Learn English Through Football

This football language podcast looks back at the first day of the quarter final action at Euro 2020, especially the penalty shootout between Spain and Switzerland. 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. (DB=Damon)
Roof of the Net – Football Language: Euro 2020 – Quarter Finals Day 1
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster.com’s football language Euro 2020 podcast. Hi there, everyone. Welcome to our daily Euro 2020 football language podcast. My name is Damon, one half of the languagecaster team. I’m based in a rainy, humid Tokyo, and the other half of the team, Damian, is on a different continent, in London. So, it is the quarter finals and we’ve seen Spain squeak past Switzerland in a penalty shootout and Italy look good against another tournament favourite Belgium. The Azzuri won that one 2-1.
On this show, I’m going to focus on some of the language from the penalty shoot out in the Spain versus Switzerland match.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Spanish).
Penalty Shootout
DB: Yes you are listening to languagecaster and our football language podcast and that message was in Spanish.
The first quarter final saw Spain and Switzerland finish the 90 minutes and extra time deadlocked (see also stalemate) at 1-1. This meant the game had to be decided on penalties; there would be a penalty shootout. Spain went on to win on penalties, but let’s look at some of the language used to describe the penalties taken. We’ll use the minute-by-minute commentaries from eufa.com and the Guardian.
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Send the Wrong Way
DB: First up is the phrase ‘to send the wrong way‘. This is when the player taking the penalty makes the keeper think he or she will shoot one way, but shoots the other. This means the goalkeeper dives one way and the ball goes the opposite side.
The first penalty was taken by Spain’s captain, Busquets. Here is uefa.com: “The Spain skipper strides up confidently, sending Sommer the wrong way, but nudges the ball low onto the base of the left-hand post.“
Although he sent the keeper the wrong way, his shot came back off the woodwork, it hit the base of the left hand post. The next penalty was taken by the Swiss Gavranovic and he also sent the keeper the wrong way but scored. Here is the Guardian: “Gavranovic scores, sending Simon the wrong way.”
Roof of the Net
DB: The next phrase we can take a look at is ‘roof of the net&#...