After 50 matches the European Championships taking place in France has now reached the final game which will see Ronaldo’s Portugal taking on hosts France. And so on today’s learning English through football podcast we will be looking ahead to that game and also looking back at some of the words and phrases from the tournament. First up we will be reviewing some of the good, the bad and the ugly from the tournament including Iceland, England and Russia and after that we will be talking about our Euro 2016 prediction competition, before looking at some of the phrases from the tournament: penalty shoot-out, Cruyff turn, to root for and to win ugly and then we’ll be finishing off the show with a prediction for the final.

Learning English Through football Podcast: Euro 2016 Final France vs Portugal

Transcript of the show

Damian (DF): You’re listening to languagecaster’s football podcast

Damon (DB): Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all football fans who wish to improve their English language skills. My name is Damon and I am in Tokyo – it’s hot and humid here, I wonder what it’s like where Damian is.

DF: Hi Damon, I’m here in a breezy and very, very wet and miserable London where the talk about Europe both on and off the football pitch has dominated here for the past couple of weeks!

So after 50 matches the European Championships taking place in France has now reached the final game which will see Ronaldo’s Portugal taking on hosts France. And on today’s football podcast we will be looking ahead to that game and also looking back at some of the words and language from the tournament.

DB: I’m sorry to hear that it’s a bit rainy and dark over there in London. I hope our show can brighten up your day. Now, first up we will be reviewing some of the good, the bad and the ugly from the tournament and after that we will be talking about our Euro 2016 prediction competition – very exciting – and then we’ll be looking at some of the phrases from the tournament: penalty shoot-out, Cruyff turn, to root for and to win ugly and we’ll be finishing off the show with a prediction, of course, for the ‘big’ final.

Good

DF: Now Damon before we take a look back at the Euros we must not forget the fact that Chile are Copa America winners for the second year in a row after defeating Argentina on penalties again. How about some other good moments from the Euros?

DB: Wales and Iceland – two outsiders who have outperformed all expectations reaching the semi-final and quarter-final respectively while we should also mention Hungary, Northern Ireland and Ireland who all made it through to the last 16.

DF: France – organised the tournament well / the hosts have reached the final / Griezmann 6 goals so favourite for golden boot

DB: Cristiano Ronaldo – started badly but has grown in importance (3 goals, 3 assists)

Bad

DB: England – so much expectation but only one victory – a last-minute win against Wales – before the Three Lions were dumped out of the tournament by Iceland in the last 16 which saw their manager Roy Hodgson resigning.

DB: Many pundits had tipped Austria to be one of the dark horses but they failed at the first step and were eliminated at the group stage.

DF: The quarter-final penalty shoot-out between Italy and Germany saw 6 spot kicks missed including a really bad effort from Juventus player Zaza who blazed the ball over the bar after a crazy run up. Belgium flattered to deceive. The golden generation once again failed to live up to their potenti...