English Football Phrase все тексты (слова) песен, переводы, видео, клипы

This week, Barcelona defeated Manchester City in the Champions League knock out stage. One of the key players in their performance was Lionel Messi, the Argentinian creative forward. A signature of Messi‘s play is his excellent ball control, which gives him the ability to run with the ball and go past defenders. To dribble means to run with the ball and beat players, but you can also describe a long dribble as a mazy run. Mazy is an adjective meaning confused or complex, so a mazy run is an extremely skillful run with the ball that confuses the opposition players and allows the player with the ball to go past them. You can also combine mazy with dribble and say, a mazy dribble. A mazy run.

This week’s football phrase is ‘against the run of play‘, which is used to describe a situation when a team scores a goal when they probably do not deserve to. One team may be playing much better and creating many chances to score but then the other team scores – often without having created any previous chances. In this case we say that a team has scored against the run of play. In this week’s Champions League group match between Ajax and Manchester City, Samir Nasri scored for City against the run of play after Ajax had created a lot of earlier chances. Despite scoring against the run of play City still went on to lose. Against the run of play.

This week’s English for football phrase is the expression to be sidelined. This phrase has two meanings. First, it means that a player is forced out of the team because of an injury. For example, Lucas Leiva has been sidelined for up to two months with a knee injury. Or the verb can be used in an active sense, such as a niggling groin injury has sidelined the player. Secondly, it can mean that a player is ignored by a manager and has been deliberately forced out of the first team. For example, Juan Mata has been often sidelined since Jose Mourinho’s return to Chelsea. Be sidelined

Today’s English For Football phrase is bouncebackability. A very new word, it’s still not in most dictionaries. Now, it sounds a long word but let’s cut it up into smaller pieces: bounce, back and ability. The first two words make a phrasal verb, bounce back. This means to recover from a setback or bad news, to come back after something bad has happened. Adding ability to the end of this phrasal verb makes a noun, bouncebackability, the ability to recover from a setback. It was first used by Iain Dowie, the Crystal Palace’s manager in 2003 and is used in football but recently also in general English, so for example, Tottenham showed good boucebackability to win against Middlesbrough this week after their terrible result against Arsenal. Or Liverpool have shown amazing bouncebackability to recover from going three goals down against AC Milan to then win the Champions League final in 2005.

The box in this phrase refers to the area in front of the goal, 44 yards across and 18 deep. This is where the goalkeeper can handle the ball. Box to box, therefore, means the space between each team’s goal area. A box-to-box midfielder is an energetic player, who is positioned in the centre of the pitch, running between the halves. They are usually good passers of the ball, have a good shot, are good at shielding the ball, and good at tackling. In other words, and all round midfielder. Box-to-box midfielder

Example: The box-to-box midfielder is the toughest position to master in the modern game as it requires both defensive and attacking diligence.
Example: One of the hardest positions to master is the box-to-box midfield role because you have to be competent in defence and attack.

Bragging Rights

This noun phrase is often used in derby games, or big matches between rivals. To brag means to boast, to be proud of something and tell people about it. A right is something you deserve either by law or by your performance in some task. Added together this phrase means the fans of the winning team will have bragging rights – they will be able to boast that their team is the best, their team defeated their rivals. Bragging rights

Example: Bony then powered home Hernandez’s delivery to earn bragging rights for Swansea (over Cardiff)

This week’s English For Football looks at the expression dark horse. Now, a dark horse team is a team that has an outside chance of winning a competition or a cup. So, for example in this year’s Champions League many people are tipping Lyon from France to be a dark horse. Indeed, our own German correspondent, Hans, feels Werder Bremen could be the dark horse team this season.

This cliched phrase refers to players who remind people of football in the past in some way. For example, several decades ago, it was common for players to stay at one or two clubs all their CAREER. Now, players seem to change teams every one or two years. Players who stay at one team are extremely rare, they are a dying breed. The phrase could also refer to hard tackling players, common in the past, but in the modern game ,physical contact has been reduced – these players are a dying breed, there are fewer of them than in the past. Dying Breed.

Example: One-club players such as Steven Gerrard are a dying breed in modern day football
Example: Player-managers are a dying breed in the current era of football – hardly any teams EMPLOY a manager who also plays for the team

The verb to eliminate is used to describe a situation when a team has been knocked out of a competition – the team is no longer involved in that competition. For example, ‘Fiorentina eliminated Tottenham’, while the passive form is also used quite frequently: ‘Spurs were eliminated in the last 32 of the competition’. The noun form – elimination – is also common in football (‘The team’s elimination at the semi-final stage’, for example). (To) Eliminate/Elimination.

Example: Liverpool were eliminated from the Europa League on penalties in Turkey
Example: The elimination of the favourites allowed the underdogs a chance of winning the cup

This week’s football phrase is the word gaffer which is a word used by players to describe the boss, the coach or manager of the team. The word originally was used to refer to a foreman or boss on construction site but has been popular in the football world since the 1970s. In a recent article in the British press, England and Spurs striker, Jermain Defoe reckoned that his gaffer was the best in the country. The gaffer.

The word drought is used to describe a situation when a shortage of rain means that crops may not be able to grow. In football a goal drought is when a player has not managed to score a goal in a very long time. So, if a striker has not scored for a while we can say that he or she is suffering a goal drought. When the striker scores we can then say that they have broken or ended their goal drought. Goal drought.

Example: Tottenham striker Roberto Soldado ended his ten-match goal drought with a volleyed goal against Fiorentina in the Europa League
Example: Sunderland striker Danny Graham has not scored in his first 20 appearances for the club – a real goal drought.

This week’s English for football is the expression to have one foot in. It is used to talk about competitions and tournaments and is combined usually with the word ‘finals‘ (for example the World Cup finals, the European Championship finals). It probably comes from the phrase ‘to have one foot in the grave‘, which means to be very old or very sick and near to death – obviously if both feet are in the grave your whole body is there and you are dead! In football, to have one foot in the finals means to be close to qualifying, to be nearly in the finals. The team just needs a few more points to be guaranteed a place in the competition. So, this week in Europe many teams have been playing important group stage games to qualify for the European Championship finals. England have won both games they played and their star forward, Wayne Rooney, said in the press that England have one foot in the finals – he thinks England have nearly booked their place to the European Championships.

This week’s phrase is a compound adjective made up of two words, ‘lack‘ and ‘lustre‘. To lack means to have a shortage of something, and because of this, to need something. Lustre is from an old French word, meaning, shine or sparkle. The combination, therefore, means to not shine, to not have any energy, and is used to describe a rather slow, poor performance. A lacklustre performance.

For example: Lewandowski powered Juan Bernat’s cross home, and Robben ran clear of the lacklustre home defence to blast the fourth (Bayern Munich vs Roma in the Champions League)
For example: It meant a rare start for Rickie Lambert but Liverpool were again lacklustre going forward until Lallana’s goal, which was entirely out of keeping

This week’s English for Football is prima donna. Now the reason for this is that the Queen of England described English footballers as prima donnas. Now, what does it mean? Well, prima donna comes from the opera expression, ‘first lady’ so it’s from Italian and it means someone who is probably very egotistical or selfish and they have a high opinion of themselves, possibly vain, even irritating. So, Ronaldo from Manchester United could be described as a prima donna player. And of course, Carlos Tevez for West Ham, the Argentinian international, who walked out after being substituted may also be described as a prima donna. But probably the most irritating and vain player in the whole of the Premier League at the moment has to be Ashley Cole of Chelsea, a clear example of a prima donna.

Now, on this week’s English for Football, we’re going to talk about the expression providing the spark. Now, providing the spark means to make something happen, particularly when things are not going very well. So, a player is to provide a spark when he produces a piece of footballing magic to help change the result or the performance of the team. On many occasions this season, Ronaldo has provided the spark for Manchester United victories. Provide the spark.

This week’s English for football is ‘to pull the trigger‘. The trigger is the part of a gun that you pull to fire the bullet. In football, when a player pulls the trigger he or she shoots. Usually the shot is a powerful one from around the edge of the area. This phrase is often used when a player has been running or dribbling with the ball for quite a long period of time and everyone is waiting or expecting a shot. Fans might shout ‘Come on pull the trigger!‘. Commentators might say, ‘He’s got to pull the trigger soon,‘ or if the player is tackled before shooting, ‘He should have pulled the trigger earlier.‘

Today’s English for football is relegation zone. To be relegated means to drop down a division. At the moment, Watford are at the bottom of the Premier League and they look like they will drop down to the Championship (the old Second Division). Relegation zone is a phrase we use to describe the bottom group of teams who are in danger of being relegated. In the Premier League at the moment Middlesbrough and Sheffield United are just above the relegation zone and have a big game this week. The relegation zone

This week’s English for football phrase is the cliche ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other‘. Of course, half a dozen and six are the same thing – remember a dozen is twelve – so when we say six of one and half a dozen of the other we mean that there is little or no difference between two things. You will often hear this phrase when people are unsure about a controversial decision in a game, such as a penalty claim or an offside decision, as they cannot tell whether it was one decision or the other. Sometimes you may hear a shortened version of this phrase: ‘six of one‘ as those listening would be able to understand the full cliche form: Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Example: The TV pundits were unsure whether the referee‘s decision was correct or not – they said it was six of one and half a dozen of the other

Today’s English for football phrase is takeover. A takeover is when a businessman or a group of businessmen or business people buys another company, they control the company. In this week’s news, there’s an Icelandic businessman called Eggert Magnusson and he is taking over West Ham. He’s going to pay £85 million to be in control of West Ham’s football club, to take over the club.

This week’s English for football expression is Three Lions which is the nickname of the English national football team. The badge on the team shirt has three lions which represent the Royal Arms of England, so the nickname is based on this badge: Three Lions

Example: Many fans were hoping for a better performance from the Three Lions at the Brazil World Cup

Today’s Euro 2012 football phrase is ‘to be in tatters‘ which means that something has been ripped up, torn or badly broken; in other words something is now in chaos or in ruins. England’s preparation for the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament is in tatters after yet another player has been ruled out with injury – this time Chelsea’s Gary Cahill after he was injured in the friendly against Belgium. His absence from the squad means that England’s plans are in tatters before they even play their first game in the tournament. To be in tatters.

To be overjoyed; elated; very, very happy – especially after scoring or winning. This cliché is not as popular as it used to be in the 1970s when it seemed that every player mentioned it at least once when being interviewed. Nowadays players know that it is a cliché and so tend to avoid it. It is the opposite of sick as a parrot, which means to be gutted or very upset.

This week’s English for football phrase is to be ruled out. To be ruled out means to be prevented, to be stopped from doing something. This phrase is often used in football when a player is injured and a team decides they cannot play. In this situation, they say the player is ruled out from playing. This week, the Premier League team Arsenal have announced that Jack Wiltshire will be ruled out for months because he has injured his ankle and needs an operation.

This week’s English for football phrase is to fear a backlash which means to be provoked into a reaction after something strange or surprising has taken place. So after their shock defeat at home against Sunderland, the reigning champions Chelsea are hoping to bounce back against Birmingham next weekend. Indeed, the Birmingham side fear a backlash as the wounded Chelsea look to demonstrate to their rivals that last weekend’s game was only a blip. To fear a backlash.

To gatecrash a party is to attend a party that you have not been invited to. Many football fans in England feel that Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, known as the top 4 in the Premier League, have become so big and powerful that it seems as if they have their own mini league, or private party. Thus, any team that attempts to finish in the top four, that wishes to make a breakthrough, is seen as a gatecrasher – an unwanted guest in an elite or powerful group. This year, Manchester City have been tipped to gatecrash the top four thanks to their incredible wealth. To gatecrash the top four.

To Go Down to the Wire

This phrase has been borrowed from the sport of horse racing. The wire is the tape at the end of the race. So, when a horse gets to the wire first they win the race. When we use the phrase to go down to the wire in football, we refer to the end of the season when the title is decided in the last few games. Usually two, but sometimes three, teams have a chance of winning the championship on the final day, we say – the title goes down to the wire. Less commonly it can refer to the relegation battle, too. To go down to the wire.

Example: The 2011-12 season in England went down to the wire as Manchester City won in the final minute of the last game of the season.
Example: It looks like the relegation spots will not be decided until the final game of the season – it will go down to the wire.

This week, we look at a verb for a kind of shot - to lob, which can also be used as a noun, a lob. The verb to lob is usually used with an object, for example, ‘The player lobbed the keeper’ or ‘He lobbed it over the keeper’. To lob is to lift the ball in an arc over the head of an opposing player. It is usually done from a distance, for example from outside the box, as you need distance to get the ball high enough to go over the opposing player and still come down under the goal’s crossbar. When used as a noun, you can say, ‘The player scored with a clever lob over the onrushing keeper‘, for example.

This week’s English for football is ‘park the bus‘. Many people say that this phrase was first said by Jose Mourinho when he was Chelsea’s manager. He was describing a negative Tottenham team who played very defensively in a meeting between the two London clubs some years ago. To park the bus, means to play very defensively, to get a lot of players behind the ball, to have no attacking play. Imagine a bus parked in front of the goal. It is almost impossible to score, so people use ‘to park the bus‘ to mean one team was very negative, boring and defensive. This week’s Champions League semi finals were not very exciting and Barcelona have accused Chelsea of playing very negatively, of ‘parking the bus‘ in front of goal. To park the bus.

This cliche is often used in football to talk about how much effort a player gives in the match. ‘A shift’ refers to a person’s working time, particularly when talking about physical work. ‘To put in’ means to do, so to put a shift in means to work hard. Football pundits, commentators and managers use this phrase to say that a player has tried very hard for the team. To put a shift in, however, doesn’t mean the player was particularly skillful. It is often used to highlight the fact that another player didn’t put a shift in, didn’t try hard. You can also say, put in a shift.

For example: Aaron Ramsey praises Arsenal for putting in a good shift after Saturday’s 2-0 win at Sunderland.
For example: Balotelli put in a decent shift, but still no Premier League goal.

This week’s English for football phrase is to score a brace. A brace means two of the same thing and comes from hunting – a brace of guns might be two pistols, a brace of birds would be two birds that had been shot for food. In football, you can score a brace, or two goals. If you score three goals, it is known as a hatrick. On the last day of the Premier League season, Didier Drogba scored a hatrick while his strike partner, Anelka, scored a brace for Chelsea.

The verb ‘to seal‘ has many meanings, but in football it is used to mean decide, secure, get. You can say to seal the points, which means win the game and get 3 points. If you said seal a point, this would mean a team has come back to secure a draw and get one point. Of course, you will also hear seal the win. The phrase is often followed with an explanation of how the points or victory were achieved, for example, The striker sealed the win with a last minute header.’ To seal. (see also, Seal a deal)

For example: The visitors sealed the points when Fer carried the ball into the 18-yard box before shooting beyond Myhill. (BBC)
For example: Agüero had been on the pitch only eight minutes when he sealed the win in stoppage-time.

This week on languagecaster’s look at footballing language we focus in a footballing cliché often used in newspaper headlines. The cliché is – to slam. To slam means to criticise heavily, to attack verbally. This week there have been two examples in which to slam has been used in football news headlines. The first example is connected with the disagreement between the Argentinian and Man City forward Carlos Tevez and his club – Tevez agent slams City’s Cook. So this means that Tevez’s agent has attacked or disagreed with Manchester City’s owners and administrators. It can also be used in the passive form as in this example: Blatter slammed by gay groups. This refers to FIFA’s President, Sepp Blatter’s comments that homosexuals should refrain from ‘sexual activities’ during the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 – homosexuality is illegal in the country. In this headline gay rights groups criticise the comments of the head of FIFA.

Today’s English for football phrase is two-horse race. So, at the moment in the Premier League in England, there is a large points gap between the top two teams and the rest of the league meaning that these two top teams are favourites to win the league. Now in Spain it is looking like a three-horse race as Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Sevilla are all involved in the race for the Spanish League title.