Podcast 54 - Euro 2016

Welcome

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Hi everyone. I’m Jack and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich: It’s a very exciting week this week because on Friday one of the biggest tournaments in world football finally gets underway. The European Championships in France kicks off.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English Podcast this week, we’re going to take a look at some of the players and some of the teams that are taking part.

Rich: And, we’ve got an exciting competition that you can take part in, too. And you can win a fantastic prize!

Jack: So, we’re talking Europe this week. But, before we talk more about that let’s catch up with what you’ve been chatting about on the website this week.

Social

Rich: Our football phrase last week was nutmeg! Which is when you play the ball through a defender’s legs and it can be a noun or a verb.

Jack: It’s also a spice that is often used in cooking. If you want to find out more about where the word comes from and why it’s used in football take a look at podcast 49.

Rich: Well done to Haydi from Tunisia and Kwesimanifest from Ghana who both got the correct answer. We’ll have a new football phrase for you at the end of this week’s podcast.

Jack: We had over 100 comments on the website last week, Rich.

Rich: That’s really great. We read all of your comments and we always try to answer your questions, too. But, it’s not only Jack and I that can reply to comments. You can reply to other users comments, too.

Jack: When you see an interesting comment that you want to reply to or a question that you think you can answer, or if you think you can help with someone’s English, just click the reply button. I’m sure everyone would be happy to get a reply from another user on the website.

Rich: And, if you want to know if someone has replied to your comment. Just click the button that says ‘send me emails when someone leaves a comment’.

Jack: Then, you’ll get an email sent to you when someone replies to your comment and you will be able to continue your conversation easily.

Rich: We have conversations and discussions on many different pages on the website and in the podcast from now on we’re going to take a comment from a different section of the website.

Jack: This week we’re looking to see if anyone can help Straikflaer a Manchester Utd fan from Russia. Straikflaer left a comment in our football vocabulary section on the page about The Cup. He’s not sure about the meaning of the phrase ‘cup tie’.

Rich: I think it’s the word ‘tie’ that causes confusion rather than the word ‘cup’. Anyway, we’d like to see if you can help Straikflaer. Find his comment on the cup vocabulary page and write a reply. Easy!

Latest news

Jack: So, the summer is here, in Europe anyway, which means holidays for some players, but not all, because over 100 Premier League stars are going to be playing in this summer’s big international tournaments.

Rich: The Copa America has already started in the USA. And later in the summer, there will be football at the Olympics in Brazil. But we’re going to focus on Euro 2016, which kicks off in Paris on Friday.

Jack: The European Championships is the biggest football tournament in the world after the World Cup and this year a record 24 teams, from across Europe, are going to take part.

Rich: The squads for all 24 countries have been announced and it’s the Premier League that will have more players representing their countries than any other league.

Jack: Each country has chosen a squad of 23 players, which makes 552 players and over a hundred of them come from the Premier League.

Rich: Another 28 players play in the Championship, the second level of English football another six play in Scotland and five play in League One, and one in League 2 - the fourth level of English football!

Jack: Yes, good luck to Luke McCullough who will play for Northern Ireland at Euro 2016 but usually plays for Doncaster Rovers!

Rich: So, in total, 146 players play their club football in the UK. That’s 26%! I think that’s amazing.

Jack: Nice maths, Rich.

Rich: I did the sums earlier!

Jack: And it’s your club Liverpool with more players at Euro 2016 than any other club. They have twelve players in France. They have players in the Belgian, English, Welsh, Slovakian and German squads.

Rich: I think Belgium are looking very strong. They’ve got a good chance of winning the tournament. But it’s not just Liverpool with a lot of players in France. Tottenham have eleven, and Manchester Utd and Arsenal both have ten.

Jack: In fact, the only team not to have any players at Euro 2016 is Middlesbrough. They can have a nice rest before the start of the season so might be ready to surprise a few teams when we get back to the Premier League.

Rich: Euro 2016 lasts for a month so what we’re going to do in this week’s podcast is just look at the group matches. There are six different groups of four teams and they play each other over the next two weeks.

Jack: The top two teams qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament, which is the final 16.

Rich: But there are only six groups?

Jack: Ah yes. Four teams that finish in third place will also qualify for the knockout stages. It’s quite complicated. I’ve added a link to the UEFA website for a complete explanation of how teams qualify for the knockout stages.

Rich: Right, so let’s take a quick look at each group. We want the teams in each group, Premier League interest and who you think will win the group. You go first - group A.

Jack: OK, we’ve got; France, Romania, Albania and Switzerland. There are lots of Premier League players in the French squad including; Dmitri Payet at West Ham, Kante at Leicester and Giroud at Arsenal and Tottenham’s goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. I think France, with the home crowd behind them, will win the group easily. It’s Albania’s first ever time at the Euros so they might spring a surprise or two.

Rich: In group B we have England, Russia, Wales and Slovakia. Lots of Premier League players here, of course, I think Harry Kane will have a good tournament and maybe Dele Alli. Wales have Gareth Bale, Liverpool’s Martin Skrtl captains Slovakia and Russia are always difficult to beat. We have to think England will win this group. Don’t we?

Jack: Group C has the World Champions, Germany along with their neighbours Poland, Ukraine and Northern Ireland. Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil will want a good campaign, Poland will probably have Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski in goal but Lewandowski is their big dangerman. You’d have thought Germany will win this group, but Polish fans would love it if they could beat the Germans. Northern Ireland? Sorry, no chance in this group!

Rich: Group D has the current European Champions Spain, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Croatia. It’s not an easy group for Spain who will have Manchester Utd’s David De Gea in goal and Manchester City’s David Silva, and Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas also in the squad. However, I think Spain will win the group as they look to hold on to their title.

Jack: Group E has Belgium, Italy, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland. Traditionally, Italy would be the favourites in this group but Belgium are currently ranked at number one by FIFA and have some excellent players. These players include Eden Hazard at Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku at Everton and Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City. Belgium against Italy is the key fixture in this group on June 13th. Italy are always great in tournaments and I actually fancy the Italians to win this group.

Rich: Finally group F. Here we have Portugal, Iceland, Austria, and Hungary. The Portuguese have never won this tournament but any team with Cristiano Ronaldo has a chance. Iceland are in the tournament for the first time and Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson will be hoping to have a good tournament. I’m going to go with Portugal to finish top with 9 points in this group.

Jack: Right, OK. So, our favourites are: France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. If those are the favourites which team is your dark horse, Rich. Which team do you think might cause a few surprises?

Rich: If I had to choose a dark horse, I’d go for Poland. I think with Lewandowski in attack they’ve got a good chance. What about you?

Jack: I think Turkey will do well. We’ll have to wait and see.

Competition

Rich: You said earlier that we have a new competition for everyone?

Jack: That’s right and you could win a Premier League football shirt for the new season. All you have to do is tell us which group in the Euros will have most goals scored by Premier League players in the group stage. Take a look at the groups below and then in the vote at the bottom of the page and choose which group will have the most goals by Premier League players .

Rich: But, remember if you want to win you have to register on the site before you vote. If you don’t register we won’t know who you are! And please ... only vote once.

Jack: we will choose a winner at random from the correct entries. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Football Phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, I have. This week’s phrase is to **** **** *****. It means to play for the first time or do something as a performer of some kind for the first time. In Euro 2016, Albania and Iceland are ****** ***** **** in the European Championships. Footballers **** ***** ***** when they play for their club for the first time.

Rich: Right, anyway that’s it for today - we’ve run out of time! Thanks for listening. And don’t forget to write your answers to our questions, and anything you want to say about the website or football English in the comments below.

Jack: And don’t forget, to enter the competition to win a football shirt at the bottom of this page!

Rich: If you sign in, you can win our competition but you can also score points to see if you can get your club, your country and your name to the top of our leaderboard.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!