Here you will learn English phrasal verbs related to a football match. If you are a football fan, this will help you expand your vocabulary and improve your confidence in speaking English.
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Harry
Phrasal Verbs related to a Football Match
This is Harry, and welcome to my podcast, where I try to help you with the English language expressions, everyday phrasal verbs and idioms which will help you improve your English speaking and writing skills.
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So what do I have for you today? Today, we’re going to talk about something that everybody loves – or at the least the majority of people love – football. So whether you’re living in France, England, Ireland, Germany, Spain, wherever it might be, football is one of those unique sports that unites cities and also divides them from time to time. So if you’re lucky to love the game as much as I do and, hopefully you support a team a little bit better than my team. Anyway, I hope you enjoy watching and playing football. So let’s look at some phrasal verbs related to a football match.
Phrasal Verbs related to a Football Match
to pay off
Meaning: to get a good result due to something you did in the past
Example:
The change of position of our central midfielder to a striker paid off last weekend when he scored two goals. The purchase of that new defender will pay off eventually.
to gamble on something
Meaning: to take a chance that some tactics or some strategy will work
For example, to park the bus strategy – the defensive strategy
Example:
The manager gambles on the defensive approach.
to brush somebody/something aside
Meaning: to knock someone or something out of the way
Example:
The defensive player wasn’t so well equipped to deal with the strength of the striker, and he was easily brushed aside.
So in the football context, when a really strong defensive player or midfield player is on the ball and he’s moving forward on and then the opposition tried to tackle him. But he was able to brush somebody or something aside with ease.
to hit back
Meaning: to try and recover quickly from the mistake, to retaliate
Example:
The home team lost a goal very early in the game after four or five minutes. But within three minutes they hit back immediately with a very good goal.
Following a corner kick and the striker put the ball into the back of the net and the teams were back on level terms, one each.
The managers can also hit back.
These days the managers have to sit in front of the cameras before and after the games. They have to answer questions about what the tactic is going to be, and then they have to defend their tactics after the game. So some managers get a little bit angry or they hit back at what they consider to be stupid questions from the press.
to rain off
Meaning: the game is cancelled or postponed because of rain; the pitch is waterlogged
Example:
Last summer two matches against England were rained off.
Phrasal Verbs related to a Football Match
to ease off
Meaning: to reduce the intensity of the game. For example, to start passing the ball around a bit more or to not move forward as often as they did before
Example:
To avoid any risk of injury or tiredness, the team eased off slightly.
The manager decided to play the rest of the game easily at the back, so the players eased off.
And, of course, if you ease off on the other team and get that goal, then you have to fight back.
to fight back
Meaning: to counterattack, to resist something or something actively
Example:
After being one-nil down with 20 minutes to go, they were able to fight back and got an equaliser.
So let’s repeat our phrasal verbs related to a football match one more time:
- to pay off
- to gamble on something
- to brush somebody/something aside
- to hit back
- to rain off
- to ease off
- to fight back
Okay, well, hopefully you enjoyed those phrasal verbs connected with football.
Thanks for listening and join me again soon.
More information
For more information on English grammar rules, English collocations and English idioms, check out the links below:
Difference between WIN, EARN and GAIN
10 English collocations with PRICE
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