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In this football language podcast we look ahead to the 2024 Euro final that’s taking place this weekend between Spain and England. 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: 2024 Euro Final Preview
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football-language podcast.
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 a sunny London…this is a lovely surprise after so much rain here in the UK. And I am one half of the Languagecaster team, the other of course is Damon who is based in Tokyo, Japan. Now, I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to the big football matches this weekend: the Copa America final in the US between Argentina and Colombia and the European Championship final in Germany and this one sees Spain take on England.
And so, on today’s show we are going to take a look ahead – we are going to preview – that Euro final and look at some language to describe both Spain and England. We will also explain some of the words and phrases you might hear in the Euro 2024 final, we’ll look back at some of the phrases from the tournament and of course we’ll offer some predictions.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German)
DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message or stinger was in German. Germany of course have been the hosts of this tournament and their team did fairly well – they were beaten in the quarter final (the last eight) by Spain. So, Germany is the name of the country and German is the word (the adjective) we use to describe someone or something from that country and also the language that they speak there. You are going to hear some more messages or stingers in different languages throughout the show. Try and guess what languages they are and try to decide what the country is called as well. There are seven more of them and all of the languages are from teams that played in the 2024 European Championship. We will explain the countries and languages at the end of the show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French).
OK, that was the second stinger of the show – what language do you think that was? I will give you a clue – this country’s football nickname is ‘Les Bleus‘, they won the World Cup in 2018 and they also lost in this year’s Euro semi final.
2024 Euro Final
Right, in the next section of the podcast we are going to look at the two finalists. Remember, that it is Spain taking on England – another way of saying this is Spain will face England or that Spain will play against England. How would you say this phrase in your language?
Vocabulary
And before we look at the two finalists here are some words and phrases that you will hear in this short report. Do you know what they mean? How would you say them in another language?
- To be widely tipped: To tip means to predict here; so to be widely tipped means that many people predicted that they would do well or not so well.
- To thrash another team: This means to easily defeat another team (or opponent) and they did this by scoring a lot of goals.
- Hosts: This is the country that is holding the tournament – Germany are the hosts of the 2024 Euros, for example.
- Consecutive: In a row – Spain have won six games in a row.
- Ball recovery: This is when a team takes the ball back from their opponents; they recover the ball.
- Clean sheets: This when a team does not concede a goal; their opponents have not score. We can say that a team has kept a clean sheet.
- Winning ugly: This is a way to describe when a team is not playing well or not playing in a beautiful way but they still win the game.
- Growing into the tournament: And this means that the team is getting better over time. So maybe they didn’t start so well but they are getting stronger as they get closer to the final.
- Ranked: This means to classify things (or teams) in order; so, the best; the second best and so on
OK, listen out for those terms and first of all we’re going to talk about Spain.
Spain
DF: Spain were not widely tipped to do well before the tournament but a new adventurous attacking style lead by their two young wingers Nico Williams and 16-year old Lamine Yamal saw them easily win all of their group games. They then thrashed Georgia 5-1 and then beat hosts Germany thanks a to a last-gasp winner in extra time before defeating many people’s favourites France 2-1 in the semi final. They are the first team to win all six of their first games at a tournament and are favourites to make it seven on Sunday. This would be amazing! Seven consecutive wins; seven wins in a row – no country has ever done this at a tournament before! In addition to the most victories, the Spanish team have scored more goals than any other team at the tournament – 13 – which is six more than their opponents England. They have the most ball recoveries in the competition which demonstrates how well they press their opponents, while they also have had three clean sheets which is the second best at the tournament.
Let’s hear from a Spain fan as he talks about his team – he uses some Spanish words to describe them but before that he talks about the best moment for Spain at the tournament.
F: Hi everyone this is day minus one before the final against England. The best moment of our national team… for me, I don’t… I cannot pick up a single moment, I think the moment in where the technical team led by the coach, De la Fuente, chose to kind of protect all the players and everybody from all the…all the… all the stuff that goes on a higher level in the Spanish Federation. And also the moment for me is where he had the personality to put very young players, very inexperienced in the international kind of competition, to lead this, this group of players, or sorry, or this group and this national team.
Three or four Spanish words to describe this team and also their young stars… to me are:
- Sorprendente (surprising)
- Impresionante (impressive)
- Innovador (innovative)
- Atrevido (daring)
DF: Thank you so much for that – it sounds so hot in the south of Spain (I wonder was that the sound of cicadas in the background?). Now, the speaker used the words ‘sorprendente’ which means surprising; ‘impresionante’ which means very impressive or awesome in English; ‘innovador’ which is innovative or something very new and also the term, ‘atrevido’ which means daring or bold. The young Spanish players (especially the two wingers) have no fear at all which means they are playing with a freedom. Great stuff – muchas gracias!
England
Embed from Getty Images
What about England? Well, despite being one of the favourites before the tournament started, many people are still surprised that the Three Lions have made it to the final because they have not been playing well at all. Maybe this is a sign of champions by winning ugly? England have won two games in 90 minutes at this tournament so far – one in the group stage against Serbia and then again in the semi final against the Netherlands. They also defeated Slovakia after extra time (thanks to an amazing overhead kick in the last minute from their young star Jude Bellingham), while they also won on penalties against Switzerland in the quarter final. So, they are in the final despite not playing so well – they are growing into the tournament which means they are slowly improving after each game. Now, England don’t have as many ball recoveries as Spain but they are still ranked third at this tournament but surprisingly they are ranked higher than Spain in passing accuracy and possession.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Italian fan)
5 Phrases from the Final
OK, I am going to be watching the final here in London with some friends and family – where will you be watching it? I wonder will Damon wake up at 3:00 in the morning to watch it live in Japan? I did that many, many times for games before. Now, here are some football phrases you might hear from commentators and pundits during the final:
- Extra time: If the game finishes as a draw after 90 minutes then the game will go into extra time which is an extra or additional thirty minutes to try and decide the winner.
- Penalties: If the two teams cannot be separated after extra time then the game will be decided on penalties – remember that each team will have five penalties to try and find a winner.
- Lift the trophy: This is what happens at the end of the game when the winning team receives the trophy but it’s really an expression that just means to win.
- Name on the trophy: This football cliche suggests that one team will win no matter how they play – it is like fate (or luck) has decided that they will win.
- Golden Boot: This is the trophy given to the top scorer in the competition. Currently, there are six players with three goals including England’s Harry Kane and Spain’s Dani Olmo who both have a chance of being the competition’s top scorer or Golden Boot winner.
Let us know if you hear any of these phrases in any language during the match!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Danish fan)
Euro 2024 Football Language Posts
Now, some of you may have noticed that we have been adding a football language post every day from the Euros onto our site. We have looked at language such as ‘kickstart their campaign‘ which we used on day one to describe Germany’s thrashing of Scotland or ‘own goal‘ – there have been ten own goals scored at the tournament so far. There was also the phrase ‘snatch a last gasp win‘ to describe England’s late win over Slovakia and ‘shoot-out victory’ to describe the win on penalties for Portugal against Slovenia. There are more than 25 different phrases from the tournament here so come along to our site 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 the Euros.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Spanish fan)
Predictions
We have also been running a Predictions Competition in which you could take on Damon, myself and many other football fans from around the word. It was three points for a win and one for the right result and this time we also had jokers where you can double your points. I know that we have had players from different countries including Ireland, Japan (a big hello to ShunSenna) and from Sweden where our current leader Fugesi is based. He is three points clear at the top from the Languagecaster team after a remarkable nine points from two games in the quarter finals when he played his joker. Here is Fugesi talking about the current standings and what might happen in the last game:
DF: Fantastic stuff from Fugesi there! Now, he used lots of interesting language including many football cliches – let’s take a look at some of them:
- a tantalising situation: Tantalising means that the situation is an exciting one; we are really looking forward to it
- Draws to a finish: The phrase to draw to a close or draw to a finish means that something is ending so the tournament has been running for a month but will finally finish on Sunday.
- Sitting pretty at the top of the table: This means that one team (or one predictions player) is clearly winning the competition – in this case by three points – they are clearly leading the team or player in second place.
- Trailing: And this means to be behind someone (in the rankings); so I am trailing Fugesi in the predictions competition.
- Mathematically in with the chance: They still have a small chance; it is not probable but it is still possible
- Tug of war: And here this means a battle between two teams or two predictions players
- Permutations: There are different possible outcomes or results
- They think it’s all over. It’s not yet: Now, this is a reference to one of the most famous phrases in English football commentary when England defeated West Germany in 1966 – the last time England’s men’s team won a major trophy. The commentator sees some fans coming onto the pitch as they think the game is finished and then when England score their fourth goal to confirm their victory he says ‘it is now’. So here Fugesi has suggested that the competition is not over yet.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Czech).
DF: How about for the final? What do you think the score will be? Which team will win? Which country will be the 2024 European Champions? What about our Spanish fan? What does he think?
F: And predictions for tomorrow? Who will win? Obviously, I will go for my own country, but I mean, football is football in a final. There are… there are lot of things at stake… at stake and anything can happened. I think if we are faithful to our style, I think, you know, we can overcome England as a team. But they’ve been so lucky; they haven’t played very good football. But they are there. And obviously the phenomenal players that they have…at some stage, obviously, when things can click, and probably the best…the best time to click and to… to get to come together can be in a final. So, very scary, a bit worried but…sorry, a little bit scared, a bit worried about tomorrow. But I hope that…that our style and our kind of… boldness will prevail and and we can be the English tomorrow. OK, good luck for everyone.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Dutch fan)
Glossary
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com – do you know what language that was? I will give you another clue – their national team wear orange and England defeated them in the semi final. 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.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Turkish).
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 – we’ve just posted lots and lots of our podcasts on YouTube; we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. And of course, don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish).
Goodbye
DF: Right, that message was in Polish – Poland didn’t qualify for the knock-out stages of the tournament. Did you get any of the other languages that we used as stingers throughout the show? Let’s go through them.
The first one was German which is what is spoken in Germany. We then had French and France; Italian and Italy; Danish and Denmark; Spain and Spanish; Netherlands and Dutch, Czech and Czechia/The Czech Republic and Turkey and Turkish Well done if you knew any or indeed all of these languages. We are always looking out for some more languages so if you’d like to send on a message in your language then drop us a line at admin@languagecaster.com.
Country |
Adjective |
| Germany | German |
| France | French |
| Italy | Italian |
| Denmark | Danish |
| Spain | Spanish |
| Netherlands | Dutch |
| Czechia/The Czech Republic | Czech |
| Turkey | Turkish |
DF: Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support – come along and take a look. 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.
OK, that’s it for this podcast in which we looked ahead to the Euro 24 final between Spain and England. We looked at lots of different words and phrases including, ‘Lift the trophy‘; ‘Name on the trophy‘ and ‘Golden Boot‘, while we also looked at some European countries’ names and their adjectives.
Let us know if you hear any of the phrases from today’s show of course in any language. Enjoy all the football this weekend and we’ll be back soon with some more football language. Bye bye!
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