Learn English Through Football

In this football language podcast for learners of English who love the beautiful game, we look at some of the language used to describe the 2021 Women’s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea. 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.
Learning English Through Football Podcast: 2020-21 Women’s FA Cup Final Chelsea vs Arsenal
DF: Hello again everyone, this is Damian from the Languagecaster.com team and we hope you are all well. Now, on this week’s football language podcast we feature some of the language used to describe the women’s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea from last weekend’s The Guardian newspaper, including the phrases, ‘unplayable‘ and ‘clip the ball‘.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek).
Unplayable/Secure the treble
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The Chelsea player Fran Kirby was so good in the final that she was described as ‘unplayable‘ in the report which means that no one could get near her because her level was much higher than anyone else on the pitch. To secure here means to succeed so when it is used with the word treble it means that Chelsea won the third of three titles – they won the treble. This cup win is of course last season’s title (2021) as the tournament was delayed due to Covid and so The Blues, Chelsea, have now completed the domestic (in this case England) treble: the 2020-21 WSL, the Women’s FA Cup and the League Cup.
Clip the ball/Deliver final blow
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Australian striker Sam Kerr clipped the ball over the keeper and this way of scoring is similar to dink over the keeper – the player skillfully lifts the ball over the goalkeeper. Clip, like dink, is associated with good technique and vision from the forward as the play...