Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Convert

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Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Convert

In this football phrase of the week we look at the verb, ‘to convert‘ after some important penalties were scored in the race for CL places. You can read the transcript for this post 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.

DB: Hi everyone. Welcome to this week’s football phrase when we look back at a football phrase or some football language from the weekend. My name’s Damon, and I’ll be explaining the verb ‘to convert‘ and how is was used to describe penalties by Isak for Newcastle and Eze for Crystal Palace.

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in French)

DB: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message was in French.

Convert a Penalty

Right, to convert, first of all the meaning. Well, this verb is used with the noun penalty – to convert a penalty. Here, to convert means to score, to successfully take your chance and turn it into a goal. It is also used to talk about scoring in general but this is not as common as its use with penalties.

Last weekend in the Premier League, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest both had important games. These two teams, along with Chelsea and Aston Villa are fighting it out for the 4th and 5th spots and berths in the Champions League. And with only four games to go in the season every point was important.

Newcastle travelled to Brighton, who are also in the hunt for European football, the Europa League, and drew 1-1. But it had looked like Newcastle United were heading for defeat until the 89th minute when they were awarded a penalty. Here is what the Guardian wrote: ‘Twice it had looked like he (Isak) would be given opportunities from the spot only for VAR to intervene and then finally, in the 89th minute, he was given a penalty. He converted with great calm, his 23rd league goal of the season.’

Isak ‘converted with great calm‘. Here the noun ‘penalty‘ has been omitted. If a penalty is scored with great calm, we could also say it was slotted home.

From the Spot

In the other match we are talking about, Nottingham Forest also needed an equaliser to grab a point after going behind 1-0 at Crystal Palace. They went behind after Palace striker Eze converted from the spot. To convert from the spot is another common way to say ‘score a penalty‘.

This is how ESPN described the penalty: ‘Eze, who missed a spot kick at Newcastle United last month, swept the ball into the left corner, just past the outstretched arm of Sels.’

Spot Kick

Notice the noun phrase ‘spot kick‘ to mean penalty. So, we could say convert a spot kick to mean convert a penalty. Eze’s penalty is described as being swept into the left corner. This perhaps hints at more power than Isak’s.

So, both games had penalties and both Newcastle and Forest managed to stay in the running for Champions League spots.

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Japanese)

And that message was in Japanese, and brings us to the end of this short football language podcast where we looked at the verb ‘to convert’ and phrases like ‘convert a penalty’, ‘convert a spot kick’, and ‘convert from the spot‘.

Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll be back again later on in our regular weekly language podcast where we’ll have lots more football language.  Ta-ra.

Related Vocabulary

Football Language Glossary