Summer Tournaments: Off the crossbar

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: USA beat Netherlands to win World Cup.

Rich: The USA won the Women’s World Cup for a record fourth time as the defending champions beat the Netherlands by two goals to nil. Megan Rapinoe opened the scoring from the spot and Rose Lavelle made the game safe with a brilliant solo run and fantastic finish. A fitting final goal for the best team in the competition.

Jack: Brazil beat Peru to win Copa America.

Rich: Brazil won the Copa America for the first time in 12 years in a match that Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus will remember for a long time to come. Jesus brilliantly set up the first goal for Everton and then scored the second from the spot. Jesus was then sent off in the second half and also pushed over the VAR monitor as he left the pitch. However, that didn’t change the final result and Everton’s Richarlison killed off Peru with a last-minute penalty. It finished 3-1 to Brazil.

Jack: Mexico beat USA to win Gold Cup.

Rich: Mexico lifted the Gold Cup for a record 11th time after a 1-0 a win against the USA in the final in Chicago. Wolves striker Raul Jiminez set up Jonathan dos Santos with a backheel to score the winner off the crossbar in the 73rd minute. The Gold Cup crowns the continental champions of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Jack: Going back to the Copa America final. So, Everton scored for Brazil and Everton’s Richarlison also scored for Brazil.

Rich: That’s right - it’s a bit confusing, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be great if Everton signed for Everton?

Jack: If anybody else knows of a player who has the same name as a club, let us know in the comments section.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Jack: Our six words and phrases this week are: defending champions, from the spot, to set up, the VAR monitor, a backheel and off the crossbar.

Rich: Let’s start with the phrase ‘defending champions’. The defending champion is a phrase we use to describe the team which won the championship the previous year or time. 

Jack: The USA were the defending champions and they won the World Cup again; they successfully defended their title.

Rich: Manchester City defended their title last season and will be the defending Premier League champions again this season.

Jack: The next phrase is ‘from the spot’. The spot is the penalty spot and when a penalty is scored we often say she scored from the spot.

Rich: When we talk about a striker’s stats we often use this phrase. We say he’s got 23 goals this season - six of them are from the spot. Six of them are penalties.

Jack: The next phrase is to set up. We said that Gabriel Jesus set up Brazil’s first goal. To set up is a phrasal verb that means to provide an assist - the pass to the player who scores the goal.

Rich: OK, the next phrase is the VAR monitor. It’s not really a phrase it’s an object but we’ll be seeing it at Premier League matches next season so we need to know what it’s called.

Jack: The VAR monitor is the TV that the referee goes to at the side of the pitch to look at a replay to help make the right decision. 

Rich: The next bit of vocabulary is a backheel. We said that Raul Jimenez set up the winner for Mexico with a backheel.

Jack: A backheel is when you kick the ball with the back of your foot. The back of your foot is called your heel.

Rich: The final phrase this week is off the crossbar. The crossbar is the top, horizontal part of the goal. If a striker is unlucky a shot will hit the crossbar and go to a defender. If a striker is lucky a shot will go in the goal off the crossbar.

Jack: This means the ball hits the crossbar and goes into the net. We often hear the phrase ‘in off the crossbar’ or ‘in off the post’ when a goal hits the post or crossbar and goes in the net.

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.

Rich: The words and phrases are: defending champions, from the spot, to set up, the VAR monitor, a backheel and off the crossbar.

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. At the Gold Cup Chelsea’s Cristian Puisic won the young player of the tournament and Wolves striker Raul Jimenez won the player of the tournament.

Rich: At the Copa America Liverpool’s Alisson won goalkeeper of the tournament.

Jack: But our Player of the Week is the USA’s Megan Rapinoe who scored in the World Cup FInal, finished at the tournaments top scorer and won FIFA’s Player of the Tournament award.

Rich: The next award is for Team of the Week. The obvious choices are the USA, Brazil and Mexico but we haven’t spoken about the Africa Cup of Nations yet.

Jack: No we haven’t and there is a huge story happening there. There have been big surprises: South Africa knocked out Egypt and Benin knocked out Morocco.

Rich: But our Team of the Week is Madagascar. Madagascar have never played in the Africa Cup of Nations before and are into the quarter-finals after beating DR Congo on penalties.

Jack: Madagascar were 190th in the FIFA world rankings only five years ago. There are only 195 countries in the world so that’s some improvement!

Rich: Jack: And finally our goal of the week. It goes to Rose Lavelle who scored a great solo goal to clinch the World Cup for a record fourth time for the USA.

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one big match. The Premier League season is over, but there is still plenty of football.

Rich: Some of the big summer football tournaments have finished but the Africa Cup of Nations is not over yet. It’s reached the quarter-final stage.

Jack: There have been a few shocks in the tournament but there are some big teams still left. You thought Egypt would win but they’ve been knocked out by South Africa. South Africa face Nigeria in the quarters. Who do you think will win?

Rich: Yes, it was a massive surprise but I think South Africa will find it difficult against Nigeria. The Super Eagles have some great players especially in midfield with Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi. I think Nigeria will win 2-0.

Jack: If you are watching the Africa Cup of Nations let us know your opinions in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

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

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!