Portugal is in the Final of UEFA EURO 2016

Photo credits: UEFA EURO 2016
"Dreaming is free - that is why we have to dream."
Cristiano Ronaldo

Football Vocabulary

photo credits: For Sport Fans

While addressing the topic sports, some students asked me to dig a little deeper into the semantic area of football. As it is the national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs involved in the code than any other country. England is home to, amongst others, the world's oldest association football club (Sheffield F.C.), the oldest national governing body (The Football Association), the first national team, the oldest national knockout competition (the FA Cup) and the oldest national league (The Football League). Today England's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, and is home to some of the world's most famous football clubs. The modern global game of association football was first codified in 1863 in London, but football was played in England as far back as medieval times. The first written evidence of a football match came in about 1170.

So, let's have a close look at some specific 'football vocabulary'! Bear in mind this is only a short list, if you want to know more, you can check, for example, The Football Vocabulary Phrasebook, available for free download.

Attack: to make a forceful attempt to score a goal
Attacker: a player that has possession of the ball
Away game: a game played at the opponent's ground
Away team: the team that is visiting the opponent's ground
Ball: the hollow sphere that players kick in soccer
Beat: to defeat
Captain: the player who leads and directs the other players on the field
Champions: a team that has beaten all other teams in a sporting contest
Championship: a sporting contest for the position of champion
Changing rooms: the rooms where players dress to play
Cheer: to shout in encouragement and give support
Coach: a person who trains a team
Corner kick: a restart of the game where the ball is kicked from one of the four corners of the field
Defend: to resist an attack
Defenders: the players that do not have possession of the ball
Draw: a game that ends with both teams having the same number of goals
Extra time: a further period of play added on to the game if the scores are equal
Field: the rectangular, grass area where a game is played
Field markings: the straight and curved white lines painted onto the field
FIFA: Federation Internationale de Football Association; the official body of international football
FIFA World Cup: a solid gold statue given to the champion of each World Cup tournament to keep for the next 4 years
First half: the first 45 minutes of the game, before half-time
Fit: in form, in good health
Fixture: a game played on a particular date
Fixture list: a programme of games
Forward: one of the three or four players on a team who play at the front and are responsible for most of the scoring
Foul: an unfair or invalid piece of play, against the rules
Free kick: a kick given to a player for a foul by the opposition; the player kicks the ball without any opposing players within ten feet of him
Friendly game: a game that is not part of a serious contest
Goal: a ball that crosses the goal line between the goalposts and below the crossbar, winning one point.
Goal area: the rectangular area 20 yards wide by 6 yards deep in front of each goal
Goal kick: a way of restarting the game where the ball is kicked from inside the goal area away from the goal
Goal line: the boundary or line at each end of the field
Goalkeeper: the player in front of the goal who tries to stop the other team scoring
Goal scorer: a player who puts the ball into the goal and so "scores a goal"
Half-time: the 15-minute rest period between the first half and second half
Hooligan: a violent troublemaker
Injury: a wound suffered by a player (for example: broken leg, sprained ankle)
Injury time: time added to the end of the first or second half to compensate for time lost because of player injuries
Kick: to strike or hit with the foot (also a noun)
Kick-off: the start of a game, or restart after a goal, when a player kicks the ball forwards
Linesman: the 2 officials who help the referee; they watch the sidelines and goal lines
Match: a game of football
Midfield player: the players that play behind the forwards
National team:  the team representing a particular country or nation
Opposing team: a team playing against another team
Pass: when a player kicks the ball to a teammate
Penalty area: a rectangular area in front of the goal, 44 yards wide by 18 yards deep
Penalty kick, penalty shot: a kick from the penalty spot by a player against the opposing goal keeper, awarded for the most serious violations of the rules or used in the event of a draw
Possession: control of the ball
Red card: a small card, red in colour, that the referee holds up to show that a player must leave the game for very bad behaviour
Score (verb): to put the ball into the goal and gain a point
Score (noun): the amount of goals for each team
Scorer: a player who scores or gets a goal
Scoreboard: a large panel or other display that shows the current score or number of goals for each side
Second half: the second 45 minutes of the game, after half-time
Send a player off: when the referee tells a player to leave the field for bad behaviour
Side: one of the two teams playing a game
Sideline: the line that runs along the length of the field on each side
Spectator: a person who watches a game (or other performance)
Stadium: a special sports ground with seats for spectators where football (or another game) is played
Substitute: a player who replaces another player on the field
Supporter: a spectator who supports one of the teams and wants it to win
Tackle: to try to take the ball away from another player by kicking or stopping it with the feet
Team: the members of one side
Tie: when two teams have scored the same number of goals in a game; a draw
Tiebreaker: a way of choosing the winner of a game when both teams have the same number of goals, for example by a series of penalty kicks
Underdog: a team that is not expected to win
Unsporting: behaviour rude or bad conduct
Whistle: the instrument that the referee blows to create a loud, high-pitched sound
Winger: a forward who plays to the side of the striker or strikers
World Cup: the international soccer competition between nations, organized by FIFA every 4 years
Yellow card: a small card, yellow in colour, that the referee holds up to warn a player for bad behaviour

Let the Games begin...

To herald the first day of the London 2012 Olympic Games, today at 8.12am Big Ben and thousands of bells across the United Kingdom will ring out as loudly as possible for three minutes to welcome the Games.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, is scheduled  from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012. Over 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating bids from Moscow, New York, Madrid and Paris. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.

photo credits: Wikipedia and The Logo Factory

The Olympic Stadium
found pic @ Wikipedia

Construction in preparation for the Games has involved considerable redevelopment, particularly themed towards sustainability. The main focus of this is a new 200 hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford in the east of London. The Games also make use of many venues which were already in place before the bid.
Leaner, greener and cleaner could be London 2012's motto as sustainability and ecology are pushed to the forefront.

photo credits: The Logo Factory

The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010; this marks the second time (after Vancouver) that both Olympic and Paralympic mascots were unveiled at the same time. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named Wenlock, after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Mandeville, after Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner to the Paralympic Games were first held. The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept to the mascots, and an animation was produced; it is intended that this will form part of an ongoing series concerning the mascots in the run-up to the Games in 2012. Two stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow, the story of how Wenlock and Mandeville came to be, and Adventures On A Rainbow, which features the children from Out Of A Rainbow meeting the mascots and trying out many different Olympic and Paralympic sports.

photo credits: BBC News UK

Approximately 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics). Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County. Each medal weighs 375–400g, has a diameter of 85mm and is 7mm thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with Parthenon in the background; the reverse features the Games logo, the River Thames and a series of lines representing "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together". The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2nd July 2012 for storage.

Melanie Oliveira
photo credits: RTP

Lit in Greece, the Olympic Flame arrived in the UK on 18th May 2012 before setting out the next day on a 70-day Olympic Torch Relay, bringing the excitement of the Games to everyone. The Olympic Flame stands for peace, unity and friendship. It has travelled to within an hour of 95% of people in the UK, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey during the 70-day Torch Relay. It enabled local communities to shine a light on the best their area has to offer. 8,000 inspirational people carried the Olympic Flame as it journeys across the UK. Nominated by someone they know, it was their moment to shine, inspiring millions of people watching in their community, in the UK and worldwide. Last Monday it was the time of a Portuguese fighter to carry it. Her name is Melanie Oliveira and she's been struggling against multiple sclerosis for years. I felt deeply honoured of being Portuguese!

London is ready and so are we! It is high time to inspire a whole generation: let the Games begin!

photo credits: London 2012

photo credits: Visit London FB page

Sources: Wikipedia, London 2012 , BBC News and The Guardian

Euro 2012 is over for Portugal...

photo credits: The Soccer Room

Portugal has been eliminated from the 2012 European Championship, falling to the World Champion Spain on penalties. There were 93 minutes of normal time, during which the momentum ebbed and flowed but neither side was sufficiently incisive to muster up a goal. Portugal did far more than contain our neighbours, who were decidedly off the boil until late on, but in football’s cruellest psychological lottery, our Seleção came up short. The Seleção set about their work with purpose and, crucially, cohesion, in a first half display that largely confounded the World and European Champions. The early pace was ponderous, which suited Portugal’s counter-attacking stylings.

The other major talking point in the build-up to the match had been the proposition of Pepe, Fábio Coentrão and Cristiano Ronaldo coming up against a number of their club mates. The latter was of course given particular attention, and with twelve minutes played, the Portugal captain entered the game, surging down the left flank and forcing an interception from Iker Casillas. At the halfway point of the first half, the Selecção were very much ahead on points. 

photo credits: Euro Cup Pictures

It was then that the asphyxiating possession for which Spain is famed began to increase. Although Portugal continued to present a live threat on the counter, Del Bosque’s side were able to control the game to greater effect during the middle period of the half. Yet Portugal was anything but willing to simply soak up the pressure, and responded once again with an incisive move of their own on the half hour mark. Spain’s riposte – a pair of mis-hit passes from Piqué and Silva – provided a neat illustration of the half: Portugal assured and controlled, Spain (even with some questionable decisions from the Tukish referee Cüneyt Çakir) seemingly harried, and some way short of their best.  Portugal continued to persevere, without ever losing their shape or throwing caution to the wind. And so, to penalties: football’s ultimate revenge on those foolish enough to pin their hopes and dreams on the fortune of 22 men chasing a spherical object around a field... Which is to say, all of us! At such a time, nerves are all that matter. Portugal lost 2-4 on spot-kicks but we are all VERY, VERY PROUD of our SELEÇÃO! They did their best and fought like HEROES. 

THANK YOU!!!

Olympic Day @ Pine Tree School

You can access all the information @ Escola Básica e Secundária de Pinheiro official website.

In 50 days' time...

found pic @ London 2012 FB page