Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
On this week’s review section we feature a side doing well in both the English Cup competitions, a bizarre situation for women’s football in the USA and tragic events in Egypt. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.
Good
It was a very good week for Liverpool Football Club in the two domestic cups that we have recently highlighted on languagecaster’s weekly podcast. First, in the Carling Cup they went through to the final after beating Premier League leaders Manchester City 3-2 over two legs. Craig Bellamy, who was let go by City, scored the vital goal to see the Reds through to Wembley. Then, three days later, the Mersyside team hosted their bitter north-west rivals, Manchester United, in the FA Cup fourth round and a late winner from Dirk Kuyt knocked the Manchester side out of the competition. A very good week for Liverpool
Bad
After securing a place in the London Olympics with a 4-0 victory over Canada, the US women’s football team had cause for celebration, but those celebrations were short lived as it was announced that the 2012 Women’s Professional Soccer league was being cancelled. A legal dispute between a controversial former owner of one of the clubs, Dan Borislow, and the League has meant that the latter has decided to clear up the court battles before restarting the season next year. Borislow bought the Washington Freedom franchise in 2011 and changed the name to MagicJack, the name of his company, and relocated them to Florida from Maryland. Since then, he has been in constant dispute with other owners of the club and the League. Bad news for women’s football in the States,
Ugly
Ugly and tragic scenes in Egypt as at least 74 people are killed during clashes between al-Masry and al-Ahly fans inside the stadium. Most of the deaths appear to have been caused in a stampede to leave the stadium. After the final whistle, al-Masry fans stormed the pitch, attacked the al-Ahly players and then fought with the al-Ahly fans in the stands. Worryingly, there was little sign of security in the ground and the fans from Cairo were left unprotected when the al-Masry fans, from Port Said, attacked. There have been suggestions that the fighting was allowed by security forces in revenge for al-Ahly fans reportedly being involved in anti-government and anti-police demonstrations and riots in the capital city. Whatever the cause for the trouble, sad and ugly.
Vocabulary
two legs: two matches, home and away in a competition
let go: released, when a player is not given a new contract
knock (a team) out: Beat a team so that they are no longer in a competition
secure a place: qualify, guarantee a spot in a tournament
franchise: a system in the US where a team is not based in a particular location, but can be bought as a business
clashes: fights, violence between sets of fans
storm the pitch: run on to the pitch to fight with other fans or security
