World Cup Word of the Day. We are over half way through the group stages and teams are already going home while others have booked their passage into the last 16. Every day we bring you a word or phrase that has been part of the World Cup 2014 story. Today, Languagecaster focuses on the verb phrase ‘to latch on to’. Our previous World Cup Word of the day was to be flat.World Cup Word of the Day: To Latch on to
This phrase describes a player taking advantage of a cross, a flick on, or a loose ball, etc. To latch on to means to take the chance offered. A player can latch on to a through ball, latch on to a cross, latch on to a ball lost by the opposition and so on. The verb implies quick thinking and skill to bring the ball under control or to shoot.
- Example: Klose latched on to Howedes’ header to knock in German’s equaliser.
- Example: Asamoah Gyan latches on to a wonderful ball slipped through the middle by Sulley Muntari. (The Guardian live coverage, @9.22 pm)
That’s a nice one…It was one of my first words about football I couldn’t understand.