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Learn English Through Football Podcast – 2019 AFCON, Copa America and Women’s World Cup Last 16:
DB: Well to tell the truth, Damian, apart from highlights, no I haven’t. The times of the Women’s World Cup games and the Copa America are not particularly good for Japan. How about you?
DF: I have seen some highlights from the Copa America and I will be watching the knock-out games this week although I’m not sure that I have access to watch the African Cup of Nations which is a pity! Right, what’s on today’s podcast?
Line Up
DB: OK, well, we look back at some of the good, the bad and the ugly from those three tournaments, then we explain some football language from the week – we will focus on the verbal phrase ‘to pick up‘ which has quite a lot of meanings. After that, we have another football-language question and then to finish, we’ve got some predictions where we look at three games – one from each of the tournaments currently taking place.
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Contact Us
DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster.com and that message was in Polish. Remember that you can contact us via our email at admin@languagecaster.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, while we also have a football-language forum where you can ask any questions. We also appreciate all of you who come along to our site and download our podcasts, which you can do via all the usual podcast providers, such as i-tunes, tunedin, podbean and stitcher.
And finally, please think about supporting us for as little as $2 a month via Patreon, that’s patreon.com/languagecaster. This support helps us pay for our site and keeps the audio of all our podcasts as well as access to our massive football glossary free. This week we are adding some worksheets about the African Cup of Nations along with lots more football language.
DB: OK, let’s kick off with a review of the football this week in the good, the bad, and the ugly. Damian, what was good?
The Good
DF: It’s been a good few days for the hosts in the three football tournaments currently taking place. Egypt opened the African Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe in Cairo thanks to a goal from Trezeguet, while Brazil thrashedPeru 5-0 to top their Copa America group. In the Women’s World Cup hosts France had to work hard to defeat a good Brazilian side 2-1 after extra time to qualify for the last eight. How about something bad, Damon?
Bad
DB: Yeah, good for those three teams. Well, I’m not a big fan of VAR, and VAR at the Women’s World Cup has been especially controversial with penalties given, penalties overturned, goalkeepers receiving yellow cards for moving too early – by centimetres – penalties being retaken… It also seems as though the referees are using VAR much more, even when decisions look clear cut. Any big decision now, offside in the build up to a goal, a foul in the box, the goalkeeper’s movement before a penalty, even a check to see if there was any problem with a goal seems to be sent to VAR. I understand that VAR is good for things like judging if a foul was inside the box or not, or if a player was offside or not when scoring or passing for a goal, but VAR is just an extra referee when it comes to deciding if a tackle was a foul or not, or if a player interfered with play in an offside position or not. Not a fan. What about ugly?
Ugly
DF: Well, I suppose the behaviour of the Cameroon players was quite ugly as they appeared to threaten to walk off the pitch in their 3-0 defeat to England after they had a goal disallowed for offside. The referee ruled Cameroon striker Ajara Nchout’s goal out after checking VAR just after the break, which would have made the game 2-1, leaving the Cameroon players very angry indeed. Although their manager claimed his players were not going to walk off the pitch, England manager Phil Neville was left unimpressed by the Cameroon side claiming that it ‘didn’t feel like football.’ Harsh words indeed.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French).
Football-Language Quiz: Disallowed goals
DB: OK, time for a football-language quiz question. This week, we’d like to know which phrase below means to not allow or to disallow a goal.
- The referee disagreed with the goal
- The referee didn’t rule the goal
- The referee ruled out the goal
- The referee overturned the goal
And we’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
You are listening to languagecaster.com (Greek fan).
DB: OK, next is our football language section. What phrase are you going to explain Damian?
Football Language – To pick up
DF: For this week’s football-language explanation I’m going to explain the different meanings of the verb ‘to pick up’. In football you can hear this verbal phrase quite frequently and I’m going to start with the phrase ‘to pick up the ball‘ or ‘to pick the ball up‘.
To pick up the ball
DF: Right, first of all this phrase is used to describe a player collecting or receiving the ball on the pitch and then starting an attack – they have gained possession of the ball and so can start a new attack. A player may pick up the ball outside their own penalty box, for example, and then drive forward to begin a counter attack.
To pick up a yellow card/a caution
This phrase also means to receive but instead of the ball it refers to a punishment from the referee – a yellow card (or caution). The player picked up a caution for a late tackle on an opposing player who had broken through the defence is another example.
To pick up a player at a corner
Another use of the phrase ‘to pick up’ involves marking another player which means to stand close to the opponent to prevent them from receiving the ball or doing something positive with the ball.
DB: Don’t forget that a keeper can pick up the ball – the only player on the pitch that can do this!
DF: Yes of course! The keeper picked up the ball and then kicked it upfield, where it was then picked up by the striker who was fouled by a defender – she picked up a yellow card for that offence and from the resulting free kick the attacking side scored a goal as the defender failed to pick up her player!
DB: Ha! Nice one. OK, it’s time for predictions.
Predictions: 2019 AFCON, Copa America and Women’s World Cup
DB: OK, first let’s take a look at the standings and jlacey’s lead has been cut to just one point after Aki picked up 6 points in the four knockout games so far. jlacey could only manage four. So, jlacey has 48 and Aki has 47. Behind those two are Paul on 43, Learn English Through Football – that’s you Damian – on 42, and Jon on 41.
OK, let’s take a look at some games from around the world taking place soon. Three games from three competitions, and we’ll start with Spain versus the USA at the Women’s World Cup.
Women’s World Cup Last 16 – Spain vs USA
DB: It’s hard to see Spain getting anything from this. 3-0 to the USA. Damian?
DF: Current holders USA took on Spain in the last-16 match today and most thought the Americans as favourites to get through. The Spanish side have played quite well in the tournament so far but I didn’t think they would overcome the Americans – and I went for 3-1 to the USA and it finished 2-1 in a really good game of football.
2019 Copa America – Japan v Ecuador
DF: If Japan defeat Ecuador they will have a chance to qualify for the last eight as one of the best third-place finishes so I’m going for a close victory for the Japanese side…maybe 2-1. Damon, what do you think?
DB: I agree with you. I think the Japanese side might pull off a famous win for them and go through. 2-0.
2019 AFCON – Ivory Coast v South Africa
DB: Right our last game, the African Cup of Nations and Ivory Coast taking on South Africa. To be honest, I haven’t got a clue, but based on past form, 2-1 to the Ivory Coast. You?
DF: Well, I agreed with you Ithought Ivory Coast should have too much for the South African side –and I went for 2-0 and it finished 1-0 to the Ivory Coast.
Answer – Football-Language Quiz Question:
DB: OK, let’s get the answer to the football quiz question. We wanted to know which phrase means to not allow or to disallow a goal. Was it –
- The referee disagreed with the goal
- The referee didn’t rule the goal
- The referee ruled out the goal
- The referee overturned the goal
Damian?
DF: Well, number 4 is close to the meaning but this verb, overturn, is used with a decision rather than just penalty – so, the referee overturned the penalty decision. The answer is number 3 – the referee ruled out the goal or ruled the goal out. And we’ll have another quiz question next week.
Goodbye
DF: OK, that brings us to the end of the show – we’ll be back next week when we’ll be looking at language that has come out of all three of these tournaments: the 2019 African Cup of Nations, the Women’s World Cup and the Copa America. Enjoy all the football.
DB: Yep, see you! Ta-ra!
the Copa America group stages are coming to an end and the 2019 African Cup of Nations kicks off this weekend! On this week’s show we take a look at some of the language that has emerged from these three tournaments and we also have a football-language quiz and look ahead to some of the upcoming games in our predictions section.
If you’d like the transcript to the show please show your support by becoming a patron (through Patreon). With the transcript you can improve your English by reading as you listen, or if you are a teacher of English you can use the transcript to make several activities for your learners. If you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damian=DF, Damon=DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast – 2019 AFCON, Copa America and Women’s World Cup Last 16
DF: You are listening to languagecaster.com’s football-language podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to the Learn English Through Football podcast for all those who love the beautiful game of football and for those who are aiming to improve their English language skills. My name’s Damian and I’m based in London where the weather is hot and humid as we’ve now reached midsummer and there is still lots and lots of football to watch! Here in the UK all of the games from the 2019 Women’s World Cup are being shown on terrestrial TV – that means the tournament is available for everyone to see and this means that I’ve seen quite a lot of games so far including a thrilling penalty shoot-out win for Norway against Australia and France and England’s wins today in the last 16 matches. I wonder if Damon has seen much football there in Tokyo Japan? Hi Damon.
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Now, as many of you know, we have created some additional resources for learners and teachers of English on our Patreon site, so come along to our site here at languagecaster.com and click on the Patreon button to check out how you can access these resources including, of course, the transcript and worksheet (with answers) for this report.
To see the rest of this transcript
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
