This week's main report looks at the World Cup play-off match between Ireland and France. Listen to our Irish football correspondent, Brendan, discussing whether Ireland can cause a huge upset and make it to South Africa 2010. The transcript can be found below, while vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

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In this video worksheet post we use a clip from the excellent The History Of Football [2002] [DVD]on the topic of Folk Football. There is also a worksheet, transcript and answer sheet below. The report lasts for 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Folk Football Worksheet | Worksheet Answers | Transcript

Transcript
The legend, whether true or not, is still enacted year in, year out by the people
of Kirkwall, Scotland, making it one of the last strongholds of the game, which for hundreds of years dominated Britain.

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Try languagecaster's online crossword puzzle.

• Before you try the puzzle, listen to our Main Report and read The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
• You can do both if you listen to our weekly Podcast: this has the Main Report and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Predictions and English for Football).

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Try languagecaster's online crossword puzzle.

Before you try the puzzle, listen to our Main Report and read The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

You can do both if you listen to our weekly Podcast: this has the Main Report and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Predictions and English for Football).

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This week's main report looks at one of the countries that has already qualified for the 2010 World Cup Paraguay. The transcript of the report is below.

Try our online listening quiz. Listen to the report here

Transcript

Bigger than Japan but smaller than Spain, a population slightly larger than Denmark, but smaller than Hong Kong, and looking forward to their eighth appearance in the World Cup Finals, more than Portugal but fewer than Hungary which country am I talking about?

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This week's main report looks at the Bundesliga with Hans guiding us through the German league. The transcript of the report is below and includes vocabulary in bold which is explained at the foot of the post.
h3 style="text-align: center;">Listen to the report here

Transcript
Hans: Hello and welcome to the Bundesliga.

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Teaching Ideas

Continuing in our series of interviews with people who just don't like football, we interview Peter from Scotland on some of the reasons why he has never been a fan of the 'beautiful game'. Listen to the first of our interviews on this topic here in. To help you understand there is a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post.

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This week's main report looks ahead to the group stages of the Champions League. In this interview Damian asks Manchester United fan Brendan about this season's competition. The transcript of the report is below and includes vocabulary in bold which is explained at the foot of the post.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. Listen to this week's show here

This World Cup Stars post features possibly the greatest player of all time, Diego Maradona. To help you understand a little better there is a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post

TRANSCRIPT

Pele may have won more World Cup titles, Ronaldo may have scored more goals, Lothar Matthäus played more games but no one has dominated the World Cup as much as Diego Maradona.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | World Cup Stars

Listen to this week's show here Transcript

Each era has its heroes and stars. Today's football world is dominated by players like David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, who are role models to many young players, but I wonder how long their influence will last.

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The languagecaster team have often been asked why we chose to focus on language learning through football. Well, apart from being two language teachers with a love for the game, we thought it might be interesting to offer teachers some alternative content for their language classes.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson died last weekend. In this post we take a look back at one of the most respected English managers in the game. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post to help you with comprehension.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

The second tier of English football, The Championship, kicks off this week and in this post we take a look at which teams we think will be involved in the promotion race or the relegation battle.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

Less than two weeks before the Premier League kicks off and this week a Liverpool fan looks ahead to what might happen for his team. Does he think that Liverpool can go one better than last season and win the Premier League and is he impressed with Liverpool's business in the transfer market?

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

The summer transfer window is now in full swing with Real Madrid and Manchester City having spent most of the cash so far. Here is an additional list of phrases and terms connected with transfers to go along with our earlier post on the topic.

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The new season in Europe is a few weeks away. Will there be a shift in the power balance in Europe from the Premier league to La Liga? Well, Cristiano Ronaldo thinks so, and the odds offered by betting companies do too. They suggest that Barcelona and Real Madrid are the favourites at 5-1, followed by the English teams Chelsea and Manchester United at 7-1, and Liverpool at 10-1.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

The new season has nearly started and languagecaster.com has asked some fans what they think about their teams chances in the next year of football. We kick off this series of posts with Dave, a Manchester City supporter reflecting on the new money at his club and the possibility of breaking into the top four in the Premier League.

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languagecaster's produces one podcast every week during the European football season. You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. In this post we focus on how students of English can improve their English listening skills from with these podcast.

Main Elements of the Podcast

• First - a review (Listen to the podcast and read in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly posts)
• Second - a main piece of about 5 minutes (You need to download the worksheet with answers and transcript so you can practice while you listen.

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It seems that America is fallng out of love with David Beckham. Read the article on the former England captain's current troubles at his club LA Galaxy. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post to help you with comprehension.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

Though it's hard to believe not everyone is a fan of football. In the first of our series of interviews with people who just don't like the game, Alan from Scotland tells us why a 5-4 'thriller' left him completely bored.

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Estudiantes win the Copa Libertadores for the fourth time and Juan Sebastian Veron does his father proud as he leads the Argentinians to a come from behind 2-1 victory (his father won the cup three times with Estudiantes). Well done the 'rat-stabbers'. In Europe, transfer fever continues and Tevez crosses the divide from Manchester United to Manchester City, who are still courting Chelsea's John Terry.

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Vélez Sarsfield pipped Huracán to the Clausura championship in Argentina, Benzama and Ronaldo are officially unveiled at Real Madrid, Kashima, despite drawing with Kawasaki in Japan's J-League, have opened up a healthy gap at the top of the league. But perhaps the biggest news was the shock signing of former Liverpool star, Michael Owen, for Manchester United.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

In this teaching ideas post we listen to Manchester City fan Dave explain why he supports the Blues and not the Reds from his hometown of Manchester. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post

• Download the worksheet here
• Listen to the interview here

Why Manchester City?

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

In this teaching ideas post we have an interview with Arsenal fan Andy who tells us about some of his memories while supporting the Gunners. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post

• Download the worksheet here
• Listen to the interview here

Damian: Right, today we have got an Arsenal season ticket holder giving us his views on all things Gunners.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

In September, Europe gets back to World cup qualifiers. This post takes a look at the top ten teams in Europe (FIFA ranking). As you read the post, look at the names of countries and the nationality adjectives.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

The summer transfer window is upon us which, of course, means that clubs are allowed to buy and sell players for a fixed period of time. In this teaching ideas post we take a look at the language of football transfers.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

Last week we looked at South Africa, this week we visit South America and the continent's biggest club competition the Copa Libertadores. As you read the post, look at the names of countries and the nationality adjectives.

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In this teaching ideas post we look at the FIFA Confederations Cup which is taking place at the moment in South Africa. You can find a short reading about the tournament along with Reading: Confederations Cup Worksheet.

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Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

In this teaching ideas post we ask Brendan, a Manchester United fan, to review his team's title-winning season for us. Read the interview below and then practise your reading skills and vocabulary with the printable worksheet below.

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Domestic cup winners from around Europe, the Player of the Year announced in England, crisis at Arsenal, fans on the pitch, drunken fights and stroppy behaviour off it, all feature in this week's look at the footballing news in the good, the bad and the ugly section of languagecaster's football podcast.

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On many of the pages of languagecaster's site you can find language connected to football, such as cliches and phrases. In this teaching ideas post we take a look at some of the words and phrases that players might say while playing a match, the kind of language that you can hear - or use - on the pitch.

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