1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,600 You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. Love football, learn English. 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:12,000 How do Polish fans feel about having such tough opponents in their group? 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:17,120 Will the Polish team miss the injured players Lewandowski and Milik? 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,400 Who else will my guests cheer for in the tournament? 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:29,680 What are some basic expressions related to injury and fitness? 6 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,320 Hi, welcome back to the Footglitch Podcast. My name is Zdenek Lukas. I am an English teacher 7 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:57,520 and this is my new podcast which can help you improve not only your football English. Welcome 8 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:03,600 to the show. And as always these days we are talking about the Euros 2024 on this podcast 9 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:12,640 and we haven't spoken about Poland yet so I thought I might as well fix that and I couldn't 10 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:20,960 think of a better person to talk to me about the Polish team than my friend Tomasz, a doctor and 11 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:29,120 also a polyglot. Hi Tomasz, welcome to the podcast. Hi Zdenek, thanks for the great introduction. 12 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:37,280 I'm not sure if I'm already a polyglot but I surely am a doctor and I love foreign languages 13 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:44,480 so thank you for your invitation. It's great to be here. You're very welcome. So Tomasz, 14 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:49,840 just to explain this, so you are Polish from Poland but you're living in Germany. 15 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:58,480 Oh yes, to feel the whole atmosphere of the Euro 2024. I'm here and we'll see 16 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:06,640 how far will Germany get and what would we with the whole atmosphere of football in Germany. 17 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,280 We'll see. But we are not going to be talking about Germany. I think we can say a few things. 18 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:20,080 You are here to talk about your team, Polska as we say, right? Polska. Of course, Polska is my team, 19 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:27,360 that's the team I'm supporting since I was a little kid. So yes, today we will talk about Poland. 20 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:33,600 Ah that's great. So we are neighboring countries as well. I'm from the Czech Republic as my 21 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:40,160 listeners know. You are from Poland so I think it's reasonable to cover the Polish team well. 22 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:46,240 But your team hasn't really been pulling out any trees at the Euros. I think, 23 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:55,200 how many tournaments have you been on so far? That's our fifth time and the greatest success was 24 00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:05,840 2016. Then we came to the quarterfinal and we lost against Portugal. Then we became the European 25 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:14,480 champion. So we'll see. Yeah, it happened the same thing. It was actually hosted by Portugal, 26 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:20,880 that Euros, I remember that. And our team, the Czech team, got knocked out by Portugal in the 27 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:28,560 quarterfinals, I believe. It was the previous tournament. I think it was in France. Are you sure? 28 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,440 16 was in France because Portugal have beaten France in the final. That was this great 29 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:41,920 disappointment of the French team. If I am not mistaken. Well, we can always check it if you 30 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:54,480 want me to do that. 2014 Euros. 2016, yeah. 2016, sorry. Yeah, it was in France. You were right, of 31 00:03:54,480 --> 00:04:03,920 course. Thank you for correcting me. It's only because it was this great experience for Opel 32 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:13,520 because we got to the quarterfinals. We got eliminated in the penalty kicks. What's very 33 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:21,440 unfortunate every time. So, well, it was a great year for us. It's always disappointing. But you 34 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:26,400 are quite a football nation, in my opinion. Football, I believe, is sport number one in your 35 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:34,640 country. And you have a lot of passionate football fans and teams that have a lot of supporters. So, 36 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:41,280 it is a little bit underwhelming to see that your team doesn't usually get very far. 37 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:50,720 And to make things even worse, you have been drawn into a group of death. Tell me about that, Tomas. 38 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:58,960 Why did that happen to you? Well, that's the group D. It's D like group of death. That's for sure. 39 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:05,200 We have to play against France and against the Netherlands. And the fourth team is Austria. 40 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,920 It's like the phenomenon of the last years. They have, like, I don't know, they have beaten 41 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:18,880 everybody in last years, including Germany, Turkey in great style, what you've already spoken about. 42 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:30,720 So, it happened. Well, we made it happen a little bit because we got to the Euro 2024 through the 43 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:38,160 backyard door. And I mean really backyard door. So, it was the last chance in the last playoffs 44 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:47,840 that was constructed out of Nations League. So, we are all very happy to be there. And now we have 45 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:58,560 to do our best to somehow go out of this group. To progress, obviously. So, well, the Netherlands, 46 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,440 that's your first game as well against the Netherlands. That's your opening game. It's on 47 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:10,800 Sunday, I believe, right? Yes, it's on Sunday. And the great situation we have this time, I think, 48 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:19,120 is that we have this great group. So, nobody is really in Polish media. Nobody is saying they have 49 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:26,960 to go further. There is no real pressure. There is this great tension. We are all about football 50 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:34,240 already in Poland, but there is no real pressure. And that's a very positive thing for the team 51 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:41,280 that this time is a younger team than before. We have some young players, some new players. 52 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:48,480 So, we hope that it will go well. Yeah, I think it's always like that, right? The pressure is off, 53 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:54,880 especially if you are drawn into such a difficult group, then the media are more realistic about it. 54 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:00,880 And that could be an advantage. It always suited the Czech team. So, let's hope it's the same for 55 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:08,800 your team. But to make things even worse, some of your star players got injured 56 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:16,960 right before the tournament. Can you tell us more about that? Unfortunately, we don't have 57 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:24,640 Arkadiusz Milik anymore because he got injured in the first test game before the Euro. And then in 58 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:32,560 the second test game, our star player, the best Polish player of all times, Robert Lewandowski, 59 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:40,080 got injured a little bit. So, our manager says he will not be able to play in two days on Sunday 60 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:47,360 against the Netherlands and will surely need him afterwards playing against Austria and France. 61 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:55,680 So, once again, let's hope that the fact that you will not be playing could be this additional 62 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:04,000 motivation for our young players to show their skills and also to show the world that the Polish 63 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:11,200 national team can work and can play without Robert Lewandowski because we have to face it. 64 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:18,560 In a few years, there is no Robert Lewandowski in our team. So, we have to find this new generation. 65 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:24,400 Yeah, I don't want to sound disrespectful, but sometimes perhaps Poland, the Polish team was 66 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:32,080 sort of referred to as a team of one player because of how good Lewandowski is, you know, 67 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:38,160 and how good he has been. And it happens to other teams as well. Maybe someone might say Portugal, 68 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:44,080 have been the team of Ronaldo. I don't think it's true. Not at all, not anymore. But it's possible 69 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:51,280 that at some point that was the case. And maybe now again, the same thing, the pressure is a little 70 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:57,760 bit off and these young players will not necessarily have to look up to their greatest hero. 71 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:06,000 And instead, they will show what they've got and your team will benefit from it. So, 72 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:15,040 your team will benefit from it. Yeah, I think so. And they will also show to Robert Lewandowski 73 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,160 how good they are because Robert Lewandowski is not only a great player, he's a great person. So, 74 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,640 he will support them from the bench. I'm pretty sure he'll do everything in the first game. He 75 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:32,080 will be probably our second manager in this game because he can't wait to play on Euro this time. 76 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:40,400 And he'll have to wait. The first game that he will not be able to play. So, we'll see. We have 77 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:47,360 some very strong names already. We have some old staggers like Szczęsny, our goalkeeper. We have 78 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:54,480 Zieliński, a midfielder. We have Piątek, the striker. But we have this young new generation. 79 00:09:54,480 --> 00:10:03,120 There are some names that are very interesting. There is Jakub Moder of Brighton from England. 80 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:12,960 Jakub Kivior from your favorite team. A great defender. And there was always a little bit 81 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:24,080 complaining about how we lack creativity in our midfield. And now the situation is completely 82 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:32,320 different. We have Kacper Urbański, a very young player who came to the team at only 19 years of 83 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:39,520 age. We have Sebastian Szymański from Fenerbahce, Istanbul, who had a great season there. We have 84 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:49,280 Nikola Zalewski from AS Roma. We have Jakub Moder. He is coming back after injury. The one 85 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:57,440 who I spoke about from Brighton. So, there are many midfielders who could really change something 86 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:04,240 now. And this creativity, we saw it already in those two test games against Ukraine and against 87 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:11,200 Turkey, which we won, surprisingly, both of them. And it was a dynamic we haven't seen in last 88 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:22,080 month, if not even years. So, the hopes of the fans are great, but there is not even a bit of 89 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:27,520 pressure. So, we only want them to play beautiful football, to play their best against those great 90 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:33,440 teams we have in the group and we'll see. Well, the good news is that even three teams can progress 91 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:41,680 from your group. Most of the groups will be like that. So, out of the six groups, four of those groups 92 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:49,920 will have the third teams progressing into the last 16 knockout stage. So, I think there is a chance, 93 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:55,040 there is definitely a chance, especially because you could also be underestimated by your opponents, 94 00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:00,880 which always happens in football, right? Always does. So, I think you are in a very interesting 95 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:08,640 position and I will be eagerly watching your games and obviously I might even send you a message to 96 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:15,840 see how you react to it. Oh, of course. Oh, it will happen. It will happen, I'm sure. Thinking 97 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:25,280 about the case with getting to be the third or to become the lucky third in the group, I think you 98 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:31,680 will need four points. I was thinking about it a lot. So, we have to win against Austria and get an 99 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:38,000 extra point against Netherlands or France. So, it won't be easy, but it's possible. I think it's 100 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:44,000 possible. We just have to fight in every game like it would be a final and we have to try it. 101 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:52,720 Exactly. I want to ask you again about Lewandowski. So, he is still in the team, so he's only out for 102 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:58,560 that first game and you being a doctor, what happened to him? Tell us what his injury is 103 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:07,760 and how long it takes to recover from that. Of course, there are many secrets. If you have some 104 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:16,720 star player that's injured, so they do not tell you everything, but everybody says, and that's what 105 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:25,440 the officials said, that it's the injury of a tie, of the biceps of a tie and it's probably known 106 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:34,400 to every person who did some running in his life or played football. So, it could be everything. 107 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:41,040 It could be from a very light injury and for the second game he's totally fit and we will not have 108 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:51,040 any problem with it, to some severe states of the muscle. So, I think all sport doctors that are 109 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:57,360 active in media have already commented it in the last four or five days and you have all kinds of 110 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:02,880 opinions. So, now it's the tie of the nation. It's not only the tie of Lewandowski. 111 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:14,480 Hopefully, he will shake it off soon and you will be able to enjoy this great player who is also 112 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,680 getting on. Is it possibly his last tournament in your opinion or will there be one more after that? 113 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:27,040 Well, it's very difficult to speak about it now because now he's injured and the greatest 114 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:33,520 advantage of having Lewandowski in your team was always he was never injured. So, we thought it 115 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:40,800 would have never happened and then it happened. But still, I think his body is some kind of, 116 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:47,920 I don't know, he uses some magical tricks. Nobody knows what he does, but he has a chance, I think, 117 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:56,480 to play two or even four more years just like Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo does and maybe you 118 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:06,320 will see him again at the World Cup. If you look at him, on his constitution and how he plays, 119 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:15,600 well, I don't see an old player who wants to end his career. You see this great dynamics of a very 120 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:22,480 experienced striker who can help on every position on the pitch. So, we'll see. 121 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:28,720 Well, you will not be putting him in the goal, I think, but I understand what you mean and 122 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:35,280 I think it's also about who plays with him, right? So, if you have players who can run, then it will 123 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,720 be easier for him as long as there is not so much load, like running load and pressing load. You can 124 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:46,320 see the same is happening with players like Ronaldo and others too who are a little bit older. Right, 125 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:51,920 Tomas, so you live in Germany, so you're not supporting Germany though, are you? Not at all. 126 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:59,840 Well, I think it's the trouble that Poland and the Netherlands have this kind of football trauma 127 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:08,880 against Germany. So, we do not support them directly, but of course, you know, if you are 128 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:19,280 a real football fan, you can see the quality and you respect your opponent. So, 129 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,720 we'll see. You've already had a great discussion about the German team. We'll see. 130 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:34,160 At the moment, I would say there is an analog situation between Poland and Germany. Those are 131 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:42,080 both themes that you cannot estimate even a little bit because they didn't play with those players 132 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:48,400 in many games till now. So, we have to wait what they'll show and that's also the trouble 133 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:58,400 with the Polish team. We had a new coach, he is not very long with the team. So, we'll see. 134 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:04,400 The first game we'll show it and today here in Germany, the tension is great at the moment 135 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:13,120 because it starts today. So, we are speaking on Friday, 14th of June. So, today at the evening, 136 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:19,120 everything will start and we'll see. The whole Poland waits for Sunday to see what these boys 137 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:29,040 can do against those great teams. We have this very tragic, very bad tradition 138 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:35,600 we have in Poland because it's already a part of Polish language. We have this joke that everybody 139 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:44,560 is telling when some kind of football tournament starts. It says that Poland plays three games, 140 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:52,000 the opening game, all or nothing game and the consolation game and we do not want it to repeat. 141 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:58,960 Well, fingers crossed. Well, apart from your team, which other teams 142 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:08,720 do you cheer for? Well, I'm overwhelmed with the fact that there are so many 143 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:14,400 Slavic teams in the tournament and I will surely support Czech Republic because I love your team. 144 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:21,520 I've been twice to a game in the stadium of Czech Republic national football team. 145 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:29,520 Really? That's great. Yes, it was great. It was a game against Portugal on Euro 2012. 146 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:35,520 It took place in this great stadium. I have behind my back and now you've lost only 147 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:44,880 one goal to Portugal. It was a great team with Ronaldo scoring a goal and the second time I was in Turin. 148 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:54,000 I was with my wife. We went to a game in Italy, Czech Republic. So I love Czech fans. 149 00:18:54,000 --> 00:19:00,160 You know I'm learning Czech language. So that's the team I will support surely. 150 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:08,640 Slovakia also because I would say the reasons are the same and Ukraine of course. 151 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:14,720 Because 2012 it was the championship of two nations and you were together. 152 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:20,320 Yes, we were organizing it and now with the whole situation we have in the world it's just terrible. 153 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:27,200 I think every pole will also support Ukraine just to show that they're there. 154 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:34,800 I'm doing exactly the same. I told you in the first episode of this podcast that I definitely will support Ukraine. 155 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:42,720 Maybe there will be more energy in the air because we will support each other in this way. 156 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:49,600 Of course. I keep my fingers crossed also for the Czech Republic. 157 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:55,680 I'm very curious what will you play? What will we play also of the Czech Republic? 158 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:01,920 Poland is very easy. We're a counter-strike team. 159 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:07,760 So we're waiting on our chance and that's what we do since like 70s. 160 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:13,040 So that's what we can do. Stick to it then. Stick to it. Stick to your guns. 161 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,600 That's what we have to do. Yeah. Do what you're good at. It makes sense. 162 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:22,160 All right Tomas, it's been a real pleasure to talk to you and thank you very much 163 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,560 for featuring on this episode of the Footgrish podcast. 164 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:33,840 I hope to have you back soon to talk about some Polish national team success. 165 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:40,480 Great. All right. Take care. Thank you very much. Bye. To all the fans have fun. 166 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:50,080 Okay guys in this part of the show I would like to teach you some language as usual 167 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:59,120 and this time I want to talk about injuries. So if a player isn't okay we say that player is injured. 168 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:08,240 Usually an injured player cannot play right in the game and they have to recover from that injury first. 169 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:15,920 Now the moment it happens in a match we just we say that player gets injured. 170 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:25,760 Yeah that player got injured. If you really want to know who is responsible for that injury you could say that that player got injured by someone. 171 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:34,720 Right. Okay now if you are okay we can say you are fit. That means you are in a good physical condition. 172 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:43,040 We can also say that you are in good shape but then there is another expression and that is to be match fit. 173 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:55,280 If you are match fit that's slightly different from just being fit. It's sort of even better than just being fit because you could be fit but not match fit. 174 00:21:55,280 --> 00:22:03,120 Match fit means that you are used to playing matches regularly. You're used to playing 90 minutes each week. 175 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:12,400 If you're match fit it means you are in the rhythm. You are in the rhythm. Your body is used to that physical load of playing football matches. 176 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:19,600 So to be match fit it's really important for players. Of course it's also important to be fit. That's for sure. 177 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:30,080 Now I'm not going to talk about injuries. I mean there are so many different types of injuries but I'm just going through some basic vocabulary here. 178 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:39,360 So obviously a collocation is you could be seriously injured. If you're seriously injured then something really bad happens to you. 179 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:49,920 For example you tear your ACL, your anterior cruciate ligament, or you break your leg or something. 180 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:55,920 So those are obviously more serious injuries. Concussion can be a serious injury as well. 181 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:03,120 Then we can talk about a minor injury, a moderate injury and severe injury. 182 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:11,360 So minor injury is nothing too serious. A moderate injury and then finally a severe injury. 183 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:15,040 That's a really bad one. That's similar to serious. 184 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:23,840 All right and then I've got a question to end the show with. Tell me about the worst injury you have suffered in sports. 185 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,960 Let me know in the comments if you are watching this on the YouTube channel, on the TeachersDenic YouTube channel. 186 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:35,040 If not you can just send me an email or just answer that question for yourself. 187 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,640 Thank you very much for listening to this episode of the Footgrish Podcast. 188 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,680 Don't forget to subscribe and share it with your friends. 189 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:50,480 And if you really like the show why not leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you can do that. 190 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:59,200 This beginning, this sort of initial stage of starting a new podcast is very very important of course. 191 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:05,680 So that's why I need it to go well. Thank you so much for listening and I will speak to you again soon. 192 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:21,120 Bye for now. Cheers!