Learn English Through Football Podcast: (to) Fizz Wide

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Learn English Through Football Podcast: (to) Fizz Wide

In this week’s football-language podcast we look at a verb phrase connected to shooting and passing in football. There is also a talk about surprising wins. We also look ahead to this weekend’s football including one of the biggest club rivalries in world football: Real Madrid vs Barcelona. 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 about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us at: contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com.

Hello

DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s football language podcast for learners of English who love the beautiful game of football. My name is Damian and I am here in London where the weather is definitely autumnal – the leaves are changing colour and it is starting to get colder. What is the weather like where you are? And I wonder what the weather is like in Tokyo where the other member of the Learn English Through Football team, Damon, is based? Damon, how are things?’

DB: Hi Damian. Well I’m well, and like in London the weather here in Tokyo is very autumnal. There’s a chill in the air and today is a grey and rainy. After the hot, hot summer, this weather is just perfect!

Now listener, remember that you can access all our posts at our new website address, which is now learnenglishthroughfootball.com. If you like what we do here, we’d love it if you could share it with your friends and give us ‘likes’ or ‘ratings’ on your favourite podcast platform!

DF: I’d also like to add that we have been having a couple of issues with our podcast feed this week. We are in contact with our hosts and hopefully we will be up and running again very soon!

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a football fan in Malawi)

DF: And that message we just heard was from a football fan in Malawi. And thanks to friend of the show Gareth for helping us get that message. As always, we will have some more stingers or messages throughout the show in different languages – try and guess what they are. Of course, we’ll let you know what they are at the end of the show. And please send us a message in your own language – just tell us that, ‘You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast’.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Brazilian Portuguese)

DB: Right on today’s show we will start with Damian talking about historic wins, big results that surprise the football world. After that, I’m going to talk about a phrase I read this week in a match report on the women’s Nations League promotion/relegation play-off between Ireland and Belgium. The phrase was ‘fizzing wide‘.

And we’ll finish with some predictions with a massive game in Spain and a match from the Premier League, featuring Damian’s team Tottenham. So, let’s kick off with Damian and ‘historic win‘.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Bahasa Indonesian) 

Football Language: Historic win

DF: Now, we have had a week of European football and there were big wins for PSG, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and rather surprisingly PSV against Napoli – they were all in the Champions League. But perhaps the biggest shocks came in the Europa Conference League. Remember, this competition is for lower-ranked teams around Europe. Premier League team Crystal Palace were beaten at home by Cypriot side Larnaca; but perhaps the biggest shock of the night was Gibraltar side Lincoln Red Imps defeating Polish team Lech Poznan 2-1 for an historic victory. This was the first time that Lincoln had ever won a European group stage game so congratulations to them and to another friend of the show Fran who works for the club. !Enhorabuena! Congratulations!

So, an historic win can be a win that has never happened before. Can you think of any other historic wins for your favourite teams for example?

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (an Cantonese fan) 

Football Language: (to) Fizz Wide

DB: Thank you for that Damian. I don’t know if it is an historic win, but Go Ahead Eagles’ 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the Europa League was certainly a surprise. ESPN noted that Villa, ‘suffered a Europa League humbling‘ by the ‘minnows‘ Go Ahead Eagles.

Now I was interested in some other European football and that was the women’s Nations League matches and particularly Ireland against Belgium. Ireland ran out 4-2 winners in the first leg. I was interested to read this sentence in the BBC match report: ‘Following a period of pressure and successive corners from the hosts, the visitors had a chance of their own with Laura Deloose fizzing wide of the far post.’

‘Fizzing wide’ caught my eye. The verb “to fizz” refers to striking or passing the ball with power, and precision. The ball often skims across the surface of the pitch. The verb is used to describe a ball that moves quickly and low, making it difficult for defenders or goalkeepers to react.

For example:

• “The midfielder fizzed a pass across the box, narrowly missing the striker’s outstretched foot.”
• “She fizzed a shot towards the bottom corner, forcing a brilliant save from the keeper.”

A “fizzed cross” might whip across the goalmouth inviting a tap-in, while a “fizzed shot” suggests a powerful effort that travels fast but just misses the target. Notice the verb is often used with a prepositional phrase: in our original example it was ‘fizzing wide of the far post‘. To fizz a cross or shot.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Burmese fan) 

DB: Right, let’s turn now to predictions with Damian and an absolutely huge game in Spain.

Predictions: Real Madrid vs Barcelona

DF: Right, the big game this weekend is of course el clasico from Spain when Real Madrid host Barcelona on Sunday. Madrid are top and Barcelona second in La Liga but neither side are playing particularly well and the Catalan side will be missing many of their top players. But I still think they will get something from this game; maybe a 2-2 draw with Lamine Yamal on the scoresheet.

DB: A draw is the obvious call given their form, but I think home advantage will help Madrid to a 2-1 win over their rivals. What about our next match, Damian – Everton versus Spurs?

Predictions: Everton vs Tottenham

DF: Well, it has been a strange start to the season for Spurs. We are not playing very well, can’t really score goals and are missing so many creative players. But we are 5th in the Premier League, unbeaten in three games in the Champions League and unbeaten in all five of our away games this season. I told you that it has been strange! We are away this weekend at Everton’s new stadium and I think our unbeaten run will continue – maybe a 1-1 draw.

DB: I agree with you. Spurs are inconsistent but Everton are not particularly strong either. As you said, Spurs are fifth and picking up a point away will be an OK result. I’ll go 0-0.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch) 

DB: How about practising your predictions language with us? What do you think will happen in any games that you are watching over the weekend? Let us know by coming along to our site and leaving a comment either below this post or on our forum; it’s a really nice way to practise some of your writing. And if you want, you can leave a predictions voice note as well! In our predictions section we used phrases like, ‘I’ll go (score)’, ‘Maybe (score)’, ‘I think (what) will help (which team) to (score).’

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Swahili)

Contact

DF: And of course, don’t forget, we have a huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases, and clichés about the beautiful game of football. And if you want to send in any new words that you have heard, again drop us a line.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish)

Goodbye

DB: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English Through Football podcast and that message was in Polish. Did you guess the other languages you heard on today’s podcast? First, we had as fan from Malawi, followed by messages in Brazilian Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesian, Cantonese, Burmese, Dutch and Swahili. You can add a message in your language by sending us a recording for the Learn English Through Football podcast, just email contact@learnenglishthrougfootball.com.

So, on the show today we looked at historic win and fizz wide. Try and use some of today’s phrases in a sentence if you can then send it on to us here at Learn English through Football – we’d love to hear from you.

DF: Bye bye! Enjoy all the football.

DB: Ta-ra!

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