In this issue, Bruno learns that women can be better than men at football coaching. 

Understanding

At the beginning of the story, the whole team are surprised that their new coach is a woman. What problems do you think women can have when involved in football? Have a look at the list of jobs in football in this activity. Are these jobs available to women? What difficulties might women face in these roles?

Activity 1: Have a look at the list of jobs in football in the activity. In which ones do you think women face the most difficulties? Put them in order, from the job with most difficulties for women to the job with the fewest difficulties. There are no right or wrong answers to this activity.

Grammar - Possible and Impossible Conditionals

At half-time, Luiza is angry with the team and she uses a conditional sentence to tell the team how angry she is. She uses a sentence to describe something that could happen - it is possible. It is sometimes described as the first conditional. We create the first conditional by using:  if + present simple and will + infinitive:

"If you don't listen, you won't play for the team again."

After the match, Filipe understands that he didn't listen to Luiza at the beginning of the match and feels bad about this. He uses a sentence to describe something that didn't happen. This is an impossible conditional because it's about something in the past and is sometimes described as the third conditional. We create the third conditional by using:  if + past perfect and would + have + past participle:

"If we'd listened at the beginning, we would have won that match."

Have a go at the activity below to practise more of these types of sentence. If you want to know more, check out the Grammar Pages on our Learn English website.

Activity 2: In this activity, take a look at some sentences and think about which type of conditional sentence you should use.

Vocabulary

There were quite a few difficult football words and phrases in this issue of the comic. For example:

"If we can keep possession, we'll win this one."

"Her tactics were great!"

Have a go at the activity below and see if any of the words or expressions are new for you.

Activity 3: There were some difficult phrases and words in this issue of 'The Beautiful Game'. How much did you understand?

Quiz

What do you think?

Why were the team surprised that their new coach was a woman?
Why was Bruno so angry?
What role in sport do women have in your country?
Could we see a woman as a Premier League manager or referee in the future?

Tell us your answers in the comments section below.