Learn English Through Football Podcast

Currently enjoying a long winter break is the Bundesliga: we take a look at which teams are doing well and who should be worried.

Bundesliga - midway: The German Bundesliga is still on its winter break, and on this week's main report we take a look at what's going on in the league

This week, languagecaster.com introduce the football cliche 'it's a funny old game'.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, we discuss the winter tradition in the UK of having fixtures all through the Christmas and New Year period.

On this week's main report we look at the tradition of playing football on the 26th of December - Boxing Day.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian focus on some of the tough guys who have played football - the hard men of the game. As always, we also look at some football language - this week Damian explains the phrase 'to wrong-foot the defence' before we finish up with our weekly predictions battle which this week includes one of the world's biggest derby matches: Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.

The hard men of football: On this week's main report we continue our look at the various positions on the pitch by focusing on the tough guys - the hard men.

This week's football phrase is 'to wrong-foot the defence', which means to do something to catch out the defence; to throw them off-balance or to catch them by surprise.

2012 FIFA Club World Cup: On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian focus on FIFA's Club World Cup competition taking place in Japan this week and next. As always, we also look at some football language - this week Damian explains the phrase 'mind games' before we finish up with our weekly predictions battle which this week includes another big derby match: Manchester City vs Manchester United.

On this week's main report we take a look at the 2012 Club World Cup, currently being held in Japan.

This week, languagecaster.com brings you the football phrase 'mind games'. You can understand more about the word or phrase by reading the transcript below.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian focus on another position on the pitch - this time it is the winger. As always, we also look at some football language - this week Damian explains the phrase 'a drubbing' before we finish up with our weekly predictions battle which this week includes one of the world's biggest derby matches: Vasco da Gama and Flamengo.

The winger is in the spotlight in this week's main report as we continue our look at the various positions on the pitch

Every week, languagecaster.com brings you words or phrases from the footballing news. Today we explain the phrase 'a drubbing'.

Every week, languagecaster.com brings you words or phrases from the footballing news. Today we explain the phrase 'super-sub'

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian focus on another position on the pitch - this time it is the full back; numbers 2 and 3. As always, we also look at some football language - this week Damon explains the phrase 'route one' before we finish up with our weekly predictions battle which this week includes the Rome derby

On this week's main report we continue our look at the various positions on the pitch by focusing on the full back.

Every week, languagecaster.com brings you words or phrases from the footballing news. Today we explain the phrase 'route one'.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian focus on another position on the pitch - the centre back, or stopper.

Today we explain the phrase 'let a lead slip' in our weekly football phrase

Following last week's main report on goalkeepers, this week we look at another positions on the football pitch: the centre back.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian look forward to one of the greatest match-ups in world football - Boca Juniors against River Plate.

On this week's main report we look at one of the biggest games in world football: the Superclasico between River Plate and Boca Juniors.

This week's football phrase is 'against the run of play', which is used to describe a situation when a team scores a goal when they...

On this week's main report we look at one of the key positions on the football pitch: the goalkeeper

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian look forward to some more World Cup qualifiers taking place this week.

This week's main listening report focuses on the international minnows of the game.

On this week's football podcast for learners of English, Damon and Damian take a look at the big football stories from the week and profile the career of Leo Messi.

Leo Messi: This weekend sees the first clasico meeting of 2012-13 and so on this week's main report we profile one of the best players in the world: Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

On this week's football podcast, Joe, an American football fan, shares his experiences of visiting Boca Juniors' famous ground La Bombonera.

2012-13 Champions League Preview: This season's Champions League has just kicked-off and so on this week's listening report, complete with worksheet, the languagecaster team preview the group stages of Europe's biggest club competition.

On this week's football podcast, Damon and Damian preview the 2012-13 Champions League in our main report. We also look at some football language - this week we are highlighting the phrase 'to be held by' before finishing with our weekly predictions battle.

On this week's football podcast, Damian takes a look at his team Tottenham Hotspur and previews their season.

This is languagecaster's fourth main listening report of the 2012/13 season, and after Damon looked ahead to his team's Liverpool's prospects for the upcoming season it is the turn of Damian to do the same for his favourite side, Tottenham.

On this week's football podcast, Damian takes a look at the qualification system for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

The World Cup in Brazil is still nearly two years away but the qualifying process to decide the 31 countries that will join hosts Brazil in the finals has been running since June 2011. On this week's report we take a look at how each of the FIFA Federations decide which teams will qualify for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

2012-13: The Reds - a look at the coming season: This week Damon makes some predictions about his team, Liverpool's chances in our main report. We look at some football language from our huge glossary page before finishing with our predictions.

This is languagecaster's second main listening report of the 2012/13 season, and Damon looks ahead at his team, Liverpool's, season.

On this week's football podcast, Damon and Damian preview the 2012-13 Premier League in our main report. We also look at some football language - this week we are highlighting some phrases from our huge glossary page before finishing with our weekly predictions battle.

2012-13 Premier League kicks off: This is languagecaster's first main listening report of the 2012/13 season, and Damian and Damon give their predictions for the coming season in England.

Today's main report reviews the first round of matches in Group C from the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. You can listen to the report by clicking on the link below, while vocabulary support (in bold) appears at the foot of the report for learners who wish to improve their English. A Subscribe: Main Listening Report The Good It was a refreshing change to see a team take on Spain, and Italy really had a go at the World and European Champions. They employed an unusual 3-5-2 formation, while Spain went into the match without a recognised striker. The game was fast paced yet skillful and although it was a low scoring draw, 1-1, the fans were treated to some fantastic moments, particularly the ball that Silva played to carve open the Italian defence, allowingA Fabregas to get Spain's equaliser. Both teams deserve credit for this entertaining game. The Bad The Irish team will feel that they could have done a lot better, but instead the boys in green ended up the whipping boys of group C. They were thrashed in a game that they fancied their chances in, 3-1 by Croatia, and after that shock they were rolled over 4-0 by tournament favourites Spain in their second game. They did restore some pride with a battling display against Italy, going down 2-0, but by then it was too little and too late. Trapatonni, who was praised for getting the Irish to Euro 2012, was criticised for his selection policy, especially leaving out players such as Gibson, McCarthy and Houlihan. The fans were praised by everybody for the atmosphere they brought to the competition, but they won't be praising their team's performance. The Refreshing It was sad to see that some Croatian fans racially abused Italian striker Balotelli, and that they are being investigated again after displaying a flag with racist slogans in the game against Spain. However, it was refreshing to see how clearly and strongly the national coach, Slavan Bilic, condemned the fans' actions, saying, "We are not a racist country and we are angry at these few crazy supporters. We have to put sanctions on these kind of supporters and stop them forever." Too many times managers attempt to ignore or defend their fans behaviour, so this attack on the racist fans that follow the Croatian team was extremely welcome. Well done, Bilic! Vocabulary have a go at: attack the opposition; play a positive game; try to win formation: the shape a team plays: for example, 4 defenders, five in midfield and a striker is a 4-5-1 carve open: split a defence; go through a defence easily; open up the back line whipping boys: the team all other teams beat easily; the weakest team fancy (your) chances: believe you can win (usually against strong opposition); sense a weakness in another team roll over: easily defeat; win comfortably (usually with several goals) condemned: criticised strongly

Euro Listening Report: Group B Review: We continue our reviews of the first round of matches from the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine by looking at the group of death: Group B. You can listen to the report while there is also a worksheet.

Today's main report reviews the first round of matches from the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine and starts with Group A. There is also a worksheet with answers for those who wish to practice their English.

Today's main report looks ahead to this summer's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine and focuses on World and European holders Spain's chances.

Review of Liverpool's 2012 Season: It is the end of the season and so on this week's main listening report Damon takes a look at his club's Liverpool highs and lows from this season.

2012 The Big European Leagues: On this week's podcast, languagecaster takes alook at the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and La Liga.

On this week's main listening report Damian and Damon take a look at some of the key end of season matches in some of the big leagues in Europe.

On this week's podcast, we take a look at the English FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool.

On this week's main listening report we preview the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool by taking a look at the oldest competition in the world through numbers.

The 2012 Title Decider - Man Utd vs Man City? On this week's podcast, two fans tell us what they think will happen n the Manchester derby next Monday.