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Football Language Podcast: 2020 June – Bayern Munich march on: On this week’s football-language podcast we review some of the language used to describe the latest Bundesliga matches as Bayern continue to dominate. We also explain a new football phrase ask a football-language quiz and try some predictions. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the file below – you can also subscribe and listen to all our football-language podcasts – there are hundreds of them dating from way back in 2006! You can improve your English by reading the transcript as you listen, or if you are a teacher of English you can use the transcript to make several listening and/or reading activities for your learners. If you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damian=DF).
Football Language Podcast: 2020 June – Bayern Munich march on
Introduction
DF: You’re listening to languagecaster.com’s Learn English Through Football Podcast. We hope you are well and keeping safe. My name is Damian and I am based in a still fairly sunny London the day after the latest round of Bundesliga fixtures have been completed and we’ll be talking about them later on in the show. Now, fans of the show will know that it’s usually two of us presenting the podcast but Damon, who is based in Tokyo, is not available today so it’s just going to be me.
You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Turkish)
Line up
DF: OK, what do we have on the show today? Well, we explain a football phrase that emerged from the week, disciplinary action, we also ask (and answer) a football-language question about the verb ‘to drive‘, we look back at some predictions and highlight some of the football-language posts that we have recently posted on our site, including lots more World Cup resources.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek)
Football Language Quiz: To drive
DF: Let’s start with a football language quiz question. Now, in football there are two main meanings of the verb ‘to drive‘. One of these refers to a powerful shot – to drive a shot means to hit the ball hard, while to drive the ball home means to score with a powerful shot. Here’s an example from a recent post we did on the 1998 World Cup last-16 game between Argentina and England:
Gabriel Batistuta drove the ball powerfully past Seaman to put Argentina one up.
But what is the other meaning of ‘to drive‘ in football? Here’s a sentence to help you.
Almost immediately Michael Owen won a penalty after driving at the Argentinian defence and was then brought down by Ayala.
Which of the following does ‘driving at the defence‘ mean?
- To dive over
- To run directly at
- To dribble around
- To shimmy around
And we will have the answer at the end of the show. And just a reminder that you can test your knowledge of football and football language by coming along to languagecaster.com and clicking on the quizzes menu at the top of the page.
Stinger: Hi my name is Ahmed Adam. I support Al-Hilal Sports Club, that’s a side from the Sudanese Premier League and you are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek)
Football-Language: Disciplinary Action
DF: Right, next up we are going to explain a piece of language that has emerged from the week in football and this is the phrase ‘disciplinary action‘. This phrase, disciplinary action, is not a football expression in itself but in the sport it means that an organising body or boss of a team can give a punishment to footballers or coaching staff if they break the rules. The verb form is ‘to discipline‘ which means to hand out or give a punishment, so for example, the player was disciplined by their club for breaking lockdown. A disciplinarian is someone who is seen as rather strict and so we can hear the phrase a ‘disciplinarian coach‘ who is a strict coach, someone who is the opposite of a manager who ‘puts an arm around a player‘ which is another cliche describing a more approachable or personable coach.
Now, you will probably be aware of the protests in the USA this week surrounding the killing of George Floyd and you may have also seen that some footballers and clubs have spoken out in support of Floyd and of the Black Lives Matter movement which of course fights against racism. Borussia Dortmund striker Jadon Sancho was one of those players to do this when he revealed a message supporting George Floyd under his shirt after scoring in the recent game against Paderborn and though football authorities generally do not approve of players taking any stand on social or political issues, this time round the Bundesliga have stated that they will not take any disciplinary action against Sancho or other players in the league such as his Dortmund team-mate Achraf Hakimi, Schalke’s Weston McKennie and Marcus Thuram of Borussia Mönchengladbach who all made some form of protest after scoring. A really good decision from the Bundesliga.
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Predictions
DF: OK, it’s time for predictions and before we look ahead let’s take a quick look back at some of the games that took place over the past week. Bayern Munich continued their amazing winning run by easily defeating Fortuna Dusseldorf 5-0 which, after their win over Dortmund in Der Klassiker last week, means they now have a seven-point lead at the top of the table. The rest of the top five also all won, that’s Leipzig, Mönchengladbach, Leverkusen and second-place Dortmund – an interesting battle for Champions League places is taking place with only four points separating them.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich
DF: OK, let’s look ahead to next weekend’s matches and the big one involves Bayer Leverkusen against Bayern Munich. Leverkusen have won three of their last four matches and with Kai Havertz up front boast one of the best young players in Europe but he is still a long way off the leading scorer in Germany, Robert Lewandowski who has a remarkable 43 goals so far this season. It should be another win for Bayern but I think they may come unstuck here – maybe a 1-1 draw. Come along to the site and let us know what you think will happen in this and the other games in this week’s predictions.
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Football Language Quiz: To Drive – Answer
DF: OK, before we go let’s give the answer to the football-language question we asked earlier on in the show which was all about the verb ‘to drive‘. We wanted to know what was the meaning of the verb ‘to drive‘ from the example sentence:
Almost immediately Michael Owen won a penalty after driving at the Argentinian defence and was then brought down by Ayala.
So, which of the following does ‘driving at the defence‘ mean?
And the answer is number 2 – to drive at a defence which means to run directly at a defence and this kind of direct running can cause defenders to backpedal (so they are running backwards) and panic which is what happened in this example – they brought down Michael Owen in the box to concede a penalty.
Well done if you got that right and we’ll have another football language question next week.
Good Bye
DF: Now, before we go, don’t forget that you can contact us here at languagecaster through our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Come along to our forums, ask a question or just say hello at admin@languagecaster.com. Take care everyone – stay safe and we’ll see you soon. Bye bye.
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