Learn English Through Football

In this football language podcast we look back at the third day of the 2020 European Championships and discuss some of the phrases from the BBC report on The Netherlands win over Ukraine yesterday. You can read a 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.
Pull one back – Football Language Podcast – Euro 2020: Day 3
DB: Hi there everyone, this is Damon from the Learning English Through Football team – We hope you are doing well. Today, I’m looking back at Day 3 from Euro 2020. I’ll be looking at some language in a report on The Netherlands versus Ukraine match, which ended with a 3-2 win for the Dutch. There are two phrases from the BBC report I’d like to focus on – pull one back and dipping finish.
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To Pounce
Now, just before we look at the two phrases – pull one back and dipping finish, I’d like to highlight some language in the report that Damian covered yesterday. He mentioned that Lukaku pounced on a mistake by the goalkeeper. Well, in the BBC report on The Netherlands v Ukraine game we have the same phrase. T his time Wijnaldum ‘pounced from inside the box‘ to score. And those who listened or read Damian’s report know that to pounce means to react quickly to a situation.
Wijnaldum’s goal was the first of two, and it looked like The Netherlands were going to cruise to victory, win comfortably. However, Ukraine stunned the Dutch with two goals of their own. The BBC report describes the first Ukraine goal like this: ‘But Ukraine pulled one back through Andriy Yarmolenko’s outstanding 25-yard dipping finish.’
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Pull one back
So, we have to pull one back – Ukraine pulled one back. This means to score a goal after the opponent has scored first. The Netherlands were 2-0 up, but Ukraine scored – pulled one ba  – to make the score 2-1. We could also say, ‘clawed one back’, especially if the opponent’s lead was bigger, say 3-0 or 4-0.
One more goal and Ukraine would be level, and the report goes on to say, ‘four minutes later, Roman Yaremchuk headed the equaliser to silence the Dutch fans’. Yaremchuk equalised, he scored an equaliser, to bring the match to 2-2. This shocked the Dutch fans, silencing them. They had been celebrating a 2-0 lead and a comfortable game, and now the game was in the balance.
A Dipping Finish
The equaliser was a header,