World Cup & Fantasy Football
World Cup & Fantasy Football
Welcome to This Week from Premier Skills English, a weekly review of football action for learners of English from across the globe. In This Week, Jack and Rich round-up events from Russia as the World Cup comes to an end. They also announce the winners of our World Cup Prediction Competition. In addition to this, Rich and Jack have news about the Premier League's Fantasy Football competition and the Premier Skills League they would like everyone to join.
Transcript
Introduction
Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our Monday round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.
Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. That’s right. We’re back with This Week to discuss all the latest football action.
Rich: This week we’ve got lots to discuss; the World Cup, the Premier League, Fantasy Football and the winners of our prediction competition.
Jack: And of course, we want you to practise your English and interact with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.
Rich: You can do this on the Premier Skills English website or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page.
Jack: Let’s start with this week’s headlines!
Headlines
Rich: Vive la France!
Jack: France beat Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup Final in Moscow to lift the trophy for a second time. One of the best finals in recent memory saw France come out on top against a strong Croatian team. Well done to Les Bleus!
Rich: Modric wins the Golden Ball.
Jack: Croatia’s Luka Modric won the World Cup Best Player award for his amazing performances in Russia. The midfielder ran more than any other player during the World Cup - 62.9 kilometres!
Rich: Kane gets the boot and Courtois the glove.
Jack: Tottenham’s Harry Kane won the Golden Boot for finishing top scorer at the World Cup. He scored six times for England. And, Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper at the tournament. Courtois kept three clean sheets for Belgium.
Competition
Rich: Before we move away from the World Cup, we need to announce the winners of our World cup competition.
Jack: Yes, we do and it’s been a lot of work. You all made a lot of predictions and I’ve been calculating who made the best predictions out of all 64 matches that were played at the World Cup.
Rich: Remember you scored one point for the correct result and three points if you predicted the right score. So Jack, do we have a winner?
Jack: Yes, we do. With 55 points, the winner of the Premier Skills English World Cup Prediction competition is nw2425 from UK.
Rich: In second place with 53 points is Ahmed Adam from Sudan.
Jack: In third place with 52 points is uchiko13 from Georgia.
Rich: And in joint fourth place with 43 points are Elghoul from Algeria, Liubomyr from Ukraine and euvalaka from the UK.
Jack: Well done to all of you. We will be in contact with you today so check your emails!
Rich: And thanks to the hundreds of you that entered the competition - we will have some new, exciting competitions soon.
Fantasy Football
Rich: So, the World Cup is all over. I don’t really know what to do. Maybe I could do some gardening?
Jack: Gardening? You’ve never done any gardening in your life! Anyway, the Premier League kicks off in less than a month!
Rich: Brilliant. And speaking of the Premier League we need to tell everyone about our plans for the new season.
Jack: Let’s start this week with Fantasy Football because we want to get as many people to join the Premier Skills league on the Premier League’s Fantasy Football competition as possible!
Rich: What is Fantasy Football?
Jack: Good question! It is the Premier League game where you can choose your own Premier League team and compete against other people or managers from around the world.
Rich: That’s right. You get £100 million to spend on players from any Premier League team. Each week your players score points depending on what really happened in the Premier League.
Jack: And you can play against friends in private leagues and that’s where Premier Skills English has its league.
Rich: Last season, we had over 200 players from over 40 different countries in our league and this season we want to get even more.
Jack: To join our league you need to sign up for fantasy football on premierleague.com, choose your players and then join our league.
Rich: We’ve put all the information you need on the page below this podcast on the Premier Skills English website.
Jack: If you have any questions about how to join the game, write a message in the comments section at the bottom of the page or send us an email at premierskills@britishcouncil.org
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.
Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.
Roundup
Did you enjoy Russia 2018?
France beat Croatia 4-2 in one of the best World Cup Finals in recent memory. Tottenham's Hugo Lloris captained Les Bleus to the World Cup trophy for the second time. Croatia fought bravely but will have to be happy with a first-ever World Cup Final. The tournament in Russia has been seen as a great footballing success with great goals, great matches and lots of surprises. Croatia's Luka Modric was named Best Player, England's Harry Kane won the Golden Boot and Belgium's Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove. Who would have predicted that before the World Cup started?
Competition
Who won the Premier Skills English Prediction Competition?
Hundreds and hundreds of you entered the Premier Skills English World Cup Prediction Competition. We hope you all enjoyed the competition and we will have new competitions soon.
Congratulations to nw2425 from the United Kingdom. You are the winner of the Premier Skills English World Cup Prediction Competition. Here is the complete list of prize winners:
| Username | Country | Points |
| NW2425 | United Kingdom | 55 |
| Ahmed Adam | Sudan | 53 |
| Uchiko13 | Georgia | 52 |
| Liubomyr | Ukraine | 43 |
| Elghoul | Algeria | 43 |
| Euvalaka | United Kingdom | 43 |
Fantasy Football
Have you ever played Fantasy Football?
Fantasy Premier League is the free game from the Premier League that gives everybody the chance to be a Premier League manager. On the Premier Skills English website, we give learners of English a chance to talk about Fantasy Football and learn more football English. We also have our own Premier Skills League on the Fantasy Premier League game. Last season, we had over 200 'managers' from over 40 countries and this season we would like to get more of you to join!
If you want to play Fantasy Premier League, you can sign up for free on the Premier League website. If you want to join the Premier Skills Private League, this is the code you need: 553220-118684
For the last two seasons, Gerardo Lopez Lozada from Mexico has been our Premier Skills Fantasy Football Champion. Can you stop him from winning again?
If you want to find out more about how to play Fantasy Football, you can find out more here.
Five Questions
What's your opinion?
Jack and Rich have spoken about the World Cup. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions below and tell us what you think. Write your answers in the comments section below.
- What was the best match/goal of the World Cup?
- Was France the best team at the World Cup? If not, which team was?
- Who was the best player?
- What was the biggest surprise in the World Cup?
- What was the best moment of Russia 2018?
Don't forget to reply to fans of different clubs from different countries. Let's create a community!
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Comments
18/03/2022
points
Phrases
• I generally and immediately, move away from a person who starts talks nonsense.
• Portfolio value is all over after market crash and it has to be restore over all again. Maybe fantasy football budget (One hundred million pound) could be spent on to bring it back.
18/03/2022 16:37
Tottenham Hotspur
5550
Phrases
• I generally and immediately, move away from a person who starts talks nonsense.
• Portfolio value is all over after market crash and it has to be restore over all again. Maybe fantasy football budget (One hundred million pound) could be spent on to bring it back.
20/08/2018
points
1. I think the best match in the World Cup was the one between Argentina and France for the round of 16, and Pavard's goal was hands down the best one in the world cup.
2.Yes, they are a very young and skilled team and reached the EURO 2016 final, but honestly I think Croatia deserved to win this World Cup.
3. In my opinion the best player was Luka Modrić.
4. I think the biggest surprise was the Croatian team in the final.
5. I agree with Felipredas, the best moments of Russia 2018 were the eliminations of Argentina and Germany.
20/08/2018 15:00
Manchester United
10
1. I think the best match in the World Cup was the one between Argentina and France for the round of 16, and Pavard's goal was hands down the best one in the world cup.
2.Yes, they are a very young and skilled team and reached the EURO 2016 final, but honestly I think Croatia deserved to win this World Cup.
3. In my opinion the best player was Luka Modrić.
4. I think the biggest surprise was the Croatian team in the final.
5. I agree with Felipredas, the best moments of Russia 2018 were the eliminations of Argentina and Germany.
26/07/2018
points
1. The goal of the French player Pavard against Argentina.
2. I think that France was between the top 3 favorite teams to win the FIFA World Cup.
3. To me, the best player of the World Cup was Kylian Mbappé.
4. The Croatia's team in the Final was the biggest surprise in the World Cup.
5. The elimination of the Argentina and Germany teams.
26/07/2018 03:40
Liverpool
45
1. The goal of the French player Pavard against Argentina.
2. I think that France was between the top 3 favorite teams to win the FIFA World Cup.
3. To me, the best player of the World Cup was Kylian Mbappé.
4. The Croatia's team in the Final was the biggest surprise in the World Cup.
5. The elimination of the Argentina and Germany teams.
23/07/2018
points
Correct me
My Premier League fantasy team is full of English players
My team name England Team WC
Captain: Harry Kane ( Tottenham Hotspur)
23/07/2018 13:40
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1084
Correct me
My Premier League fantasy team is full of English players
My team name England Team WC
Captain: Harry Kane ( Tottenham Hotspur)
24/07/2018
points
Hi Anhduongspurs,
I can see your team in the Premier Skills League on the Fantasy Premier League Game. Good luck!
The only correction to make is that you have forgotten a verb in the second line.
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
24/07/2018 08:46
Liverpool
594
Hi Anhduongspurs,
I can see your team in the Premier Skills League on the Fantasy Premier League Game. Good luck!
The only correction to make is that you have forgotten a verb in the second line.
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
23/07/2018
points
1 - The best match was France 4-3 Argentina.
2 - No, I think that the France was more consistent but the best team was Belgium .
3 - I agree with the choose the Lucka Modric, because He played very well and will stay for the history of your country.
4 - The biggest surprise was Germany and Russia .
5 - The besta momente was the Panama's goal, It was very exciting to see the celebration of the fans.
23/07/2018 02:16
Arsenal
18
1 - The best match was France 4-3 Argentina.
2 - No, I think that the France was more consistent but the best team was Belgium .
3 - I agree with the choose the Lucka Modric, because He played very well and will stay for the history of your country.
4 - The biggest surprise was Germany and Russia .
5 - The besta momente was the Panama's goal, It was very exciting to see the celebration of the fans.
20/07/2018
points
Correct me.
The Best match I think was Brazil against Belgium. The pace of that game was arguably the fastest in the whole tournament, we saw how the ball went out of play on very rare occasions. In that match a scorning chance was created almost every two minutes. Really, really an exciting game.
If we mean by best team, the team that played beautiful, entertaining football and created lots of chances, then France honestly wasn't the best team, but definitely the most clinical. The best team was actually Belgium, but they wasted so many clear chances, sometimes even easy tap-ins. In football the most difficult thing is scoring a goal because you'll sometimes go through tough times that you even have to score from half chances and that's what France exactly did.
Lucka Modric was without doubt the best player. And players like Hazard, Coutinho and Mbape also had a great tournament. However, if I had to pick the worst player, It'd possibly be Mesuit Ozil. He was much more slower than a tortoise!
There were 2 big surprises. The first one was Germany's group stage elimination. The second one was Croatia making it to the final for the first time in their history, but Germany's I think was the biggest. Liubomyr actually predicted that Germany might be knocked out before the tournament kickoff!
The best moment in Russia 2018? In my opinion, the best moment was when Croatia made it to their first ever final. Lots of Croatian fans were in tears. That was absolutely sensational.
20/07/2018 15:36
Liverpool
2903
Correct me.
The Best match I think was Brazil against Belgium. The pace of that game was arguably the fastest in the whole tournament, we saw how the ball went out of play on very rare occasions. In that match a scorning chance was created almost every two minutes. Really, really an exciting game.
If we mean by best team, the team that played beautiful, entertaining football and created lots of chances, then France honestly wasn't the best team, but definitely the most clinical. The best team was actually Belgium, but they wasted so many clear chances, sometimes even easy tap-ins. In football the most difficult thing is scoring a goal because you'll sometimes go through tough times that you even have to score from half chances and that's what France exactly did.
Lucka Modric was without doubt the best player. And players like Hazard, Coutinho and Mbape also had a great tournament. However, if I had to pick the worst player, It'd possibly be Mesuit Ozil. He was much more slower than a tortoise!
There were 2 big surprises. The first one was Germany's group stage elimination. The second one was Croatia making it to the final for the first time in their history, but Germany's I think was the biggest. Liubomyr actually predicted that Germany might be knocked out before the tournament kickoff!
The best moment in Russia 2018? In my opinion, the best moment was when Croatia made it to their first ever final. Lots of Croatian fans were in tears. That was absolutely sensational.
19/07/2018
points
1. The best match was Spain 3-3 Portugal, too bad they both left early.
2. France was the best team in the World Cup, but Belgium showed a more involving football.
3. Eden Hazard
4. Croatia was a big surprise, but nothing beats South Korea by eliminating Germany.
5. Russia vs Croatia ET
19/07/2018 06:45
Liverpool
36
1. The best match was Spain 3-3 Portugal, too bad they both left early.
2. France was the best team in the World Cup, but Belgium showed a more involving football.
3. Eden Hazard
4. Croatia was a big surprise, but nothing beats South Korea by eliminating Germany.
5. Russia vs Croatia ET
18/07/2018
points
1) I think the best match of the tournament was the game Brazil vs Belgium because when Belgium was ahead in the scorer, Brazil attacked and attacked but couldn't score.
2) I think the best team in the World Cup was Belgium because they played very well in all the matches even when Belgium was defeatten for France.
3)I consider the best player of the competition was Luka Modric because he led his team to the final game and was a key player in his team.
4)I don't have any doubt of saying that Croatia was the surprise of the World Cup.
5)I think the best moment of the tournament was when Croatia scored the goal of the draw against Russia because they reached it in the end of extra time and after that they went into the next stage beat Russia in the penalties.
18/07/2018 00:07
Liverpool
2846
1) I think the best match of the tournament was the game Brazil vs Belgium because when Belgium was ahead in the scorer, Brazil attacked and attacked but couldn't score.
2) I think the best team in the World Cup was Belgium because they played very well in all the matches even when Belgium was defeatten for France.
3)I consider the best player of the competition was Luka Modric because he led his team to the final game and was a key player in his team.
4)I don't have any doubt of saying that Croatia was the surprise of the World Cup.
5)I think the best moment of the tournament was when Croatia scored the goal of the draw against Russia because they reached it in the end of extra time and after that they went into the next stage beat Russia in the penalties.
17/07/2018
points
1. Japan vs Belgium was for me the best match. A lot of suspense and two teams playing football not only for the result.
2. France deserve their second World Cup title. Their defence was brilliant and in the milfield there were two of the best players in the world I named Kante and Pogba. Their attacking line was effective but more goals were scored from set-pieces that is why I prefer Belgium as the more offensive team.
3. Modric is of course the best player even if Mbappe has the resources to be the more granted for years to come.
4. Croatia was the surprise of the tournament and I am sad about African and Arabs performances.
5. VAR had the momentum while I think that the visit of President Macron, Poutine and Croatian Head of state to the French dressing room after the final whistle was the best image from this successful edition of football World Cup
17/07/2018 13:14
Manchester City
3988
1. Japan vs Belgium was for me the best match. A lot of suspense and two teams playing football not only for the result.
2. France deserve their second World Cup title. Their defence was brilliant and in the milfield there were two of the best players in the world I named Kante and Pogba. Their attacking line was effective but more goals were scored from set-pieces that is why I prefer Belgium as the more offensive team.
3. Modric is of course the best player even if Mbappe has the resources to be the more granted for years to come.
4. Croatia was the surprise of the tournament and I am sad about African and Arabs performances.
5. VAR had the momentum while I think that the visit of President Macron, Poutine and Croatian Head of state to the French dressing room after the final whistle was the best image from this successful edition of football World Cup