In this short football language podcast, we talk abut the phrase ‘not at the races’, along with some other football language. Check out our football glossary and football cliches pages for hundreds more explanations of the language of soccer. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments then please email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. Listening Report: Not at the Races DB: You’re listening to languagecaster.com. Hello there and welcome to this Learn English Through Football Podcast. My name’s Damon, one of the langaugecaster team, the other being Damian. We both hope you are all well and that you have been enjoying the start to 2021 and all the football that has been taking place. In England the FA Cup third round has just been played, while in Japan, where I am based, they have just had the All-Japan high school tournaments, which are always big events matches here. Talking of big  events, well, in South America the Copa Libertadores has reached the semi-final stages with the second legs being played when this podcast goes out. Will it be River Plate or Palmeiras from the first semi final and which of Boca Juniors or Santos will progress? Stinger: You’re listening to languagecaster.com (in Cantonese) Not at the Races Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that was in Cantonese. OK, on today’s show I’ll be talking about the phrase ‘not at the races‘, which is a phrase from the world of horse racing. So, the ‘races‘ in this phrase originally means horse races, so the day’s races at a horse racing event. Some famous races in England would be Cheltenham Races, Ascot Races, and so on. To not be at the races means to perform badly, to have no chance. Sometimes a horse in a race just does not want to run. The horse may have even been fancied, which means one of the favourites, but just does not perform. In football, the race is the match and if a team is not at the races, they, like the horse in the original phrase, does not play well and are usually beaten. This team’s fans will complain that ‘they just weren’t at the races today‘, or the commentator might also point out the team doesn’t seem to be at the races. Here’s an example taken from a picture title on talksport.com: “Lacazette’s equaliser gave the Gunners hope, but they were just not at the races.” The match was Arsenal versus Manchester City in the League Cup, a game that the Gunners lost 4-1 because they played so poorly. They just weren’t at the races. Stinger: You’re listening to languagecaster.com (Zaragoza fan) Out of the Traps DB: Another phrase, which is also about describing performances and is also from the world of gambling sports is ‘out of the traps‘. This phrase is from greyhound racing, dog racing. The traps are the cages the dogs wait in at the start of the race. The race starts, the traps open, and the dogs spring off chasing a fake rabbit.  If the dog is slow out of the traps – they start badly. If the dog is fast or quick out of the traps, they have a good start. In football, this phrase is used to describe how a team starts a game – well or badly. Usually the phrase is shortened a little from ̵...