In this football language post we explain a newspaper headline from the DDaily Mirror Newspaper in the UK (January 7th 2020) which is about the FA Cup 3rd round match between Premiership side Arsenal and Championship leaders Leeds United. Don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Newspaper Headline: Reiss is the word
This headline is taken from the Daily Mirror Newspaper in the UK (January 7th 2020) and refers to the Arsenal versus Leeds FA Cup 3rd round match on Monday night in which the Premier League side defeated the Championship leaders 1-0. The winning goal was scored by young forward Reiss Nelson and the headline writers have used his first name to create a play on words that refers to a famous song from the film ‘Grease’. The pronunciation of his name Reiss rhymes with the word Grease, while Grease is the word is a line from that song. If something is ‘the word’ it suggests that it is good so the headline means that the Arsenal player Reiss Nelson is the hero of the game after scoring the only goal of the game.
The sub-heading ‘Nelson strike settles Arsenal nerves…’ gives some more information about the winning goal. His strike – another word for goal – has helped his side to calm down or relax and then go on to win the game. This suggests that Reiss Nelson’s side had been nervous until his goal; indeed, Leeds had dominated the first half and then Arsenal played much better in the second half – a real game of two halves!
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