Medium: Comeback

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase comeback. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is comeback.

Jack: Don’t go away. Come back! Come back can be a phrasal verb which means return. 

Rich: He came back very late last night will often mean that he returned home very late last night.

Jack: In a football match a team can come back to win. This happens when a team is losing at one point in the match and wins in the end.

Rich: A team might come back to win 2-1 or 3-2 for example.

Jack: But in this episode, we’re going to concentrate on the noun comeback, not the phrasal verb. 

Rich: Comeback is a compound noun - a compound noun is a word that is made from two or more individual words. In this case, come and back.

Jack: It can be used in a number of ways but let’s start with how it’s used in football. It has the same meaning as in the example we have just used.

Rich: It’s used to describe how a team was losing but won in the end. 

Jack: To win from a losing position. Manchester Utd staged a great comeback when they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win against Manchester City last week.

Rich: Notice the collocation we use with comeback. A team stages a comeback. Manchester United staged a great comeback.

Jack: When talking about football we also often say a team produced a great comeback. Manchester United produced a great comeback to win 3-2.

Rich: We said earlier that the phrasal verb come back is used to mean return. 

Jack: The noun comeback is often used in this way. We often talk about singers or pop groups who make a comeback.

Rich: A singer may have retired or not done anything for a few years and then makes or stages a comeback.

Jack: A singer might produce a comeback album or have a comeback tour.

Rich: When a footballer is injured we often say that a player is on the comeback trail. This is used to describe a player that has been injured for a while and is now on their way back to fitness - on the path towards fitness.

Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

• What's the best comeback you can remember?

Write your answers in the comments section below.