Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:31 — 6.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Blubrry | Podchaser | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | Youtube Music | RSS | More
Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Latch on to
This podcast’s weekly football phrase is the verb phrase’ to latch on to’. This is used to describe a player controlling the ball. Read the transcript for this post below, and for more football language and vocabulary 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, then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Introduction
DB: Hi there everyone. Welcome to Learn English Through Football and our weekly football phrase. My name’s Damon. How are you? What’s the weather like where you are? Here in Tokyo it’s a bright, cold winter’s day. But more importantly, how did your team do? My team Liverpool now have three wins on the bounce, which is great form going into the festive period. Their last victory was in the Learn English Through Football derby, a 2-1 win over Damian’s team, Spurs.
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (a Tottenham Fan)
DB: Yes you are listening to LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com, and that message was from a Tottenham fan. I hope he is not feeling too down!
(to) Latch on to
DB: Right, let’s look at this week’s phrase phrase. ‘To latch on to‘ was used to describe a move by Mohamed Salah in Egypt’s game against Zambia at AFCON. Check out our podcast earlier in the week, where Damian takes a look at this competition.
Here is what I read in a BBC report: ‘… as the clock ticked into stoppage time it was Salah who latched on to a loose ball in the penalty area to poke home and seal three points for the seven-time champions.
So, Salah ‘latched on to a loose ball‘. To latch on to means to get control of the ball, and in this case, Salah got the ball, latched on to the ball, because an opponent made a mistake, he played a loose ball. So, the ball did not go to a teammate, and Salah was able to intercept the ball, and get control of it.
The phrase is often used with loose or careless ball. A mistake by the opponent allows a player to get the ball, to latch on to the ball.
Through Ball
DB: It is not always a mistake, or a loose ball, that allows a player to latch on to the ball. It could be a through ball from a teammate. A through ball is a pass that breaks the defensive line of the opposition: It goes through the defence. However, your teammate still has to recognise where the ball is going and make a run to latch on to it.
More Examples from the Media
DB: Here is an example from Yahoo Sports: ‘Alexander Isak latched on to a Florian Wirtz through ball and fired home at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.’
Here, Wirtz passed the ball behind the Tottenham defence, Isak ran into the space and got the ball, latched on to the ball and scored.
And here is one more from the Premier League’s website: ‘Brennan Johnson was flagged offside when he latched on to Richarlison’s pass to tuck home shortly after the hour.’
Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Danish)
DB: Thank you for that message which was in Danish.
And, if you can, please send us a message like that in your language. We’d love to get more languages on our show. Just record a message saying, ‘You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast’, and we’ll add it to the show. Our contact email is contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com.
Also, please share our link with a friend and give us a like on your podcast feed – it is really helpful for us!
DB: So, on today’s weekly football phrase ‘to latch on to‘ and how it is used with ‘loose pass‘ or ‘loose ball’, as well as ‘through ball‘. we I wonder if you will hear or read these phrases in next week’s footballing action. Let us know if you do!
Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll be back soon. Ta-ra!
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
https://languagecaster.com/football-language-glossary/
