Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:10 — 5.1MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Podchaser | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
2026 World Cup Language 25: Hold out
It’s day 25 of the 2026 World Cup and on today’s World Cup language podcast we look at a phrase from the thrilling match between hosts Mexico and England in the last 16: Hold out. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.
Hello
DF: Hello again everyone. This is Damian from the Learn English through Football team and I hope you are all doing well and still watching, and enjoying, the World Cup. I am in a really hot London the day after England’s win over Mexico in the last-16…when people are starting to catch up on sleep!
This is day 25 of our World Cup language series in which we explain a phrase or expression from the World Cup each day. And hopefully you are finding them useful with your language learning and language teaching – it would be lovely to hear how you are using them.
So, yesterday Damon explained the phrase, ‘stubborn defence‘ after the France win over Paraguay in the last 16 of the tournament. What a terrible team Paraguay were: lots of dark arts and shithousery! Anyway, today I am going to explain another phrase from that last-16 round: to hold out after England defeated Mexico 3-2 in the Azteca Stadium.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.com (in Spanish)
Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through Football podcast, or as we were known before, Languagecaster and that message was in Spanish.
Hold out
DF: What a match between co-hosts Mexico and England! It had a little bit of everything – penalties, red cards, goals, near misses and two teams fighting to reach the quarter final. England were reduced to ten men with 30 minutes still to play and soon afterwards had their lead halved from 3-1 to 3-2. For the final 25 minutes Mexico threw everything at the English defence as they tried to equalise but England held out to eventually run out 3-2 winners.
So, what does this phrase, ‘to hold out‘ mean in football? Well, to hold out in football is often used to describe a strong defensive performance which leads to a win. But it also suggests that it was not an easy win – the defence had to withstand a lot of pressure from the opposition. So, to hold out means that England resisted all of the attacks that Mexico had; they managed to prevent Mexico from scoring. England held out against the Mexican attacks and held on to the win to progress to the last eight.
And here’s what the Guardian said about the game:
Example: Could England hold out? The answer was yes, and with a measure of comfort (Guardian.co.uk)
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.com (in Norwegian)
Contact
DF: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through Football podcast and that was a message from a Norwegian fan. They didn’t scrape past Brazil in their last-16 match; they easily won through thanks to Erling Haaland’s brace.
Now don’t forget, if you want to get in contact with us or ask a football-language question then just come along to our site here at learnenglishthroughfootball.com or you can contact us at: contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com.
Goodbye
DF: Thank you everyone again for listening. On today’s World Cup language show, we looked at the phrase, ‘to hold out‘ which is used to describe a team defending their lead to go on and win the game. Can you think of any other words for this phrase in any language that you know? If so, drop us a line and let us know.
We’ll be back soon with some more expressions from the World Cup. Until then, bye bye.
Related Links
-
- 2026 World Cup Language 24: Stubborn defence
- 2026 World Cup Language 23: Scrape past
- 2026 World Cup Language 22: Breeze past
- 2026 World Cup Language 21: Advance to the last 16
- 2026 World Cup Language 20: Sweep aside
- 2026 World Cup Language 19: Win a penalty shootout
- 2026 World Cup Language 18: Stoppage time
- 2026 World Cup Language 17: See off an opponent
- 2026 World Cup Language 16: To Spill
- 2026 World Cup Language 15: Results go their way
- 2026 World Cup Language 14: Goal difference
- 2026 World Cup Language 13: Ends scoring goal drought
- 2026 World Cup Language 12: Shrug off
- 2026 World Cup Language 11: Thumping strike
- 2026 World Cup Language 10: Statement win
- 2026 World Cup Language 9: One-way traffic
- 2026 World Cup Language 8: Gift
- 2026 World Cup Language 7: Re-taken penalty
- 2026 World Cup Language 6: A stunner
- 2026 World Cup Language 5: Hold to a draw
- 2026 World Cup language 4: Run riot
- 2026 World Cup Language 3: Lob over the keeper
- 2026 World Cup Language 2: Brace
- 2026 World Cup Language: To be dismissed
- 2026 World Cup in numbers
- 2026 World Cup in numbers (quiz)
- 2026 World Cup favourites, dark horses and flops
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
Welcome to the website that helps students interested in football improve their English language skills. Football fans can practise with lots of free language resources, including football-language podcasts and our huge football-language glossary.