In this week’s review section we look back at some of the big stories from the world of football to help learners of English improve their vocabulary, including the World Cup qualifiers that recently took place. You can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.
Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Good
A good weekend for Argentina as they thrashed Uruguay 3-0 and then won away in Chile to all but seal their passage to the World Cup finals at the half-way stage of the CONMEBOL qualifiers. Messi yet again was the star and after his goals he now sits one behind Argentinian legend Diego Maradona in the all-time scorers’ list.
Bad
Bad for some of the big teams in world football with Spain, Germany and Portugal all being held at home by teams they were favoured to defeat. Spain’s remarkable run of qualifying victories that stretched back to 2007 was stopped by France who drew 1-1 in Madrid. Portugal had Helder Postiga to thank after he rescued a point against lowly-ranked Northern Ireland in Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100th game for the Portuguese. Perhaps the most amazing result of the qualifiers, however, was Sweden’s 4-4 draw away in Germany after being 4-0 down. German defender Per Mertesacker claimed that his side are not very good at parking the bus. At least he was right about that.
Ugly
Shocking scenes from the European U-21 Championship game between Serbia and England after England defender Danny Rose claimed he had been racially abused throughout the game. He received a red card after the final whistle which then sparked a brawl between players and coaching staff. The English FA want UEFA to severely punish the Serbs who claim that the English players had behaved badly. Very ugly indeed.
Vocabulary
being held at home: The teams were playing at home and all drew their games
stretched back to 2007: The run of victories had continued since 2007
thrashed: Heavily beaten
sparked a brawl : Started a huge fight
