ayone listening in would like to send us in one of those messages then please do so at admin@languagecaster.com. Now next, ita€™s the good, the bad and the ugly where we look back at some of the football news from the past week. Damian, what was good from this week?
Good
DF: Congratulations to Manchester City who this week wrapped up their third Premier League title win in seven years and that’s their fifth title overall but they did it in rather strange circumstances. City won away at Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday evening – God, they thrashed us – and then watched their rivals Manchester United, in second place, lose to bottom of the Premier League, West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at home on Sunday. And this result meant that City could not be caught so not quite the drama of the 2011-12 season when Sergio Agüero scored that goal but still well done to them for winning the title.
DB: Yes, well done to City and their fans. Now I wonder can they can go on and break the 100 point mark in the keague? Now, anything else good from the week?
DF: Yes, Manchester City were not the only team to win the title this week as Paris Saint Germain thrashed second-place Monaco 7-1 to …
DB: Yikes!
DF: Yes, to reclaim the League One title or the Ligue 1 title in France last weekend – now that’s their fifth league crown in six years, while in Holland PSV Eindhoven won their third title in four years after also defeating second place Ajax 3-0. So, well done to all those league champions. How about bad Damon?
Bad
DB: Well it’s been a bad couple of weeks for Stoke City and Southampton in the Premier League as they increasingly look as if they will be relegated from the Premier League. Both sides played in mid-week but neither of them were able to win three points against West Ham and Leicester respectively which means they are now five and four points away from safety with only four games to play. Two seemingly well-established clubs could be on their way down to the Championship. And ugly?
Ugly
DF: Well, there were some ugly scenes in Turkey this week when the Cup match between Fenerbahçe and Besiktas had to be called off – that’s stopped before the end – after someone from the crowd threw something at the Besiktas coach Senol Gunes. And the game – a second leg cup semi-final – was scoreless at the time and we are still waiting to see what the Turkish FA will do. Ugly stuff indeed.
DB: Very passionate over there, aren’t they?
DF: hmmm,
Follow
DB:A Now, remember that you can get in touch with us via all the usual social media platforms -A twitter,A Facebook, andA Instagram.A You can also contact us directly via our email address admin@languagecaster.com, which is what Dave from Brazil, in Ceará State … is that okay that pronunciation Damian?
DF: It’s actually, I know what this one is, it’s actually Ceará
DB Ceará. And he said that whenever he plays FIFA video game and is attacking the opposing team he hears the commentator saying in English, his team “is asking questions.”A And he wondered if this meant the attacking team was putting pressure on the opposing side. And that is what it means. If you ‘ask questions‘ of an opposing side, you are pressurising them, so that if they make a mistake, or can’t answer a question, you may score. Thanks Dave!
DF: That’s a great question, isn’t it? Yes, I hope Tottenham can ask some questions of Manchester United’s defence in the semi final later on today!
DB: And if they do, you’ll be hoping Manchester United can’t answer those questions, won’t you!
DF: I will, I will! OK, next, we’ve got a little quiz question for you.
Hello my name is Marcelo and I’m from Brazil, I am a fan of Vasco da Gama and you’re listening to languagecaster.com.
Quiz Question
DF: OK! Next up we have this week’s quiz question and it is of course connected to the FA Cup semi-finals. Now my team Spurs have a very good record in the FA Cup having won the trophy eight times in the club’s history … with the last victory coming in 1991. Unfortunately since then they have lost many semi-finals since – we want to know how many semi-final defeats have Tottenham had since last winning the trophy in 1991? And we’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
DF: Can you have a guess Damon? Do you know how many we’ve lost?
DB: I’ve got… I’ve got a funny feeling it’s more than five. Now, next up we have this week’s football language explanation.
Football Language: Own goal
DF: OK, I’m going to talk about a phrase that, to be honest, I thought we’d covered many years ago on our site but I checked in our glossary with its hundreds and hundreds of entries, and it’s not there and this phrase is ‘own goal‘. Now an own goal (sometimes known as an o.g.) is a goal scored by a member of your own team into your own goal (or your own net) so the goal counts for your opponents! Sometimes there is nothing a player can do to stop this as a ball hits him or her and goes in – usually because of a deflection – but other times a player makes a mistake and scores for the other team. This season one player – Lewis Dunk from Brighton – has managed to score four own goals against his own club which is rather unfortunate indeed. Now, I have had a look at the World Cup statistics on Wikipedia and noticed that there have been 41 own goals in the history of that tournament though none were scored in the last World Cup in Brazil 2014. Perhaps the most infamous World Cup own goal however was Pablo Escobar’s own goal against the host nation USA in 1994, very sad indeed ending for him there. As for the Premier League, do you know who holds the record for scoring the most own goals?
DB: I’m not sure though I think Liverpool’s Jaimie Carragher has scored plenty of a few ogs in his time.
DF: Yes he has – he’s second on the list – but it’s actually Irish defender Richard Dunne, who played for Mchester City for most of his career, he holds the record of most own goals in top-flight football in England with 10. I wonder if any of our listeners know of other players around the world who might have scored more.
Predictions
Manchester United v Tottenham (FA Cup)
DB: Right next up is our predictions. I wonder will there be any own goals in our matches up for predictions this week? And we start off with the first of the two FA Cup semi-finals; Manchester United versus Tottenham at Wembley Stadium. Damian?
DF: Oh…. A couple of weeks ago I would have been more confident but now I am a little nervous. My heart says a Spurs win but my head thinks Mourinho will engineer – or create – a win for United somehow. 1-1 after 90 minutes and then maybe a defeat for Spurs. You?
DB: I’m a little bit more confident in Spurs in this game. I’m going to go for 2-1 to Spurs and you’ll be in the final.
Chelsea v Southampton (FA Cup)
DB: Right, how about the second semi-final on Sunday? And that’s Chelsea versus Southampton.
DF: Well, these two teams met last week with Chelsea coming from behind to win 3-2 and I think they will comfortably win this win. Yes, last season’s losing finalists will win… 3-0. How about you Damon?
DB: Yep, I agree with you and I’m going to go for 2-0 to Chelsea which will mean you’re gonna’ meet Chelsea in a re-run of last year’s semi-final in the final.
DF: Hopefully, hopefully.
Everton v Newcastle
DF: Now, there are not too many Premier League matches this weekend – your team Liverpool are kicking off very soon against West Brom, is that right?
DB: They certainly are.
DF: That’s because of the FA Cup matches but on Monday we have Everton hosting a resurgent Newcastle – four wins in a row. What do you reckon?
DB: As you said, four wins in a row and Rafa BenÃtez going back to Merseyside. I’ve got a feeling Everton are a little rudderless, that is, they have no direction at the moment and I’ve got a feeling Newcastle will get five on the bounce. 1-0 to Newcastle.
DF: I agree with you about Everton butA I’m going for a 1-1 draw.
Quiz Question
DB: OK, now Damian, how about the answer to the quiz you asked earlier?
DF: Well, it’s very painful. We asked how many times Tottenham have lost an FA Cup semi-final since they last won the tournament in 1991 and the answer is seven times!
DB: Wow!
DF: Seven times they have come so close to making the final and seven consecutive defeats have resulted in heartache for the fans including last season’s 4-2 defeat against Chelsea. I was also at Wembley for the 5-1 defeat against Chelsea in 2012 – I was so sad after that game – so I am hoping that today we can manage to break the hoodoo!
DB: Well good luck and of course we’ll have another quiz question next week.
DF: Unless Tottenham lose and then I’m never speaking on this podcast again…
Goodbye
DB: That’s it for this week’s show. Enjoy all the football.
DF: Yes, I am going to be watching the FA Cup semi-finals and then later on will be watching the top-of-the-table clash in Italy between Juventus and Napoli and and am hoping for a Napoli win for my friends there in Naples. Of course next week sees the first legs of the semi-finals of the Champions League too. Lots of football at the business end of the season! Bye bye.
DB: Tara!
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
