Week 19: Vocabulary

Here are some words and phrases you can hear on this weeka€™s languagecastera€™s Good, Bad and Ugly section of the podcast – a review of the footballing news. For more English practice check out our worksheets, football glossary and English for football phrases.

• Remarkable: surprising, amazing, worthy of notice

Example: The new Mexican champions are Toluca who won the remarkable two-legged final against Cruz Azul on penalties 7-6.

• (to) Prevail: to win, to overcome, to succeed

Example: The ‘diablos rojos’, the red devils of Toluca, prevailed to win their 9th Mexican title overall and their sixth in the past ten years.

• (a) Tie: a draw, to be equal on points, dead lock

Example: Great for Argentinian fans as the Apertura season finished in a three-team tie after last week’s final matches.

• Unprecedented: unequalled, revolutionary, unheard of before, very unusual, exceptional

Example: San Lorenzo, Boca Juniors and Tigre all won to set up an unprecedented mini-league play off.

• Perilous: In a very dangerous situation, uncertain, risky

Example: A winless run of 11 matches – a club record – left Blackburn second from bottom and perilously close to relegation.

• Despite (the fact that): in spite of (the fact that). even though, regardless of

Example: Ince was sacked after only 21 games despite injuries to key players and the fact that two wins could lift the club up to mid-table.

• Currently: Now, at this time

Example: Bad for football as the short-term climate that we currently live in dominates again.

• (to) Clean up (your) act: to improve behaviour, to stop doing bad or illegal things,to become respectable

Example: Teams from the South-east Asian region have been told to ‘clean up their act‘ by ASEAN chief, Yap Nyim Keong.

• (to) Lead to: to result in

Example: There has been a history of violence in the area leading to Keong’s recommendation of sending coaches and officials on training courses.