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Euro 2024 Review: The Best and Worst
In this football language podcast we look back at the 2024 Euros and review some of the best (and worst) by looking at some statistics from the tournament. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Learn English Through Football Podcast: Euro 2024 Review – The Best and Worst
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football-language podcast.
DF: Hello and welcome to the show for everyone who wants to practise their English and who loves the beautiful game of football. My name is Damian and I am in London where we finally have some summer weather: blue skies and sunshine. How is the weather where you are at the moment? I was chatting to Damon, who is of course the other member of the Learn English through Football team, and he told me that it is really hot in Tokyo in Japan where of course he is based.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Besiktas fan)
DF: Now, we hope you are all well. It’s been a week since the two continental finals took place: Congratulations to Argentina who won their 16th Copa America after defeating Colombia 1-0 in the final in Miami. This win meant that Argentina have now won more Copa America titles than any other side – they have won the most South American titles; they are the most successful side in the region. And congratulations also to Spain who won their fourth European title – that’s the most titles that any European side has won. Most people think that their win was fully deserved, especially as Spain won all of their seven matches and defeated former World Cup winners Italy, Germany, France and England on the way to the title. They were definitely the best team in the competition.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message or stinger was in Spanish. So, on today’s football-language podcast we are going to look at some examples of the best, the worst, as well as the least and the fewest in a look back at the Euro 2024 tournament. So, we’ll be looking at some examples of the superlative forms. For example, who scored the most goals? Which team scored the fewest goals? What was the best goal of the tournament and which keeper made the most saves? And what was the dirtiest game? As I said, we’ll be looking at these and many other similar examples of superlatives in today’s show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
The Most
DF: Right, let’s start with the most European titles. Ten different countries have won the European Championship title in its 64 year history (there have been 17 tournaments in total) but Spain have won it the most times; they have lifted the trophy four times which is the most of any nation and is one more than Germany and two more than Italy and France. So, we can say that Spain are the most successful side in European Championship history.
Which team scored the most goals at this year’s tournament? Well, Spain scored 15 which was four more than the second best team Germany, while the Netherlands managed 10. Spain also made the most ball recoveries and tackles – they really were the best team at the tournament. How about saves? Which keeper made the most saves? Well, that was Giorgi Mamardashvili from Georgia who was by far the most successful shot stopper at the Euros – he made 29 saves which was nine more than the second best keeper who was Netherlands’ Verbruggen.
How about the best defences? Well, Spain and Portugal both had three clean sheets but France had the most clean sheets with four. Remember we use this expression to describe when a team does not concede a goal – the opposition fails to score against them.
The Fewest
DF: We have already seen that Spain were the most prolific in the tournament – this means they scored the most goals but which team scored the fewest? Well, six countries only managed two goals, including Scotland, Hungary and rather surprisingly Belgium but the least successful side in front of goal was Serbia who only managed one goal and that came in the 94th minute of their drawn game against Slovenia. An interesting phrase to describe a team that doesn’t score many goals is ‘goal shy’ which suggests that the team is just really not so good at scoring.
How about possession? Which team had the least amount of possession across the tournament? Well, Slovenia only had the ball 35.5% of the time – the lowest in the whole competition; lower than both Georgia and Albania who had 38%. Slovenia also had the lowest percentage of passing accuracy (75%) which means they were the least accurate of the teams when it came to passing. I am not so sure that they minded too much as they drew all of their games and only went out on penalties to Portugal in the last 16, so a fairly successful tournament.
The Youngest and Oldest
DF: The oldest player to have played at a tournament is Portugal defender Pepe who was 41 and 130 days old in the quarter final match against France. Luka Modrić became the oldest goalscorer at the Euros when he scored against Italy – Modrić is almost 39. The youngest scorer in the tournament’s history was Spain’s Lamine Yamal who only reached his 17th birthday the day before the final. He was also the player with most assists (4) and of course scored the best goal – a truly remarkable tournament.
Some More
How about Ronaldo? Well, he was hoping to be oldest player to ever score at a tournament but unfortunately for him he failed to do so although he did manage to shoot 23 times without scoring which was the most in this Euros. What about the fastest goal? Well, that was scored by Albania’s Bajrami who scored after only 23 seconds against Italy. The latest goal in the tournament was scored by Hungary against Scotland in their final Group A game (in the 100th minute). How about the ‘dirtiest‘ game at the Euros? Well, the Czechia versus Turkey game had 16 yellow cards and two reds – one of which came for the Czech player Barak who was sent off in the 20th minute for two yellow cards and this is the quickest ever red card for a player at the Euros; in fact this game had the most cards in Euro history though Turkey won’t mind as they qualified for the knock-out stages with a last-minute goal.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Dutch fan)
Euro 2024 Football Language Posts
Now, as you probably know, we were adding a football language post every day from the Euros onto our site. We looked at language such as ‘kickstart their campaign‘, while there was also the phrase ‘snatch a last gasp win‘ to describe England’s win over Slovakia and of course ‘shoot-out victory’ which describe the win on penalties for Portugal against Slovenia. There are more than 25 different phrases from the tournament on our site so come along and take a look, leave a like and/or a comment and let us know what football phrases, in any language, you have heard while watching these Euros.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Greek fan)
Predictions
DF: We were also running a Predictions Competition and we have to congratulate Fugesi who won the competition by four clear points and we’ll be sending off a prize to Sweden very soon indeed! And thanks to everyone else who participated – we hope you had some fun while trying to predict the games. Don’t worry if you didn’t do so well remember that I predicted that England would not qualify from their group before the competition started and they reached the final!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish)
Glossary
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Polish. Remember, that here at Languagecaster’s site you can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed today, along with hundreds more football-language expressions. Just come along to our football-language glossary and take a look.
Contact
DF: OK, if you have any questions or comments about any of the words and phrases from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. You can also find us on social media and thanks to Magdalena who told us about the meaning of the word ‘own goal‘ in Polish (“gol samobójczy”) – I’m sorry Magdalena my pronunciation would be terrible. It would be great if listeners would like to send in explanations of football language in their own language (with maybe an audio too!). We’ve also just posted lots of our podcasts onto YouTube; we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. And don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Irish).
Goodbye
DF: Right, that message was in Irish and I am hoping that the Irish team can maybe qualify for the next tournament. Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support. We think it is a great resource for learners and teachers of English especially when practising listening skills – I know, for example, that you can slow down the podcast on many different platforms to help you with your listening.
OK, that’s it for this podcast in which we looked back at some of the most and the least from the 2024 Euros. Let us know if you hear any of the phrases from today’s show in any language. Enjoy all the football this weekend – the Olympic football tournament starts – and we’ll be back soon with some more football language. Bye bye!
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