Learn English Through Football

This week’s football language podcast looks back at the group stages of the 2023 African Nations Cup tournament that is taking place in Ivory Coast in January and February and we’ll be looking at some of good and the bad and talking about ‘giantkilling‘. And don’t forget that 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: Giant killing – AFCON 2023 Group Stage Review
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DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. My name is Damian and I am in a very cold London and of course the other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon who is based in Tokyo in Japan. I wonder if Damon has been watching the Asian Cup? I saw that Japan, who are one of the favourites for the title, lost to Iraq in their second match of the tournament. The Japan Times newspaper called it a ‘shock defeat‘ which means that not many people thought it would happen. The newspaper also mentioned that Iraq ‘exposed Japan’s frailties‘ which means that the Iraqi side were able to find and attack the weaknesses of the Japanese team. The Samurai Blue (the Japanese team’s nickname) bounced back against Indonesia to progress to the last 16 and will certainly still be one of the teams to beat.
Now, as well as the Asian Cup, the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is taking place and I have been watching a lot of the group games on TV here in London and it’s this competition that I will be looking at on today’s show and in particular, at the group stage which finished earlier this week.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Bemba)
Yes, that message was in Bemba from a Zambian fan and all of our stingers on this week’s show will be languages from Africa. Right, on today’s show I will be looking at some of the language that has emerged from the group stages of the tournament but before we listen to some of the good and the bad from the competition, let’s see how much you know about AFCON 23.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Al-Hilal SC (Sudan) fan)
2023 AFCON: Questions

* How many teams are taking part in this year’s competition?
* Which team won the tournament two years ago (in 2021)?
* Where is this year’s competition taking place?

Vocabulary