Matchweek 33 & FA Cup: Extra-Time

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.

Rich: If you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

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

Rich: Let’s start with our headlines!

Headlines

Jack: Wolves stung by late Hornets comeback.

Rich: Watford staged one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks in recent history to make it to the FA Cup Final on the 18th of May. Goals by Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez had put Wolves in total control but with just 10 minutes left, Watford substitute, Gerard Deulofeu, scored with a lovely curling finish to give the Hornets hope. Then, in the fourth minute of injury time, Troy Deeney won and scored a penalty for Watford to send the match to extra-time. With the match looking like going to a penalty shootout, Deulofeu scored again to send Watford into their first FA Cup Final since 1984.

Jack: The quadruple still on for City.

Rich: Manchester City are still in with a shout of the quadruple after a 1-0 win against Brighton means they will be playing Watford in the FA Cup Final. A stooping header from Gabriel Jesus after only four minutes was enough to see off Brighton. The Seagulls battled hard but couldn’t find a way past a team that is still on course to win four trophies this season. 

Jack: Liverpool back on top in topsy-turvy title race.

Rich: Liverpool are back on top after a 3-1 win at Southampton. Liverpool didn’t have it all their own way and Southampton took the lead through Shane Long. But, Naby Keita equalised and late goals from Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson saw the Reds home.

Jack: That was one amazing match between Wolves and Watford.

Rich: Yes, it was a cracker. We often talk about the magic of the cup and that match was certainly magical.

Jack: So, do you think Watford will win the Cup?

Rich: No chance. City all day long!

Jack: What a party pooper you are!

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: to stage a comeback, extra-time, a penalty shootout, a stooping header, to see off, and topsy-turvy.

Jack: Let’s start with to stage a comeback. A comeback is when one team is losing and then scores to equalise or scores twice to start winning the game. Watford staged a comeback against Wolves.

Rich: We say staged a comeback. To stage something means to make something happen. This comes from the theatre where to stage a play means to make a play happen. Watford staged a comeback, they made the comeback happen.

Jack: So we can stage a comeback or also mount a comeback when we are talking about a football match. More generally, a comeback is to start doing something again after not doing it for a long time.

Rich: We often hear about pop stars from many years ago making a comeback. Going back to football, we sometimes talk about a player being on the comeback trail. This means they have been injured for a long time and are just starting to play again.

Jack: The next phrase is extra-time. You don’t see this in the Premier League - only in cup competitions. It’s the thirty minutes extra that are played if teams are level after 90 minutes. 

Rich: Watford beat Wolves after extra-time.

Jack: The next phrase is a penalty shootout. If the teams are still level after extra-time matches got to a penalty shootout. Each team has five penalties and the team who scores the most - wins.

Rich: The next phrase is a bit more difficult - a stooping header. A header is when you hit the ball with your head.

Jack: To stoop is an unusual word and is not very common. It means to bend your body forwards and downwards. 

Rich: So, a stooping header is when you head the ball with your feet still on the floor and bending your body forwards and down towards it. We’ve got a picture of Gabriel Jesus scoring with a stooping header for Manchester City on the lesson page for this podcast on the website.

Jack: The next phrase is to see off. In a football context, it means for one team to defeat another. Manchester City saw off Brighton.

Rich: More generally, to see off means to say goodbye to someone at a station or airport when they are going away for a while.

Jack: Our final phrase is topsy-turvy. It’s a funny sounding phrase. If something is topsy-turvy, it usually means it’s upside down. But it can also be used as a noun that means confusion. 

Rich: We described the Premier League title race as topsy-turvy. It’s confusing - Liverpool and Manchester City are changing positions all the time and we don’t know who is going to win it.

Football Awards

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

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

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

Rich: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some strong performances in Matchweek 33 and the FA Cup semi-finals.

Jack: Eden Hazard was amazing for Chelsea, Phil Jagielka rolled back the years as he scored the winner for Everton against Arsenal, and Jamie Vardy got two goals for Leicester.

Rich: But our Player of the Week is Watford’s Gerard Deulofeu.The ex-Barcelona player changed the game when he came on as sub and sent Watford through to the FA Cup FInal.

Jack: The next award is for Team of the Week. There were great wins for Liverpool, Leicester and Crystal Palace but our Team of the Week is Watford who came back from 2-0 down to beat Wolves.

Rich: Finally our Goal of the Week. There were some wonderful goal this weekend. Gerard Deulofeu for Watford, Mohamed Salah for Liverpool and James Maddison for Leicester.

Jack: But our goal of the Week goes to Chelsea’s Eden Hazard for his brilliant solo effort against West Ham. How many players did he go past? 

Rich: I think it was three.

Jack: I think he went past five! Watch the replay!

Matchweek Prediction 

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

Rich: Make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.

Jack: What’s the big match this weekend?

Rich: It’s another massive match at the top of the Premier League as Liverpool take on Chelsea. Chelsea are on a good run of form and are up to third in the Premier League. Eden Hazard is again showing why he is one of the best players in the Premier League. Liverpool are still winning and remain one point ahead of Manchester City at the top. They have to win this one and I think they will. Both teams have European matches in midweek - Liverpool play on Tuesday and Chelsea are away in Prague on Thursday. I think this could be the difference as well as Mohamed Salah being back on form. Final score 2-1 Chelsea.

Jack: I think Liverpool could drop points here. I think it’ll finish one all. 

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.