A Sniff – in this short podcast on the language of football we explain the phrase ‘a sniff’ and how it is used to talk about football. You can access the transcript of the show below, and also check out our huge glossary of footballing phrases here. We have hundreds of previous posts and podcasts too on our website. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students: Try a gap-fill activity for example. Learners of English can use all our resources for free.  If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com. Learn English Through Football DB: Hello there, everybody. Welcome to languagecaster and our football language podcast. My name is Damon and I’m originally from the UK but now I live in Tokyo, Japan. The other half of the team, Damian, is based in London. We are both supporters of Premier League sides: Liverpool for me and Tottenham for Damian. And our two teams will be meeting next weekend in the languagecaster derby! Who will have bragging rights I wonder? Both of us are hoping our teams can book a place in the Champions League for next season by finishing in the top four. I don’t think Liverpool have much chance of getting a place though. They will definitely need to beat Tottenham next week! The football language we are looking at today is connected with talking about chances. The phrase is ‘a sniff’. More after this message. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch) DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster and that message was in Dutch. (a) Sniff DB: OK, let’s take a look at our phrase for this podcast – a sniff. To sniff is a verb and it means to smell something; to use your nose to detect a smell. There is a slight difference between the two verbs to sniff and to smell. To sniff is the positive action of trying to catch the smell or fragrance of something. To smell is a little more passive, you just understand the smell. It’s a little bit like to listen vs to hear. the first needs effort. OK, but what has to sniff or a sniff got to do with football. Well, we need to think about hunting for this. Imagine hunting with dogs. The dogs are used to sniff for animals like rabbits, birds, deer, etc. When they catch the scent, when they sniff something, the hunt can start. Of course, there is no guarantee that the hunter will catch the rabbit, but there is a chance. The dog’s sniff leads to the chance, and we can use a sniff to mean a chance. I saw an absolutely fantastic compilation of football players, managers and pundits using the phrase on twitter – thank you @bryansgunn. Check it out by following the link on our site – languagecaster.com – or check out @bryansgunn on twitter. Here is a little piece of the audio from the tweet (audio). Give them a sniff Mostly, a sniff is combined with the verb ‘give‘, so to give a sniff. In the examples in the tweet I mentioned, it is mostly used in the negative. For example as a warning to team to not give their opponent a chance: Don’t give them a sniff. Or, still in the negative form, to say the defence was strong and didn’t give any chances away: We didn’t give them a sniff. Of course, if your defence was not so good, you may allow the opposition chances to score, so you give them a sniff. A little sniff If you only give small chances, you can say give a little sniff – you give...

This short football language podcast looks at the word ‘opposition‘ which is a way of describing the team that you are playing against in a match. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while 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.   Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'3SVTv3rgRd504GWQYYkpMw',sig:'a_hKrKUQlkMKZTfhnYa6JrC-AYdcjH73kS5UZFa4xgo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1251875395',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Hello DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m here in London the day after I went to see my team lose at home against relegation-threatened Bournemouth. This was a disappointing result for Spurs and for me as their opponents took advantage of a bad day at the office for the home side. Of course, the other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon who is based in Japan. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Japanese) Now, I hope we are all doing well and enjoying all the football even if you are a Tottenham fan! On this podcast we take a look at the word ‘opposition‘ which is used in football to describe the team that another team is playing against – it has a similar meaning to opponent which I mentioned at the start of the show. So, Bournemouth were the opposition for Tottenham’s game yesterday and they proved to be a tough opponent. And we will also be looking at some examples of this word to get a better understanding of how it is used in football. We will also look at some of the different forms connected to this word including  ‘opposing‘. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Bemba) Yes, that message was in Bemba from a football fan from Zambia and yes, you are listening to Languagecaster.com. Now, remember that in addition to this podcast, you can also access all of our other football-language podcasts – we have hundreds of them stretching back to October 2006. Come along to our site here at Languagecaster.com. Learning English Through Football Podcast Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Hungarian) Learn English through Football Language Podcast: Opposition So, the meaning of the word ‘opposition‘ is all about the other team (the opponents) in a game. The opposition refers more to a group of players (or a team) rather than an individual player – this would be an

It’s April 1st which in some countries is known as April Fool’s Day so on this football language podcast we look at the phrase ‘to fool‘ which can be used in football to describe a situation when a player can deceive another player. There is a transcript with this listening activity along with some vocabulary practice and you can also check out our football glossary and football cliches pages for hundreds more explanations of the language of football/soccer. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. Learning English Through Football Podcast: To fool Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ElV0ONMYSbty2XNkKkwUfw',sig:'pztGg3392Tz_w01Mr9sEqZKOJ7vy5z_5a7FamYdF8Fo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1247776380',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Learning English Through Football team. I hope we are all doing well and enjoying the football. I’m one half of the languagecaster team and I’m based in London, while the other member of the team is Damon and he of course is living in Tokyo in Japan. Now, today is April 1st which here in the UK is known as April Fool’s Day – a day when people play tricks on each other. And so on this podcast I am going to talk a little bit about the verb ‘to fool‘ and some of its other forms that are used in football. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Zambian fan). Now, don’t forget there is, of course, a transcript to go with this podcast – it’s great for teaching and learning English – and if you have any questions or comments about any of the football language in this report then you can contact us at: admin@languagecaster.com or ask a question on our football language forum. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Greek fan).   To fool Now, I mentioned that today’s focus will be on the verb ‘to fool‘ which means to deceive or to trick someone. So, for example in football there are many ways that teams and players can fool opponents by using different tricks and skills. A player can fool another player by maybe nutmegging them – by putting the ball through another player’s legs. We can also say that a player fooled the referee – maybe by diving or pretending to be hurt – so that the referee will give them the decision. The referee was fooled by the dive and awarded the penalty, for example.

The qualifying rounds for the 2024 European Championship tournament in Germany begin this week and on this short football language podcast we take a look at some of the language used to describe the qualifying rounds by focusing on some key numbers. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while 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. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'QoVGxIZdTGdoJ1lziRhypQ',sig:'X_wXZ5LBJvVQ0VfdB_hWPlil5zkeNBSY9qEvxSIyvZs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1345012991',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});   Learn English Through Football Language Podcast: 2024 European Championship Qualifiers in Numbers DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m here in London where spring has arrived finally, so this of course means it is wet and windy here in the UK! The other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon who regular listeners to the show will know is based in Japan. I wonder if he is starting to see any signs of Spring in Tokyo yet? He also posted a recent podcast on the phrase ‘to secure’ and looked at the expressions ‘to secure the title’ and ‘to secure the points‘ as well as ‘to earn’ – you can find this and lots of other resources on our Learning English Through Football site here at Languagecaster.com. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Czech) OK, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying all the football. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us Tottenham fans after the manager Antonio Conte appeared to have lost the dressing room after publicly criticising the players – you can come along to our site to explore the meaning of this phrase ‘lose the dressing room‘ in more detail along with hundreds of other football-related phrases in our glossary. Now, one of the phrases that we have talked about recently on our site is ‘the international break‘ which is a period of time when domestic football in some of the top leagues and divisions around the world takes a break as players go and play for (or represent) their countries in international competitions and friendlies. There are games taking place all over the world – there are qualifiers for the 2023 African Cup of Nations and for the CONCACAF Nations League – that’s of course for countries fro...

To secure – this short podcast on the language of football introduces the phrase, ‘to secure’, and words that this verb is used with in football. Check out the transcript of the show below. You also make sure you check out our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. Try a gap-fill activity for example. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com. Learn English Through Football DB: Hi there, everybody. Welcome to languagecaster and our football language podcast. Damian in London and myself in Tokyo have been publishing these podcasts since 2006. That was way back during the World Cup in Germany. Of course, we’ve just had the 2022 version of the World Cup, but football never stops and national teams around the world have been taking part in qualifiers for competitions this month, including in Europe. Teams are hoping to secure a berth in the Euro 2024 competition. It is this verb, to secure, that we will focus on today. It’s used in a variety of ways with different words, so let’s get started. But before we do, here is a message from a Norwegian fan of football. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Norwegian) DB: Brilliant! Thanks for that ‘you are listening to languagecaster’ message in Norwegian. (to) Secure DB: OK, let’s take a look at the verb secure and how I used it in the introduction to the show – to secure a berth. To secure, means to get, to reserve, to obtain, and berth is a place, or spot, so secure a berth in the Euro 2024 competition means to get a place in the tournament, to qualify. We also use ‘secure ‘ with other words, too. Let’s look at the Women’s Super League in England and this season, which is coming to an exciting end. Back in February, we had this in a report in Forbes: “Perhaps more importantly, they (Manchester United) are now six clear of Arsenal in fourth place as they seek to secure a top-three place and a berth in next season’s UEFA Champions League.” Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'w5gztJs4ScpD6Am5Ow9LxA',sig:'KHHcHUdqFp3GiN7nASQB9IkxqrJUnEe2RAIH4oRxnRo=',w:'594px',h:'420px',items:'1476291872',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); (to) Secure a place So, here we have the verb used with a place in the league, a top-three place. And the report also uses berth in the UEFA Champion’s League, so we have both uses: secure a place (in the league) and secure a berth (in a competition). Notice with place, or spot, the use of the position, so top-three place. In the men’s Premier League, team’s try to secure a top-four spot, and a top-six spot is usually enough for European football (to) secure points And this month, March, we have tottenham-hotspur-vs-leicester-city-womens-super-league-preview-gameweek-12-2023.html">this example in Vavel.com: “Goals from Ashleigh Neville and Drew Spence helped secu...

It’s St Patrick’s Day (March 17th) which, of course, is the Irish national day, so on this week’s listening practice report [from 2016] we take a look at some of the best ever Irish football stars. You can listen to the report by clicking on the link above, and you can also read the transcript of the report (below). There are also explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) at the end of the post. You can also practice your listening here with a gap-fill quiz. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.   Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dMItdOtbQOVi0YMyFcKF5A',sig:'Hrru4BEsHyrz7lGWTb8ePQGP_tYMVWNz2ePxv2kRmr4=',w:'594px',h:'387px',items:'1223462090',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Learn English Through Football Language Podcast: Irish Football Stars Ireland has a long tradition of football – the Irish Football Association was founded in 1880 and its first ever international match was against England in 1882. There are two football federations in Ireland currently – the Irish Football Association, that’s the IFA, and they oversee football in Northern Ireland, while the Football Association of Ireland, the FAI, organises football in the Republic of Ireland. Both teams have played in the World Cup on three occasions. Northern Ireland qualified in 1958, 1982 and 1986, while the Republic played in 1990, 1994 and again in 2002. Now, down through the years there have been many wonderful Irish players such as former Northern Ireland captain Danny Blanchflower, Ireland’s 1990 World Cup central defender Paul McGrath, playmaker Liam Brady and Norman Whiteside who was a young superstar in the 1986 World Cup and so in this week’s practice listening report we have four more footballing greats who played for Irish teams. George Best Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'BeFzj1qBQttCNJCBca3_yA',sig:'oMnuzxNxZem1EDtOXmfXFHJsrx9MfYD4R50QJwDVz-U=',w:'446px',h:'594px',items:'1238041065',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Belfast-born George Best was a forward with Manchester United and he helped them win the European Cup in 1967 in thrilling style. Best played only 37 times for Northern Ireland and never played at a major championship with his international side but he was still regarded as one of the greatest ever players to have played the game. Indeed, when Best passed away in 2005, Diego Maradona said of the Manchester United winger, ‘He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his team-mates. I actually think we were very similar players – dribblers who were able to create moments of magic’. High praise indeed. Roy Keane

 This short podcast on the language of football introduces the phrase, ‘between the sticks’, which is a phrase used to talk about goalkeepers. Check out the transcript of the show below. You also make sure you check out our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. Try a gap-fill activity for example. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com. Learn English Through Football DB: Hello everybody. My Name’s Damon and you are listening to the podcast for all those interested in the language of football and in learning English, languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. Spring has sprung here in Tokyo. Blue skies, flowers blooming, and cherry blossom viewing season around the corner. This is also the season when the Champions League starts to get serious. I wonder if Damian, based in London and the other half of the languagecaster team watched Manchester City put seven past RB Leipzig in their last 16 match. You’ve got to feel sorry for the goalkeeper in that situation, haven’t you! The phrase we are going to look at today – between the sticks – is about goalkeepers. And, we’ll look at a few other words and phrases connected with this theme too. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German) DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in German. Send in an audio of you introducing languagecaster.com or your favourite team in your language and we’d be happy to add it to our podcast. Just send an audio file to admin@languagecaster.com. Between the Sticks OK, let’s talk about ‘between the sticks‘. Basically this refers to the goal. The two posts and crossbar that make the goal can be called the sticks, although usually only when part of this phrase. A stick, of course, is a piece of wood, and the sticks here, are the wooden frame of the goal. In the past, the goals were wooden, not man-made as they are now. And between the sticks means to be the goalkeeper, whose position is between the posts and under the crossbar. So, recently the Chronicle Live used ‘Loris Karius will likely line up between the sticks for Newcastle United this weekend’ to say they thought that the ex-Liverpool player, Karius, would play in goals for the team. More generally, we simply would say Karius might play in goal or be in goal, but the phrase be between the sticks is not unusual. Shot Stopper One type of goalkeeper that you might find between the sticks is a shot stopper. This description is positive and negative. It is positive because it means the goalkeeper is good at stopping shots, saving shots. It can also be a bit negative, too, because it may mean the other parts of the goalkeeper’s game are not so strong. Maybe they are not good with the ball at their feet. Maybe they can’t distribute, pass, the ball well. Or maybe they aren’t so strong when it comes to corners or free kicks. Got a Rick in Him/Her Finally, if a goalkeeper makes a mistake fairly often, we can say they have got a rick in him or her. A rick‘ in this phrase means a mistake, so it means we cannot rely on the keeper because they sometimes, or quite often,

This short football language podcast looks at the phrases ‘to be outclassed‘ and ‘to outclass‘. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while 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.   Hello DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m here in a bright but cold London, while of course, the other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon who is based in Japan. I hope we are all doing well and enjoying all the football even us long-suffering Tottenham fans! On this podcast we take a look at a phrase ‘to be outclassed‘ that was used recently in a BBC match report on the Champions League game between Bruges and Benfica. We can use this verb to highlight the more dominant or stronger team (to outclass another side) or more commonly to refer to the team that has been outplayed or who has performed badly against their opponents (this isto be outclassed). Now, remember that you can also access all of our other football-language podcasts – we have hundreds of them stretching back to October 2006 – by coming along to our site here at Languagecaster.com. Learning English Through Football Podcast Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French) OK, let’s take a look at the phrase to be outclassed. Outclassed Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'MFh8mSoYSm9iF0Q6a4wy_g',sig:'DfdxZfW23007R3cwF01-SmrUWJy90OGS_ih8Mj3LhhE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1247167925',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); So, as I mentioned before, I’ll be looking at the phrases ‘outclassed‘; ‘to be outclassed‘ or ‘to outclass‘ after a BBC report used them to describe Belgian side Bruges’ recent poor performance. In the recent Champions League last-16 first leg match between Belgian side Bruges and Portuguese team Benfica the phrase ‘outclassed‘ was used to describe the Belgian side who were easily beaten by Benfica despite being at home – they lost 0-2 and look like they will almost certainly not make the quarter-finals. If one team outclasses another team it means that they are much better than their opponent; they are far superior to their opponents in every way and they easily win the game – maybe even by a large scoreline. To be outclassed means that your own team has not played well at all and that the other team ...

In this short podcast on the language of football, we talk about a football cliche used to describe a player’s actions. The phrase is ‘saw their name in lights’. Check out the transcript of the show below. You also make sure you check out our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. Try a gap-fill activity for example. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com. Learn English Through Football: Saw Their Name in Lights DB: Hi there and welcome to languagecaster.com. This is the website and podcast for all those interested in the language of football and in learning English. My name’s Damon and I’m based in a beautiful sunny Tokyo today. Spring is right round the corner! Damian, based in London, will have a spring in his step I imagine after his team Tottenham beat London rivals, Chelsea, 2-0. I am sure he is very happy with that result. Check out his latest podcast, on the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup Final, and the phrase ‘open the scoring‘. And well done to Madrid on more silverware for their trophy! OK, the phrase we will focus on today is a cliche, and it is usually used to describe a situation when a player has a chance to do something great but fails. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian) Saw Their Name in Lights DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in Italian. If you’d like to hear ‘You are listening to languagecaster.com‘ in your language, just record it and send the audio to admin@languagecaster.com. So, the phrase see your name in lights is what we will focus on today, and it means to be famous and successful. The lights refers to the signs on theatres advertising the latest big shows. The title of the show or movie is surrounded by bright lights. Usually, it will have the names of famous actors, too. So if someone says, your name is in lights, it compares you to a famous actor who has his or her name on the front of a famous theatre. In football, it is used very often when a player attempts a spectacular shot. Perhaps they are 25-30 yards from goal, or they try an overhead kick from far out. If they score, it will be a fantastic goal, and they will be the player of the match, the talking point for fans and journalists. 99 times out of a 100 these spectacular attempts fail, and the shot misses the goal completely. In this situation you may hear the commentator say, ‘He saw his name in lights there‘ or ‘She saw her name in lights, didn’t she!‘ The inference is they should have done something more sensible and the missed shot was quite funny. Here is an example from the BBC of how this cliche is used: Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino “saw his name in lights” in front of the Kop when he missed a glorious late chance against Arsenal, according to Everton Women and England forward Izzy Christiansen. The Reds toiled against the resolute 10 men of Arsenal but Minamino had the perfect opportunity to win the game, only to blaze over from seven yards.

This week’s football language podcast looks back at some of the language from the 2022 World Club Cup final between Real Madrid and Al-Hilal. We’ll be looking at some phrases from The Guardian newspaper report on the high-scoring final including, ‘close range‘; ‘open the scoring‘ and ‘extend their lead‘. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while 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.   Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'cA7l_dGMSh94_t4AyXsa1Q',sig:'J4xoN0nL7GPoHm_wlxQPDrnua5qb5_SaNEWD8V77ViM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1465132919',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Hello DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m here in London, while of course, the other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon who is based in Japan. Now, on today’s short podcast I will be looking back at the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup final that recently took place in Morocco between Real Madrid and Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal. We’ll be explaining some of the words from a news report from The Guardian newspaper, including the expressions: ‘close range‘; ‘open the scoring‘ and ‘extend their lead‘. Now, remember that you can also access all of our other football-language podcasts – we have hundreds of them stretching back to October 2006 – by coming along to our site here at Languagecaster.com. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Al-Hilal SC (Sudan) fan) 2022 FIFA Club World Cup The 2022 Club World Cup took place recently in Rabat in Morocco with Real Madrid winning their fifth world title (plus three more intercontinental titles) – that’s the most by any team – as the European club champions defeated Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, the Asian champions, 5-3 in the final. Madrid had easily beaten Al Ahly from Egypt 4-1 in the semi finals, while Al-Hilal shocked the Copa Libertadores winners Flamengo, beating the Brazilian team 3-2 to become the first team from Saudi Arabia to reach the final. Now, the competition will use a different format from 2025 with FIFA organising a 32-team tournament which is causing lots of controversy at the moment. But, let’s take a look at some of the phrases from the report on this year’s final.