Jose Mourinho, David Beckham, Arsenal and a poor translation all feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly – the review of the football week on languagecaster’s football podcast. Click on the links below to find out more on all of these stories. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the page.
It was a good weekend for Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side as they defeated city rivals AC Milan 2-1 in the derby last Sunday. The current champions are now 9 points clear at the top of Serie A after Juventus were held to a draw, Roma were thrashed and Fiorentina also drew. It looks like a fourth-straight title is all but wrapped up for Jose’s men.
It has been a good week for Arsenal and Croatia star Eduardo as he makes a comeback to the side for the first time in a year after a horrific tackle broke his ankle. He scored twice in an emphatic 4-0 victory over last year’s losing FA Cup finalists Cardiff City to leave Arsenal facing Burnley in the next round.
Not so good on the injury front for Hull City’s new record signing Jimmy Bullard after it was decided he needed an operation on his knee after playing only 37 minutes for the Premier League side. Bullard had similar trouble while playing at Fulham and had been out for a year. Let’s hope it is not as serious this time.
David Beckham’s weekend was not so good as his side lost 1-2 to Inter Milan to effectively rule out AC Milan’s chances of winning the Serie A title. In addition to the fact that ‘Becks’ was injured in that game, it also seems that his transfer to the Rossoneri may not go ahead after all as his MLS club LA Galaxy are looking for a huge transfer fee.
South Korean officials are fuming at Asian Football president Mohamed Bin Hammam after he suggested that the Korean football president should have his head cut off. The Koreans are demanding an apology but Hammam said there had been a misunderstanding over the phrase he had used which was not meant as a threat but rather a joke – something similar to the English phrase ‘heads will roll’ meaning to pay the price. A harmless expression and nothing else. A storm in a tea cup then.
On a more serious matter a fan of French Ligue 1 side Le Havre was arrested on Sunday after racially abusing Lyon and Ghana defender John Mensah. The fan has admitted to using monkey chants and will face a lengthy ban from football.
Vocabulary
Here are some of the words from the good, the bad and the ugly section from this week’s show. You can download the podcast here
Defeated: To beat
To be held: To draw with another team
To be thrashed: To lose by many goals
To be all but wrapped up: It seems that the title is already won
Horrific tackle: A really bad or nasty tackle
An emphatic 4-0 victory An easy win
Arsenal facing Burnley: Arsenal will play against Burnley
Record signing: The player who has cost the most at a club (in transfer fees)
To be out for a year: To have not played for a year because of injury
To effectively rule out AC Milan’s chances: Though not 100% certain it seems that AC Milan have no possibility of winning
To be fuming: To be really angry at something or someone
A storm in a tea cup: A fight about nothing, a small matter
Will face a lengthy ban from football: The fan will not be allowed to watch football at a stadium for a long time.
