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What issues do the Czech team have to contend with ahead of their game against Turkey?
How good has the Euro 2024 tournament been so far?
What sort of highlights and low points have there been?
And how do we say that a goal is disallowed in a different way in English?
Hello and welcome back to the Footglitch Podcast.
I'm Zdenek Lukas and this is a football podcast which can help you develop your English learning skills
and expand your vocabulary and much more than that.
So today I'm going to talk just by myself and I would like to cover a few things.
Let's start with my team, the Czech Republic Czechia.
So unfortunately after two games we only have one point which is not really good at all.
The good news is that we still have a chance.
We just need to beat Turkey.
A draw will most likely not be enough.
We have a few problems namely Patrik Schick unfortunately seems to be injured.
He has a calf problem.
There are a lot of players on a yellow card as well but we can't think about that.
We need to go into tackles in that game.
Those players I think it's about five, six players.
They are basically one yellow card away from suspension.
If they get another yellow card and the Czech team makes it to the playoffs
these players will not be able to play.
They will have a one game ban.
So it's not just us who have problems.
The Turkish team, two of their center defenders from the starting lineup won't be able to play.
I think they are suspended as well.
So we will see what happens there.
It looks like the weakness of the Turkish team is in their defense.
So hopefully we will be able to exploit that.
But you know what?
It could also end up in a bad way.
It's going to be really an unpredictable game.
I really don't know what to expect from that game just like I wasn't sure about the Georgia game.
But all I will say is that I'm hoping that there will be a fight from the Czech team.
We were quite good against Georgia.
I like the way we played.
And if we win against Turkey, well, I will be absolutely delighted about that.
But if we don't, at least I want to see that we have given it our all.
I want to see our best performance of the season because it is the most important game.
So if we lose, so be it.
Fair enough. At least we have given it our best shot.
That's the kind of attitude and mindset I want to see from our players.
I really don't know what will happen though.
I don't know. If you're asking me who you should put your money on, no idea.
It could end in all sorts of ways, honestly.
So, yeah, speaking of the mindset, I quite like the way the Czech players present themselves in the media.
There are a lot of press conferences.
Almost every day there is a press conference.
And the Czech coach and the whole coaching staff, they have really improved that.
If we compare it to the previous manager, they have really done a good job there.
And I like the way they speak to the media.
They are positive and they always use the right arguments.
They say the right things.
It's not always just cliches. I like it.
I'm quite happy about that.
And yeah, so this is the Czech team now.
Let's talk about the tournament on the whole.
I have to say so far I have been thoroughly enjoying this tournament for all sorts of reasons.
I think there are so many stories to be told.
And I'm recording this podcast.
Let's say there are how many more games?
I think about eight more games to be played.
And then the group stage is over.
And then we will have the playoffs.
So I have to say that so far it's been great.
And let's talk about the system of the tournament.
I believe it's the second time that we have 24 teams.
It's either second or third time. I don't know.
But it's relatively new. It's a relatively new change.
And UEFA has been pushing for this in the same way FIFA.
They want more and more teams in the World Cup.
And there is a lot of criticism as a result from all sides, from experts, pundits.
Basically, this is happening because of a business.
It's a trend. Everybody wants to make more money.
UEFA, FIFA, they want to make more money from the TV rights, from everything, from the merchandise.
So basically the issue is that the players play too many games.
That's one problem.
The same thing is happening with club football, with the Champions League and so on.
But also there is an opinion that perhaps with so many teams,
the quality of the actual tournament will be lower.
And I don't think that's the case for this euro though,
because we can see that a lot of teams have played fantastic football,
even teams you might not expect it from.
And they put up a fight.
And it's great to watch.
Also the gap between the big boys and the smaller teams has been really getting smaller, I can see.
So from that point of view, I don't think this is an issue that we have 24 teams.
Now another thing is the system itself.
So we have got basically the first two teams automatically qualify for the playoffs,
but then you have the four teams from the six groups, they qualify from the third places.
So again, this is heavily criticised.
I think there is a drawback.
There is one drawback it has, and that's the speculation that sometimes draws are enough.
For both teams to qualify.
For example, there is a game happening tonight between Slovakia and Romania.
And if both teams get a draw, they will most likely qualify.
This is going to be a bit suspicious, you know,
because understandably if they talk to each other before the game and they make a deal,
can you really blame them?
I mean, it's kind of an obvious thing to do, isn't it?
It's almost like an instinct, right?
You want to survive.
But on the other hand, the question could be, is this how winners think, you know?
Shouldn't winners be just ruthless?
Because this sounds more like pragmatism.
I'm speculating here.
Maybe it won't happen.
But I've checked the odds and the bookmakers say that a draw is the most likely outcome,
which doesn't normally happen.
Can you imagine?
Two to one. Two to one are the odds for the draw.
It's incredible, actually.
And I put my bet on that as well, actually.
So we will see what happens.
But perhaps this system kind of lends itself to this sort of way of thinking, right?
When you need a draw, when both teams need a draw, they will not press so much.
They will not try to attack so much and they will both defend.
And if two teams defend, well, it can only end in a goalless draw, right?
So hopefully this won't happen.
I still think, though, that the system is quite good because there are a lot of great matches
and there are not so many dead rubbers.
Now, dead rubbers are those games where you basically have nothing to play for.
So since three teams can progress and these teams can be from different groups,
there are so many permutations, right?
There are so many combinations, things that could happen,
which means that usually most of the teams play till the last game.
Whereas with the old system, what used to happen is that sometimes the last game was about nothing
because one team has already qualified, the other team didn't have a chance to qualify, right?
So from that point of view, I think the system is not the worst.
Now, regarding my best moments of the tournament so far, some highlights, but also some low points,
the most interesting moments, let's say.
So again, I'm recording on the 25th of June, so I'm sure there's plenty more to come.
But we have to mention Luka Modric. Yesterday, there was a game Italy-Croatia.
It was a fascinating game for all sorts of reasons.
Luka Modric, the Real Madrid player who one month ago won the Champions League with Real Madrid
and one of the greatest players ever to kick the football,
he became the oldest ever goal scorer in the European Championship history at the age of, I believe, 38.
It was an unprecedented moment, actually, because he missed the penalty
and it looked like it would be a disastrous moment for him.
But 20 seconds later, he actually scored a goal.
So it was such a strong moment.
But unfortunately for Croatia, they conceded with the very last kick of the game.
It was such a sucker punch for them.
It was basically a late equaliser scored by an Italian player, Zaccani or Mattia Zaccani.
I don't know exactly how to pronounce his name.
It was a wonder strike, a great finish.
So this was a fascinating game, as I said.
Then another great game that was decided in the late stage of the game was the game between Hungary and Scotland.
The game itself wasn't that good, if I'm honest, but the way it finished, wow.
Well, first of all, we have to mention there was a really, really bad injury to Barnabas Varga, the Hungarian player.
And it sort of brought back some memories.
It was a throwback to what had happened to Christian Eriksson at the previous Euros.
It was such a powerful moment, especially when Dominik Soboslai, the Hungarian,
ran towards the medical staff who seemed to be walking too slowly to help the player with the stretchers.
They were just walking and Dominik Soboslai got really upset there and just pushed them
to help that player as soon as possible because at that point it looked like it was really serious.
The player seems to be OK.
He's stable and apparently he broke his cheekbone.
So Dominik Soboslai, what a great moment from him, I have to say.
And then a great gift for this injured player, basically Hungarians, decided their game.
Also with pretty much the last kick of the game, it was Kevin Csobot.
I hope I'm pronouncing it correctly.
And by this winning goal, he gave Hungary a decent chance to still make it out of the group stage.
They only have three points, but it might be just enough.
We will see because it depends on the other matches as well.
So we have seen some really interesting late drama.
Of course, we can also mention the goal that Czechia conceded against Portugal, which was in the 92nd minute.
But I don't want to talk about that too much for obvious reasons.
You can guess why.
Well, it's my team that was on the receiving end of that.
Right. And then we also have to again mention Christian Eriksson,
who came back after that horrific moment when he pretty much died on the pitch three years ago in the previous Euro.
But he came back and about 1100 days or something like that, he scored the first goal of the Danish team.
It was a great goal, by the way.
Unfortunately for them, though, it led to just a draw in the end because they drew against Slovenia
and they still have all to play for.
Yeah, we also should say that the Albanian player Mirlind Daku was banned by UEFA for two Euro 2024 games after nationalists chants.
Basically, he was spurring his own fans to sing some abuse towards Serbians.
And I believe it was, was it Serbians? I think it was Serbians and Macedonians.
Balkan is such a complicated area, you know, and but he should he should definitely not do something like that.
You know, you are a football player playing for the national team.
You need to set the example for everyone else to behave. Right.
So I don't want to moralize here. I don't want to preach. But this this should not be happening. Right.
He made a mistake. He was punished rightfully, in my opinion.
OK. And then we have to say that a lot of own goals have been scored at this tournament.
The weirdest one, the most bizarre one, of course, was the one that Turkey scored against Portugal.
It was an unbelievable own goal. I've already talked about this with one of my guests.
Check it on YouTube if you haven't seen it yet. It's incredible.
It's it's unbelievable how it even happened.
And then we have seen some fantastic long range stunners.
For example, I remember the one Arda Guler scored for Turkey.
That was that was an incredible goal, of course.
And then we have seen some really unlucky players like Lukaku, Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker.
He basically scored three goals and each of them disallowed by VAR.
How unlucky can this player be? Right.
And one of them was disallowed by like one centimeter or something like that.
It's it's unbelievable. Who do I think are the favorites now that we have seen the teams play?
Well, I would say that I'm going to I'm going to narrow it down now to just Spain, Portugal and Germany,
who I think seem to be seem to be in a good form.
I know Germany drew to Switzerland and Switzerland plays so well in this game.
But Germany are still Germany.
I think Spain, Portugal, they look amazing and it will be really hard to play against them.
And Germany. So these are my three favorites.
France and England, the other teams that were tipped to win the tournament, they don't look that good.
France didn't score a goal.
They they have four points. That's because one of their games they won by an own goal as well of the opposite team.
And England. Well, they look sluggish.
They're heavily criticized by the media.
The players are under so much pressure.
But honestly, I would not I would not write off either of these teams because they are big teams.
They have big players and anything can happen.
As for the dark horses, Belgium, Netherlands, I'm not sure.
Belgium don't look like it.
Maybe the Netherlands.
We will see. Not the teams from the Balkans. Not for me.
Not anymore. We might see a surprise.
You know, it's the playoffs. Anything could happen.
It could be the Swiss team.
It could be the Turkish team.
It could be the Czech team.
Hopefully we will see what happens.
It's too early to call.
But what I will say is that I have really been enjoying this tournament and I've been enjoying recording these podcasts for you as well.
And yeah, I know you might be thinking Zdenek, but will you really keep recording podcasts like this?
You can't keep it up.
You publish your podcast every single day.
I know I do.
And I know I definitely will not manage to keep it up in this kind of way.
At some point, yeah, I will slow down and it will happen soon.
And then the podcast will probably be released on a weekly basis.
I think that's the most sustainable way to do this.
So, for example, when the Premier League arrives and the new season starts, you can definitely look forward to episodes about that.
I may say a few things about the Czech League and other leagues in Europe.
We will see.
But definitely the episodes will be published weekly.
That's for sure.
Anyway, I hope you have been enjoying these.
I would like to know what you think.
I would like to know if you have any kind of feedback.
And if you do, please tell me.
Send me an email.
My email is teachersdenek at Gmail dot com.
Or if you are interested in English lessons with me in private lessons, one to one lessons online, then use the same email.
My lessons are based on a conversation about football.
Imagine something like what my guests talk to me about in the episodes that have been published, something like that.
Basically, this is my way of teaching.
I make notes about my students' mistakes.
We try to improve by students' English, of course.
We focus on pronunciation, vocabulary and fluency mainly.
Grammar is less important these days for me as a teacher.
But anyway, that's that.
I just wanted to tell you that you also have a chance to hire me as your teacher.
Why not?
So thank you very much for listening.
And well, wait, I should teach you something, right?
I always teach you something.
Hang on.
Let me work something out for you.
OK.
Welcome back.
It's time for the language corner.
And I want to keep it really short today.
So remember how I said that Lukaku's goals were disallowed by VAR, all three of them?
Well, let's look at the word disallowed.
I think you know what it means.
If a goal is disallowed, it means it's cancelled.
Right.
So now we have the technology VAR, Video Assistant Referee, or VAR, as they call it.
And they can either give the goal or there is enough evidence to support the referee's decision.
So they either just check it and then after the goal check, the goal is given.
Right.
But if VAR disagrees with the decision of the referee, then they disallowed.
The goal is disallowed.
Now, there are other ways we can say this in English.
So the goal can be simply just reversed by VAR.
We can say it's overturned by VAR.
Or I can also teach you two phrasal verbs.
Commentators often talk about the goals ruled out.
Right.
They are ruled out by VAR.
Or even there is one sort of more slang word and that's to chalk off.
That's more British, to chalk it off.
You know, chalk is that thing that the teachers used to use to write on a blackboard.
So you can also chalk off a goal.
Okay, guys, I think that's enough for today.
And hopefully we will not see so many disallowed goals because it brings so many bad emotions.
But sometimes it helps your team.
So I suppose if the decision is corrected, if there was a mistake by the referee,
I suppose we need to put up with it.
And it's the right thing to do for sure.
I am pro VAR by the way.
I am pro VAR.
I'm not against VAR.
I like it.
I think we need it.
We need technology.
It's the way forward.
It's not perfect.
Mistakes are being made.
But at this tournament, it's much better than what we have seen before in the Premier League, for example, and so on.
Okay, guys, thank you very much for listening.
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Bye bye.