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Hard: Go down to the wire

Hard: Go down to the wire

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 hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.

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 go down to the wire

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 hard so we're looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.


Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is: to go down to the wire.

Jack: This is a difficult phrase - it's an idiom that is used to describe something that won't be decided until the last possible moment. The wire is the finishing line or deadline. Listen to this:

Rich: The best Premier League title race for me was in 2012/13. The race for the title went right down to the wire.

Jack: It was decided on the last day of the season, wasn't it?

Rich: Yes, it was between Manchester City and Manchester United. City needed to win, to win the title, if not, United would win it. Sergio Aguero scored twice in stoppage time against QPR and City won the Premier League title for the first time. They won it on goal difference.

Jack: That was good but if you m really want to talk about a title race that went right down to the wire then it's got to be when Arsenal won the league in 1991. Arsenal played Liverpool on the last day of the season. Liverpool were three points ahead and had a better goal difference. Arsenal won 2-0 and won the title on goals scored - because they had scored more goals than Liverpool over the entire season.

Rich: They could have made a film about it. They could have called it down to the wire.

Jack: They did make a film. It's called Fever Pitch you should check it out.


Rich: Ok, so the phrase to go down to the wire can be used to talk about football and other sports competitions. We use it to talk about results being decided right at the end of a match or a season.

Jack: We can use the phrase in other contexts too. We might hear it about business deals especially if there are deadlines involved. Listen to this:

Rich: Are we going to sign the deal?

Jack: I'm not sure. It sounds like contract talks are going to go down to the wire. The deadline for an agreement is tomorrow.

Rich: We can also use the word 'right' to add some extra emphasis to the phrase.

Jack: Do we have enough time to finish this podcast, Rich?

Rich: I'm not sure, it's going to go right down to the …


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 was the last match that you watched that went down to the wire?
  • Can you think of another situation that you have been part of that went down to the wire?

Write your answers in the comments section below.

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Comments

PhuCuong
04/03/2024
VN
103
points

In this season, the games of Liverpool often go down to the weird.


PhuCuong
04/03/2024 13:21
Vietnam
Arsenal
103

In this season, the games of Liverpool often go down to the weird.

Michaelsun
16/02/2022
CN
738
points

The last match went right down to the wire was 2022 Asian women football final.China won with a later goal at 93th minute.


Michaelsun
16/02/2022 14:50
China
Manchester United
738

The last match went right down to the wire was 2022 Asian women football final.China won with a later goal at 93th minute.

Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
28/04/2021
BR
1512
points

It wasn't the last, but certainlly the most excited: Corinthians against Santos for São Paulo State Championship in 2001. The home team scored the winning goal at the 95th minute, when they were one man down!
I've participated at a U15 match between the team I manage (Red Bull Brasil) againts Portuguesa, in 2019. We needed to win by 5 goals difference, and we managed to do this at the very last minute! The final score was 6-1.


Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
28/04/2021 18:33
Brazil
Arsenal
1512

It wasn't the last, but certainlly the most excited: Corinthians against Santos for São Paulo State Championship in 2001. The home team scored the winning goal at the 95th minute, when they were one man down!
I've participated at a U15 match between the team I manage (Red Bull Brasil) againts Portuguesa, in 2019. We needed to win by 5 goals difference, and we managed to do this at the very last minute! The final score was 6-1.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020
UA
6570
points

Situations when things usually go down to the wire are entrance university or college exams when there are too many applications and too few places to fill with future students.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020 13:17
Ukraine
Liverpool
6570

Situations when things usually go down to the wire are entrance university or college exams when there are too many applications and too few places to fill with future students.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020
UA
6570
points

The last match which I remember having gone down to the wire rather well was the Liverpool - Napoli match in the CL.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020 13:13
Ukraine
Liverpool
6570

The last match which I remember having gone down to the wire rather well was the Liverpool - Napoli match in the CL.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020
UA
6570
points

Last season we could see a few matches with Liverpool that went almost down to the wire.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
02/12/2020 13:11
Ukraine
Liverpool
6570

Last season we could see a few matches with Liverpool that went almost down to the wire.

hsn's picture
hsn
02/05/2020
TR
5555
points

I watched a movie about a newspaper. They would publish some information related to the government's illegal business. Because of some law problems the publishment went right down to the wire. At last they decided to publish.


hsn's picture
hsn
02/05/2020 17:12
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5555

I watched a movie about a newspaper. They would publish some information related to the government's illegal business. Because of some law problems the publishment went right down to the wire. At last they decided to publish.

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6570
2mobeckham6536
3hsn5555
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74670
2Ukraine33833
3Spain29384
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23394
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20437
8Turkey20093
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United146572
2Liverpool111201
3Chelsea90112
4Arsenal86318
5Manchester City58708
6Tottenham Hotspur19407
7Newcastle United10560
8West Ham United7652
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Everton4533

Level

5
Average: 5 (1 vote)

Goals

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