IT WAS A BIG ASK FOR BOTTOM SIDE VASCO DA GAMA TO TRY AND DEFEAT LEAGUE LEADERS CLUBE DE REGATAS DO FLAMENGO: FOOTBALL LANGUAGE

One of the things I have been working on is the extension course I’ve been trying to offer as extra credits for the students at my workplace. I cannot deny how challenging it has been so far to me to find materials about football and the English language.

On the other hand, I have been learning a lot about football as well as the specific vocabulary (in English) about the most popular sport in the world.

Do you guy happen to know the meaning of ‘a big ask’?

This noun phrase has become pretty popular in many sports around the world recently. It clearly means that something is very hard to do. As thefreedictionary.com puts it, it may also give us the idea of: “a request to someone to do something for you that you know will be difficult for them.”

In football, if a team, for example, Barcelona are losing by 1 or 2 goals in a game, it may be considered a big ask for them to come back and win the game. (Well, if we’re talking about F.C. Barcelona, I would think it is ‘a big ask’ at all!)

From time to time, ‘a big ask’ may be heard when a commentator is talking about a team in a very low position in a football league – obviously, we would have to imagine that the team has not been playing well, for instance.  

Example:

It was a big ask for bottom side Vasco da Gama to try and defeat league leaders Clube de Regatas do Flamengo.  (Actually, it is always a big ask!)

Interestingly, another noun phrase – a tough ask – may also be used to say the same thing. Both phrases have been around since the 1980s. according to the Oxford English Dictionary, such expression originated in Australia.

I hope you have enjoyed this one!

See you around!

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What exactly is a 'box-to-box' player in football?

Does your team have a box-to-box midfielder on the squad?

You can hear the explanation by clicking on the image 

ANSWER:

A box-to-box midfielder is a central midfielder who plays both defensively and attackingly, who runs a lot up and down the pitch. In other words, a box-to-box midfielder is a player with an incredibly high stamina and endurance.

He does a bit of everything: cut off opposition attacks, tackle near his own box, make late runs into the opposition box and carry the ball after receiving it from the back. Since this player covers all areas of the pitch i.e. from his own 18-yard box to the opposition's 18-yard box, he's called a box-to-box player.

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In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much. 

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me! 

Did you spot a typo?

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Criamos uma página com os alunos da universidade. A ideia é praticar a língua fora da sala de aula e divulgar informações sobre quem faz a universidade. Sintam-se convidados a curtir a mesma:

https://www.facebook.com/Humans-of-Ufersa-1768823170006421/

Follow these ten rules when interviewing Louis van Gaal.

I watched one of the best matches in the 2014/2015 Premier League yesterday – Chelsea vs Manchester United.

I’m a Man United supporter, I cannot deny it. But, apart from my preferences and my tendency to say that, Manchester United were the best in the pitch. They controlled the match since the very beginning. They had more ball possession. United was the best-organized team in the field…

Apart from the result, other, say, happenings always call my attention after the games– what the manager is going to say. After all, the team did what they were asked to, right?

Actually, every single Louis van Gaal’s interviews may be really interesting because you never know how he will react to the questions asked, even if he wins the match.

I would like to say that I think Louis van Gaal is one of the best managers in the world. I like the way he manages his teams. I had no doubt he would make a great job for Man United this season! The team is better than the one that played the previous season.

I would also like to share this post, especially with the journalists, about how one should interview Mr. van Gaal.

It’s very funny. Enjoy it.

Congratulations on obtaining Louis van Gaal. From this moment on, you will be patronised, looked at with disdain, and haunted by a constant doubt if Mr. Van Gaal is flat out making fun of you or being dead serious. Before you embark on the journey that is having a post match interview with Mr. Van Gaal, you should make yourself familiar with these ten ground rules.

1. Be prepared for any possible mood Contrary to many other managers, whether the match is won, drawn or lost is no indication whatsoever of Van Gaal’s mood. Even if he has won and seems to be quite happy, one wrong question can - and will - put him off.

2. Start neutral Begin with a question about the match just played. “How did your team do?” or “What did you think?” will suffice. “You must be very disappointed” will not. That is because the match you saw and the match he saw can be very different ones. Mr. Van Gaal is perfectly comfortable declaring that a 0-3 loss at home to Sunderland was his team’s best game all season, just because his players were doing what he told them to do. It’s not always about what ends up on the scoreboard. Don’t enter the interview thinking it is.

3. Don’t introduce yourself Or else he’ll know your name, remember it and use it against you. You will not be some anonymous guy with a microphone and a cameraman on his side; you will be Gary, or Clive, or Tony, with whom he will or will not have a feud from the get-go. (He will.)

4. Stay on topic If the interview is about the game, you talk about the game. Not about the next game, transfer rumours or whatever happened on the training pitch. Every question about anything else than the game just played will derail the conversation.

5. It’s his language now, not yours Mr. Van Gaal will come up with new additions to the Oxford Dictionary. In Germany, he inadvertently (or was it?) introduced the phrase Der Tod oder die Gladiolen, a Dutch saying meaning literally “death or the gladioli”: all or nothing. This is because if Mr. Van Gaal speaks your language, it is no longer your language, it’s his. It is not Mr. Van Gaal who has trouble speaking English, it is you, for not going along with his obviously much better interpretation of it.

6. Try to avoid the meta-interview An interview with Mr. Van Gaal will almost inevitably wind up being an interview about the interview, or more specifically, him asking questions about your questions. This will be the moment you feel the conversation is slipping away from you. Switch back to the studio, or it will end up on YouTube.

7. Don’t repeat the question Never mind - you will fail at this. You won’t fool him, even if you think your follow-up question is a cleverly rephrased, well disguised one. He’ll say: “I just told you”. This is inevitable. Don’t try to avoid it, just try to get over it as smoothly as possible, like you would at a speed bump.

8. Keep on your toes. At some point, you will think Mr. Van Gaal is joking. Sure, he does it with a straight face, but he’s joking, he must be. He’s mocking you. Or is he really this angry about this little thing you just said? No - it can’t be. You start to stammer. Ha! He’s just taking a… wait, is he? You will never know, as only Mr. Van Gaal knows. And he never breaks character.

9. Distinguish fact from opinion This is hard, as only Mr. Van Gaal can determinewhich are facts and which are opinions. Which team was disadvantaged by the ref, or which team should have won based on the number of chances? He, and only he, will have the answer. These are the facts. Your facts are opinions. After the 1-1 draw of The Netherlands against Ecuador, he called the 0-1 an “unfortunate ball moment”: nothing to do about it. In Mr. Van Gaal’s world, this makes perfect sense. In your world it may not, but you are not to point this out, as he will call you dumb.

10. Stay under three minutes Try to get everything you need within that window. After that, the chances of hitting a conversational speed bump will statistically rise. You’ll start wandering into other realms of conversation (how about this or that rumour, Mr. Van Gaal?), or you will ask a question a second time, or he will say you did. After that, you’re on your own. Good luck, mate.

From: http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/05/21/british-journalists-follow-these-ten-rules-for-interviewing-louis-van-gaal/ [19 April 2015]

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Did you spot a typo?

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QUE NOME, EM INGLÊS, RECEBEM AQUELES TORCEDORES QUE VIAJAM JUNTAMENTE COM SEUS TIMES PARA ONDE ELES FOREM?

No hino oficial do Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, podemos encontrar os dizeres:

“Até a pé nós iremos / Para o que der e vier / Mas o certo é que nós estaremos / Com o Grêmio onde o Grêmio estiver /”

Ouçam o hino completo aqui (HINOS OFICIAIS DE CLUBES DE FUTEBOL – Grêmio - LINK)

Você sabia que damos o nome de Travelling Army aos torcedores que viajam seguindo a delegação de seus times do coração? Bem, suponho que quando os torcedores das seleções que estarão aqui no Brasil durante a Copa do Mundo chegarem, teremos muitos Travelling Armies.

Também conhecidos como decimo segundo jogadores ou decimo segundo homem, o travelling Army já tem feito muita diferença nas história dos clássicos mundiais.

In English:

Travelling army: expression used by commentators for any set of away fans – that is, fans who travelled to the match to support their team. Often a team's travelling army are referred to as the 12th man.

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Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

O que significa “Panenka” no futebol?

Bem, essa expressão pode não ser muito conhecida, mas quem curte futebol já viu muito lance desses. Trata-se da cobrança de um pênalti estilo Loco Abreu (embora não tenha sido esse o seu inventor).

A explicação vem lá do Wikipédia:

Panenka: skill move used when taking a penalty kick wherein the player taking the penalty delicately chips the ball over a diving goalkeeper, rather than striking the ball firmly, as is the norm. Named after Antonín Panenka, who famously scored such a penalty for Czechoslovakia against West Germany in the final of the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship.

Aqui no Brasil, batizamos como a cavadinha, aquele pênalti batido com um leve toque na bola – uma humilhação para muitos torcedores.

Vejam as fotos e os vídeos com alguns exemplos de Panenka (cavadinhas):

Fotos:

Vídeos: 

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Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Qual expressão é utilizada em inglês quando o mesmo jogador marca 3 gols em uma mesma partida?

No Brasil, quando algum jogador marca três gols em uma mesma partida, a galera do Fantástico da Rede Globo faz com que o cara faça o pedido de uma música a ser tocada durante a reprise de seus gols.

Bem, a ideia pode ser interessante durante a Copa do Mundo desse ano, pois além de conhecer o gosto musical dos jogadores, estaríamos também mostrado que o nosso mundo esportivo tem um lado bem humano aqui no país. Eu particularmente duvido que a FIFA permita isso.

O leitor já sabe como se diz quando, “a player scores three goals in a single match?”

Evitarei fazer suspense e explicações longas, então, irei direto ao ponto...

Vejam essas frases:

·         Rooney scored a double hat-trick in Manchester United’s 8-4 victory.

·         He memorably scored a hat-trick in an emphatic victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Logo, HAT-TRICK quer dizer marcar três gols.

Existem outros contextos para tal expressão, mas como estamos enfatizando seu uso no futebol, fica aí a resposta da pergunta da postagem.

How would you use hat-trick in a sentence?

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Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

O que significa, “Knock one out of the park” em inglês?

Algumas pessoas são tão sensacionais no que fazem que chegam a deixar outras boquiabertas e muitas vezes morrendo de inveja. Natural, não é?

Mas o que tudo isso tem a ver com “Knock one out of the park”?

Leiam:

You knocked one out of the park in that meeting – the presentation was a real success.

knocked one out of the park means that you have had a great idea or did something extremely well.

Resumindo, podemos dizer que knocked one out of the park quer dizer fazer algo muito bem. Essa é mais uma daquelas expressões que surgem no mundo dos esportes. Nesse caso; no baseball.

Esta postagem foi escrita pelo professor Bruno Coriolano (clique aqui), se você gostou e aprendeu mais uma expressão em inglês, curta nossa página no Facebook e compartilhe para que o mesmo conhecimento chegue aos outros de forma gratuita. 

O que significa “two strikes against...” em inglês?

Leiam a primeira frase:

You’ve already got two strikes against you, so be careful or you’ll be out of here.

Imagine essa frase acima dita pelo seu patrão: “Você já cometeu dois erros, então tome cuidado ou será demitido”.

Óbvio que esse é um sinal de alerta! Ou seja, two strikes against you funciona como um aviso de que você só poderá cometer mais um erro, ou seja, essa é sua última chance.

Paul’s already got two strikes against him, so he should be careful or he’ll be out of here.

If someone has two strikes against them, they only have one more chance. If they do something else bad, they will be punished/sent to prison.

Existe também a expressão, “Three strikes and you’re out”. A idéia é a mesma, “errou três vezes, dança, ou seja, errou três vezes e você está fora”.

Ambas as expressões vêm do baseball. O mundo dos esportes está sempre “emprestando” aos idiomas novas expressões “todos os dias”.

Esta postagem foi escrita pelo professor Bruno Coriolano (clique aqui), se você gostou e aprendeu mais uma expressão em inglês, curta nossa página no Facebook e compartilhe para que o mesmo conhecimento chegue aos outros de forma gratuita. 

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