You're listening to LanguageCasters
learning English through football podcast.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the show. For
all those who love the beautiful game of
football
and who want to improve their English language
skills.
My name is Damian, and I am based
in London
where the weather is cold,
very cold.
I wonder what the weather is like in
Tokyo
where the other member of the language caster
team Damon is based.
Language caster on to call.
That message was from one of our listeners
in Brazil,
and I know that he is a Vasco
da Gama fan. So I wonder which team
he wants to win
this season's Copa Libertadores
final,
which takes place this weekend.
We will be looking ahead or previewing that
game a little later on in the show
when we will also hear from Damon
with his predictions
on that and 3 other big games from
the weekend.
So in addition to that stinger from the
Brazilian football fan, we will have some more
stingers or
messages
in different languages throughout today's show.
See if you can guess what languages they
are. We'll let you know at the end.
Right. On today's podcast, in addition to previewing
the
final,
we will look at some language from this
week's Champions League group stages
to blow a lead.
And we will also explain the expression to
go top
along with some variations of this phrase.
We will also look ahead to some of
the big games this weekend in our predictions
competition,
including Der Classica
which sees Borussia Dortmund host Bundesliga leaders Bayern
Munich.
To blow a lead.
Manchester City have been going through a bad
run of form recently.
Five defeats in a row,
followed by a 3 three home draw in
the Champions League against Feyenoord.
This means that we can say that City
are in crisis.
Remarkably,
it looked as if they were going to
break their poor run when they went 3
nil up in the second half against their
Dutch opponents on Wednesday.
But they made mistakes,
switched off, and appeared to panic,
which allowed the Dutch side to stage an
amazing comeback and draw 33.
So, in this case, we can say that
Manchester City blew a lead. They blew a
3 goal lead to only draw the game.
When a team blows a lead in a
game, it is often because they are not
confident,
And Man City have been described by their
own boss, Pep Guardiola,
as being fragile,
which means they can easily break.
It seems so strange to see City like
this. They never used to blow leads,
and it could get even worse for them
as their next game in the Premier League
is against leaders Liverpool.
My name is Ortensia, and I'm from Zaragoza.
And I'm a real Zaragoza supporter,
and you're listening to langocasterdot
com. To go top.
We use the verb to go to describe
when teams move position in the table,
usually up the table, so their league position
changes.
So, for example, if a team in 2nd
place are one point behind the leaders
and they defeat the leaders in their next
game,
then they would go top of the table.
They would go up one position to
1st.
In the championship this week, Sheffield United beat
Sunderland in a top of the table clash
to go top.
They now lead the championship.
They are in 1st place.
We can also use other positions with this
verb. So not just when a team goes
top.
For example, Brighton drew with Southampton this week
to move up to 2nd in the Premier
League table.
They have gone 2nd in the table.
If my team, Tottenham, wins at home to
Fulham,
not a given considering how inconsistent we have
been,
then they will move up from 8th to
5th. They will go 5th in the league.
Now the big game in the Premier League
this weekend sees 1st against 2nd with Liverpool
taking on Manchester City.
If City win, they cannot go top as
they are too far behind the leaders Liverpool
who will be top at the end of
the day no matter what the result is.
The Reds will stay top at the end
of the weekend.
Another way of saying this phrase is to
move top or to move second.
What does to go top mean in other
languages? Is there a similar expression in your
language?
My name is Adam. I'm from Hungary. My
favorite favorite team is, Ferencevaras,
and you listen to language.com.
2024 copper
final preview.
The biggest game in South American club football
takes place this weekend
with the Commerball, Copa Libertadores
final between Brazilian sides, Botafogo
and Atletico
Mineiro.
The all Brazilian final means that the last
6 tournaments
will have been won by teams from Brazil,
a dominance which is
unprecedented.
This means that it has never happened before.
Atletico Mineiro have previously won the trophy back
in 2013,
while Botafogo have never won this competition,
but
are many people's favorites to win this season
in Buenos Aires at
the home of River Plate.
We'll be looking at some of the words
and phrases that emerge from this game in
next week's show. You can drop us a
line on social media to let us know
if you come across any interesting words and
phrases from the game in any language, of
course.
So you can find out more about some
of the words and phrases that we have
already discussed in today's show as well as
100 more football expressions and cliches
by coming along to our football language glossary.
Yep. It's predictions. And here's Damon with his
predictions for the week. Okay. Here are my
predictions for this week.
Last week, I only picked up 4 points
from a possible 15, so I hope I
can do better this week. I did get
the correct score and results for Athletic Bilbao
versus Real Sociedad. So it wasn't all bad.
It does leave me behind the guests and
Damien, though.
Here goes. The first game we have is
Borussia Dortmund hosting Bayern Munich.
The Bundesliga leaders, Bayern, have good form coming
into this game.
They are on a 7 game winning streak.
They've won 7 on the bounce in all
competitions.
Dortmund have home advantage and were boosted with
a good result against Dynamo Zagreb
in the Champions League. But
I still think Bayern will win this one,
two one.
Then there is the final of the Libertadores
Cup between Bottefogo
from Rio de Janeiro
and Atletico
Mineiro from neighboring state Minas Gerais.
Atletico
are in a slump in form going into
the final, while Botafogo
are riding high in the league. And I
think we'll win this 2 one as well.
My team, Liverpool, take on Manchester City on
Sunday. And despite a fantastic result
against Real Madrid this week and only losing
one game this season, this is gonna be
a real tough game as City
try to bounce back from a poor run
of form. However, I back the Reds to
sneak it 1 nil. In another Premier League
clash, I think Chelsea will comfortably beat Aston
Villa 31. The blues have hit their stride,
had some good results recently, and they look
quite an exciting team.
So those are my predictions. How about yours?
Thanks for those, Damon. I think I agree
with much of what you say, but I
have a feeling that City will bounce back
and win this game against Liverpool.
Sorry.
While I don't think Chelsea will defeat Villa,
but instead it will end in a draw.
Langaugecaster.com.
So if you want to let us know
your predictions or if you have any questions
or comments about any of the language from
today or any other football language, then drop
us an email at admin@languagecaster.com.
So please spread the word and give us
a like or a follow.
Languagecasta.com.
Yep. That message was in Thai.
We also heard some stingers in Italian,
Dutch,
Spanish,
Irish,
and French.
How many of those did you guess right?
Now, just before we go, we'd like to
let you know that we have been making
some changes at LanguageCaster.
In particular, some behind the scenes changes, which
hopefully means things will be a little quicker.
If you notice anything that's not working or
anything at all, then please let us know
also.
Thanks everyone for listening today.
We looked at the phrases to go top
and to blow a lead.
Let us know if you hear these words
in any language during this week's football.
And don't forget, there's a transcript for the
podcast with lots of vocabulary
support. Enjoy all the football this weekend, and
we'll be back early next week with a
new football language expression.
Bye bye.