Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases. Things you use and need to know to play the game.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase an own goal.

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases. Things you use and need to know to play the game.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is own goal.

Jack: An own goal is when a player makes a huge mistake and scores in the wrong goal; for the wrong team.

Rich: Yes, it’s when a player puts the ball in his own net.

Jack: Own goals are a disaster and can be a bit embarrassing sometimes.

Rich: I’ve seen some awful own goals. Some own goals are really funny. Just type in best own goals into Google and there are some great videos to watch.

Jack: It must be awful explaining to your teammates after the match or at half-time. Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld scored an own goal in the match I was watching yesterday and then he scored a fantastic goal in the right net a few minutes later.

Rich: It must have made him feel a lot better.

Rich: An own goal. The pronunciation can be a bit difficult.
Jack, can you say a few examples? We want everybody listening to repeat what you say.

Jack: An own goal … an own goal … he scored an own goal.

Rich: I think the word own can be a bit difficult to use sometimes. Let’s look at some common examples when we use the word own.

Jack: I can do it on my own. It’s not a problem.

Rich: To do something on your own or by yourself means that it’s only you who does something. Let’s look at another example.

Jack: Where are you? I’m on my own here.

Rich: To be on your own means to be alone without other people. Let’s look at one more example.

Jack: When I went to university, I had to cook my own meals. I had to learn to cook.

Rich: Here it means he had to cook by himself without any help. Similar examples might be making your own bread at home instead of buying it or making your own money when you finish school and have to get a job.

Jack: So, scoring an own goal in a football match is not a good thing. We can use the phrase as an idiom.

Rich: To score an own goal or just an own goal means to do something that achieves the opposite of what you wanted to achieve.

Jack: It’s always a disadvantage, too. This is a difficult phrase to understand so listen to this:

Rich: They were making loads of money and then they put the price up. Nobody is buying it now.

Jack: Yeah, it looks like a bit of an own goal to me. They should put the prices back down.

Final whistle

Rich: There is the final whistle!

Jack: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

What's the best/worst own goal you've ever seen?

How does a player feel when they score an own goal?