Summer Tournaments: Eyes on Africa

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: Mahrez magic fires Algeria to the final.

Rich: Manchester City’s Riyad Makrez scored a stunning 95th-minute free-kick to send Algeria into the Africa Cup of Nations Final and break Nigerian hearts. Algeria took a first-half lead through an own goal but ex-Watford striker, Odion Ighalo, equalised from the spot for Nigeria but Mahrez had the final say.

Jack: Goalkeeping blunder sends Senegal to the FInal. 

Rich: An extra-time blunder by the Tunisia goalkeeper sent Senegal into the Africa Cup of Nations Final. Senegal missed a penalty and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane missed an open goal before the Tunisia keeper dropped the ball onto a defenders head and into the net for an unfortunate own goal. There was no way back and Senegal will play in only their second Final at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Jack: Transfer Window hotting up. 

Rich: This summer’s transfer window is hotting up with the new season only three weeks away. Some of the done deals include Aarao Wan-Bissaka from Palace to Manchester United for £50 million, Ndombele from Lyon to Tottenham for £53 million and Rodri from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City for £68 million.  

Jack: There are sure to be more transfer deals in the next few weeks.

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: to have the final say, a blunder, an open goal, transfer window, hotting up and done deal.

Rich: Let’s start with the phrase ‘to have the final say’. This phrase means to have the final words in a discussion or argument which ends the discussion.

Jack: We can say that a football match is similar to an argument. In the Algeria-Nigeria match, Riyad Mahrez had the final say because he scored with the last kick of the match.

Rich: We can say he had the final say or he had the final word.

Jack: The next word is blunder. When someone makes a blunder it means to make a horrible mistake or error.

Rich: It’s often used when goalkeepers make a mistake. The Tunisia goalkeeper made a blunder.

Jack: The next phrase is an open goal. An open goal is a goal with no goalkeeper in it so it’s a really easy chance to score.

Rich: Sadio Mane missed an open goal so he’ll be really happy that Senegal still won the match against Tunisia.

Jack: The next phrase is transfer window. This is the period of time when clubs can buy and sell players.

Rich: The summer transfer window opens at the end of the season and closes before the new Premier League season starts.

Jack: The next phrase is to hot up which is a phrasal verb that means to get more intense. We said that the transfer window is hotting up because more transfers are happening.

Rich: You could also say that a match is hotting up. This would mean it’s getting faster and more exciting, possibly more tackles and chances being created.

Jack: The final phrase this week is a done deal. You see this phrase a lot at this time of year and it means a business agreement that has been completed.

Rich: In football, we’re obviously talking about transfers and on many websites you can find a list of done deals for every Premier League club.

Jack: 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: to have the final say, a blunder, an open goal, transfer window, hotting up and done deal.

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. This week we’re concentrating on the Africa Cup of Nations.

Rich: We could go for Manchester City and Algeria playmaker Riyad Mahrez or Liverpool’s Sadio Mane but our Player of the Week is Idrissa Gueye. The Everton midfielder has played well for Senegal and scored a fine goal in the quarter-final.

Jack: The next award is for Team of the Week. The contenders are Senegal and Algeria and our Team of the Week is Algeria. Two tough matches against Ivory Coast and Nigeria to get through to the final is an impressive achievement.

Rich: And finally our goal of the week. It goes to Manchester CIty’s Algerian winger, Riyad Mahrez. A great free-kick to win the semi-final for Algeria and the timing of the goal wasn’t bad either!

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one big match and this Friday is the Final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Rich: And it has some nice Premier League connections, too. Senegal have Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Algeria have Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez.

Jack: I’m predicting Senegal to win 2-1. What about you Rich?

Rich: I’m predicting the opposite, Jack. I think Algeria will come out on top. Both teams have been really strong at the back throughout the tournament but I think Algeria have a little more in attack. Riyad Mahrez has been playing well but Sadio Mane has not been at 100%. And another important thing to remember is that Algeria have already beaten Senegal in this tournament. They beat them 1-0 in the group stage so I’m going to go for the same scoreline. 1-0 to Algeria.

Jack: You heard it here first! If you are going to watch the Africa Cup of Nations final 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.