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2026 World Cup Language Podcast: To be dismissed
The 2026 World Cup kicked off in Mexico yesterday and on this World Cup language post we look at the phrase, ‘to be dismissed’ after three players were shown a red card in the opening game. 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 everyone. This is Damian from the Learn English through Football team and I hope you are all well.
So, the 2026 World Cup has finally started – Mexico kicked off the tournament at the Azteca Stadium with a comfortable 2-0 against South Africa and so on this, the first 2026 World Cup language podcast, we are going to talk a little about some of the language from that opening fixture. Even though it was a fairly easy game for the hosts, their job was made even easier after South Africa had two men sent off. And we are going to explain another couple of phrases that are linked to being sent off: to be dismissed and to be reduced to ten (players).
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.com (from a Korean fan)
DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster, or as we are now known, Learn English through Football and that message was from a football fan in Korea who is no doubt very happy indeed after their 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic. By the way, the phrase, ‘victory over South Africa’ – another way of saying this would be ‘victory against Czech Republic’.
To be dismissed
DF: OK, so South Africa had a player sent off five minutes after half time when their player Sitole brought down a Mexican attacker when he was through on goal. This means that the Mexican player only had the goalkeeper to beat – there were no defenders in front of him. So, when a defender commits a foul in this situation and brings down the attacker to stop them from scoring they are sent off or red carded – they have to leave the game. Another phrase for this is ‘to be dismissed‘. The player was dismissed for stopping a clear goalscoring opportunity. Now, the player was dismissed by the referee but we often don’t mention the referee but instead just focus on the action: the player was dismissed (by the referee).
In this game, South Africa had two players dismissed and the second dismissal – dismissal is the noun form – was a little soft. Remember, if we use the adjective ‘soft’ to describe a decision (e.g. ‘a soft penalty’ or ‘a soft foul’) it suggests that the decision could have gone the other way. Maybe the penalty or the red card should not have been given or maybe if the same thing happened in another match it would not have been given.
To be reduced to ten (players)
DF: Another expression that is used to describe situations like this is ‘to be reduced to ten players‘. We know that each team has eleven players when starting the game but if a player is red carded or dismissed, then their team goes down to ten players – they go down to ten. And this is what happened when the South African player was dismissed in the 50th minute – South Africa went down to ten. They then went down to nine players thirty minutes later when their substitute was dismissed for violent conduct (although it did look a little soft). Unbelievably, the Mexican captain was then dismissed for a bad challenge in added time meaning his side were reduced to ten players though as the red card (dismissal) occurred so late it did not really affect the result.
2026 World Cup Predictions
DF: Now, just before we go we’d like to remind you that we are running a predictions competition for the 2026 World Cup. Simply come along to our site – you will need to register with your email and then choose the 2026 World Cup league to play and then simply add your predictions and click save. Don’t worry if you are joining late – there are over 100 games in the World Cup so you have lots of time to catch up. It’s three points for a perfect score, while it is one point for the right result.
We’ll be back tomorrow with some more expressions from the World Cup. Until then, bye bye.
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