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Football English - The Opposition

Learning goals

Skills: Listening

Language: Phrases to talk about the opposition

Task: Talk about a rival team

Football English: The Opposition

In this week's Premier Skills English Podcast, Rowan and Jack are at home watching a match. The language focus is on words and phrases to talk about the other team (the opposition). In this week's task, we want you to talk about a rival team. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to gues

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen and read the transcript at the same time.

Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

The language you need to talk about the opposition

Opponents usually just shake hands and get on with the game.

Opponents usually just shake hands and get on with the game.

The first thing to remember is that when we are talking about the opposition while watching a game we rarely use team names. Look at these examples from the listening:

We should turn them over easily.

They're pretty solid at the back.

We need to keep an eye on their number nine.

We're going to beat this lot today.

When we are talking about a match we use pronouns. When we talk about our team we use 'we', 'us' and 'our', but when we talk about the other team we use 'they', 'them' and 'our'. It's definitely 'us against them' when it comes to talking about the opposition. One other phrase you can see above is 'this lot' which means 'the opposition' and is used in an informal way.

Words and phrases

Sometimes there can be some tough tackles between opponents.

Sometimes there can be some tough tackles between opponents.

In the roleplay, Rowan and Jack said that one important factor is whether you are confident or not about winning a match. The split the language into two categories:

  1. Confident about winning
  2. Worried about losing

Confident about winning

Opponents challenging for the ball.

Opponents challenging for the ball.

When you are confident about winning a match, you will probably use words and expressions that show this. Rowan used these examples:

They're just going to park the bus.

They play nice football but there's no end product.

He's alright but they haven't got anyone else.

These expressions show that Rowan is confident because he doesn't think the opposition is very good. To park the bus means to defend a lot and not attack, no end product means they can't score goals or create chances and haven't got anyone else is an expression we use to say the opposition has one good player but no more. Look at the sentences below can you fill in the gaps?

What other phrases did you hear that describe the opposition when you're confident about winning?

Worried about losing

It can be difficult when you lose a close match to an opponent.

It can be difficult when you lose a close match to an opponent.

When you are worried about losing a match, you will probably use words and expressions that show this. Jack used these examples:

They're pretty solid at the back and quick on the counter-attack.

Some people have said they could go quite far. They're a bit of a dark horse.

We need to keep an eye on their number nine.

These expressions show that Jack is worried about the opposition. In the first example, he talks about the opposition's quality 'solid at the back' means good in defence while 'quick on the counter-attack' emphasises that the opposition can move quickly from defensive to attacking positions. In the second example, he talks about what other people have been saying, 'to be a dark horse' is an idiom to describe a team that is better than what people think and could surprise a lot of people. Finally, Jack talks about an individual player. He says 'we need to keep an eye on their number nine; this means to watch this player carefully because he's good.

Did you hear any similar examples? Can you think of more? Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

The answers to the quiz below are all words that Rowan and Jack used in the conversation. Can you remember what they said?

They're not going to beat us!

A half and half scarf? Have you ever bought one?

A half and half scarf? Have you ever bought one?

In this podcast, Jack and Rowan described two teams. You need to respond using some of the language that was used in the podcast. Here is what they said again:

  • Team 1: They’re on a really bad run and haven’t won for ages. Their number nine is pretty good but apart from that ...
  • Team 2: They’ve got all the way to the semi-finals without letting a goal in. They’ve scored quite a few, too.

Think how you could use some of the phrases Rowan and Jack introduced in this podcast and then write your answers below. And, don't forget to make a guess at this week's football phrase!

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