Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:42 — 4.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Blubrry | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
England thrash Croatia 4-1, while Germany and Ireland both gain 4 points away from home in the recent World Cup qualifiers. On this week’s show you can hear what some of their fans thought about these performances. Languagecaster.com also brings you another English for Football phrase.
For learners of English check out our Football Language Resources with:
Transcript
Germany
Damon: OK Hans, thanks for talking to us. You are a German fan what did you think of Germany’s two performances?
Hans: Well, the first game was against Liechtenstein away which was a six-nil win. I guess we should really beat Liechtenstein so I am pretty happy with that, six-nil is good, very good.
D: What about the Finland game?
Hans: Finland, three all in Finland, the German coach said it was a point won rather than points lost so he should know what he’s talking about but the main point there was the … the weak defence on both sides, but especially the German defence looked pretty average I think.
DB: Who would you say then were your key players?
Hans: In the Finland game it’s obviously Klose he scored a hat-trick and three times Germany were behind and three times he got them back on level terms. In the Liechtenstein game, Podolski was the player to score the most goals and do very well. But I think really the defence is the area that needs the most attention and that was were most of the question marks are being put. So, for key players, I think defenders are the key players at the moment for Germany.
DB: And are you confident of progressing from your group, your World Cup qualifying group?
Hans: The tough game will be against Russia and I am confident, yes, Germany always qualify but it won’t be easy as Finland have shown.
DB: Thank you very much.
England
DB: Hi Paul.
Paul: Hi there
DB: Thanks for talking to us today, you’re an England fan. What did you think of England’s two performances?
Paul: It was very Jeckyl and Hyde. I thought the first one was typical modern England really, we laboured to a two-nil victory against a very weak team so I was obviously disappointed but expected something like that. And then the second one was unbelievable, unbelievable. It was … it reminded me of the five-one against Germany I thought it was a fantastic performance because Croatia were ranked the fifth best, the fifth best team in the word whereas England were about fifteen or something, so I thought that was … it’s got my expectations sky high.
DB: And so who are the key players, do you think, for England?
Paul: I think it was a team effort for once. I think that normally England teams seem to be a load of stars thrown together, not playing … who’ve never met before but this time it seemed that it was more of a team effort. Obviously ‘trio’ Walcott did very well and I think the midfield played well and obviously very strong at the back and Rooney had a good performance as well so that was great.
DB: So are you confident England will get out of their group and qualify for the World Cup?
Paul: I think so. I think so. I think the most difficult game was the, the away game in Croatia. The other teams in the group: the Ukraine and Belarus shouldn’t trouble England too much, so yes, I’m hopeful.
DB: Thank you very much.
Ireland
Damian: So Ireland had two away games in the World Cup qualifying section. They picked up four points, what do you think?
Brendan: I think I’m happy with the four points. Two away games to start your campaign can always be tricky. The first game was made a little bit easier because it was played in a neutral venue even though it was an away game against Georgia. Ireland picked up three points there with a competent performance. Against Montenegro, they scored, they picked up a point as well. So, I think all in all most Irish fans are pretty happy with the opening two games for Trapattonni.
DF: Which players do you think actually played well for Ireland over those two games?
Brendan: I think the big bonus for all Irish fans was Steven Reid. Steven Reid has been a player who’s been knocking on the door since the World Cup finals of 2002 but he’s been dogged with injuries. But finally he has had a run in the Irish team in the last three or four games and he’s proved his worth by playing in the centre of midfield. He’s also … Trappatonni’s also decided to play Stoke City reserve, a guy called Glenn Whelan, as he calls him his holder, the guy he says maybe like Gattuso for Italy which might be a stretch of the imagination but he’s done a good job. So, the central midfield pairing of Steven Reid and Glenn Whelan has certainly given Ireland a base to work from and also, of course, Richard Dunne at the back has been, has been great in both games as well.
DF: Now you’ve mentioned Trappatonni, what’s the feeling in Ireland about Trappatonni for this World Cup campaign?
Brendan: I think there’s a lot of optimism about the appointment. Trappatonni has been around a long time as most people know and he’s much-decorated manager and I think we’ve had, we had a manager in the shape of Steve Staunton who had never managed a senior team before so it’s a huge contrast between the apprentice and the master. So I think most people in Ireland they understand that we don’t have the best team in Europe but we have what we have and it’s good to have a manager with such experience who can hopefully get the best out of that team so I think generally there’s a lot of good will towards Trappatonni at this time.
DF: Now, the World champions, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus – Ireland’s nemesis from the last campaign – can Ireland make it to South Africa?
Brendan: Well, I think you mentioned Italy first and most people, most observers will think
that Italy will top the group so therefore it’s going to be a competition to see who can get second place. Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia, the feeling there is that most of those teams will take points off each other so it’s a race for the second spot and at the moment most people in Ireland think we can get that second spot. If we get the second spot then we hopefully are in a play-off and after that it’s a fifty percent chance to get to South Africa. So, while people are optimistic they’re also quite realistic as well.
DF: Thanks very much.
