Matchweek 18: World Champions

Introduction  

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.

Rich: Hi there. I’m Rich. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: We want you to use and practise these phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

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Jack: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English Podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Jack: Our latest podcast is all about Christmas and it’s on the Premier Skills English homepage now. 

Rich: Let’s get on with our round-up of Matchweek eighteen with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Liverpool are World Champions!

Rich: Liverpool won FIFA’s World Club Cup for the first time after a tense 1-0 win over Flamengo from Brazil in the final. Roberto Firmino was the hero again. The Brazilian got the winner in extra-time. Firmino had also scored the winning goal in the semi-final. He scored an injury-time goal to defeat Monterrey from Mexico.

Jack: Manchester get the better of Leicester.

Rich: Manchester City came from behind to beat Leicester City 3-1 at the Etihad. Jamie Vardy put the visitors ahead but goals from Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus. Leicester remain 10 points behind Liverpool with Manchester City a point further back and Liverpool now have a game in hand.

Jack: Chelsea turn on the style at Spurs.

Rich: Chelsea and Frank Lampard beat Spurs and his old boss, Jose Mourinho by two goals to nil in a one-sided contest. Willian scored a brilliant first and then added a second from the spot when Tottenham’s keeper brought down Marcos Alonso. Things got worse for Spurs when Son Heung-Min was given a straight red for kicking out at a Chelsea defender.

Jack: There was also another win for Sheffield United who are up to fifth and a brilliant win for Watford, with the bottom of the table team beating Manchester United 2-0.

Rich: There were also good wins for Southampton, Newcastle, Burnley and Wolves.

Vocabulary alert!

Jack: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.

Rich: Our six words and phrases this week are: extra-time, injury-time, the visitors, a game in hand, to bring someone down and a straight red.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about Liverpool winning the Club World Cup in Qatar.

Rich: We said that Roberto Firmino scored the winner in extra-time.

Jack: Extra-time is only used in cup competitions. It is used when the scores are level after 90 minutes. The teams play 30 minutes of extra time.

Rich: In American English and North American sports like ice-hockey and basketball it is called overtime.

Jack: In the semi-final of the Club World Cup, Roberto Firmino scored the winner in injury time.

Rich: Injury time is the time the referee decides to add on at the end of the 90 minutes because of injuries and substitutions. In most matches, there are three or four minutes of injury time.

Jack: We often also hear the phrase additional time which means the same. A commentator might say something like ‘the fourth official has indicated there will be three minutes of additional time’.

Rich: Our next two phrases come from the match between Manchester City and Leicester City. We said Jamie Vardy put the visitors ahead.

Jack: The visitors is a phrase we use to describe the away team.

Rich: Manchester City were at home and Leicester were away from home or Manchester City were the home team and Leicester were the visitors.

Jack: We also said that Liverpool now have a game in hand on Leicester and Manchester City.

Rich: The phrase to have a game in hand means to have played a game less than your opponents.

Jack: When we are comparing a team to specific opponents we use the preposition ‘on’. We say Liverpool have a game in hand on Manchester City and Leicester City.

Rich: Finally, let’s take a look at a couple of phrases we used to talk about the Tottenham- Chelsea match. I said that the Tottenham goalkeeper brought down Marcos Alonso.

Jack: To bring someone down means to foul another player which results in them falling to the floor. We often use this phrasal verb to describe penalty incidents.

Rich: He was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot or the keeper brought him down and the referee gave a penalty.

Jack: Our final phrase is a straight red. We said that Son Heung-Min was given a straight red for kicking out at a Chelsea defender.

Rich: A straight red is a phrase which is used for a player being sent off for a foul that is not a second yellow card. It’s a very bad foul or a professional foul and the referee decides to send off the player immediately.

Jack: Quite often fans might say ‘that’s a straight red’ when they think a bad tackle deserves a red card.

Rich: OK, so there are our six words and phrases. Listen to this part of the podcast again if you are not sure how to use them.

Jack: The words and phrases are:  extra-time, injury-time, the visitors, a game in hand, to bring someone down and a straight red.

Football Awards

Rich: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

Jack: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

Rich: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices.

Jack: Let’s start with Player of the Week. Roberto Firmino scored winners in the semi-final and final of the Club World Cup, Danny Ings now has seven in seven for Southampton and Kevin De Bruyne was great for City again.

Rich: But our Player of the Week is Chelsea’s Willian. He got two goals but his all-round play was superb for the Blues.

Jack: Now Team of the Week. Watford beat Manchester United for their first win of the season, Manchester City and Chelsea were superb as were Southampton. 

Rich: But we have to give our Team of the Week award to the new Club World Champions - Liverpool.

Jack:  Finally, our Goal of the Week. We’re going to leave this one to you. We’re going to give you three options and you need to tell us which you think was best.

Rich: Goal number one: Willian for Chelsea against Spurs. The Brazilian went past a Tottenham defender and put a curler into the corner.

Jack: Goal number two: Jack Grealish for Aston Villa versus Southampton. It was only a consolation goal in the end but it was a Christmas cracker from Grealish.

Rich: Goal number three: Jamie Vardy for Leicester City v Manchester City. A brilliant breakaway goal from Leicester and Vardy but it wasn’t enough against the Champions.

Jack: OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? Let us know your choice and if you agree with our other weekly awards in our comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.

Rich: Last week I went for a Spurs win against Chelsea and I got that disastrously wrong.

Jack: There are lots of festive fixtures at this time of year. Which match are you going to look at this week?

Rich: Well, there will be two rounds of matches before we are back with you and I’m going to take a look at the battle between the top two: Leicester and Liverpool.

Jack: Of course, this week there is a full round of fixtures on Boxing Day - the 26th of December and then another set of fixtures this weekend.

Rich: Leicester take on Liverpool on Boxing Day. If Leicester want to be involved in the title race they have to beat Liverpool in this one. Manchester City will also be hoping for a Leicester win as both teams try to close the gap over Christmas. Liverpool will be on a high after becoming World Champions in Qatar but will all that travelling have an effect on the team? I honestly don’t think it will and I think Liverpool will have too much for Leicester. Final score: Leicester 0-2 Liverpool.

Jack: I have a feeling Leicester are going to win this one 2-1 and close the gap in the Premier League.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. Join the discussion at the bottom of the page on the Premier Skills English website. 

Jack: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.