You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. Love football, learn English.
How do the English fans feel after reaching the second European Championship final in a row?
Was the referee right to award the penalty against the Dutch?
Did Gareth Southgate earn the right to remain the coach of England?
And what other ways are there of saying that you support a football team?
Hi everyone, I'm Zdenek Lukas and you're listening to the Footglitch Podcast, the best English learning podcast about football.
And what's on the agenda today? Well, following England's win over Holland last night, it's pretty clear.
Let me welcome for the second time Martin from the Rock and Roll English Podcast. Welcome back Martin. Did you sleep last night?
I absolutely did not. I was just so, so excited. There should be a rule that you get the next day off work or something like that.
It's just impossible to sleep because when I finally got in, I was checking all of us. I was watching the goal from every angle.
And you want to hear what everything's got to say. I want to watch all of the interviews. It was just unbelievable.
I know what you mean about watching all the angles. Remember the goal Patrick Schick scored against Scotland from the halfway line?
Oh yeah, that was in the last tournament, wasn't it?
You can imagine I was also watching that goal from all angles. I was looking for all different YouTube videos.
And the first YouTube videos that come out are usually those fake ones, right? It's someone playing FIFA usually or something like that.
You know what I mean? You kind of have to wait longer for that as well.
So England made it to the final for the second time in a row, two back to back final appearances for England. That's impressive, isn't it?
It's very impressive. So in fact, I went to the pub yesterday to watch with some friends and we were talking, we were saying like, this is a semi-final.
I wouldn't say totally blasé, like we don't care, but it is almost starting to feel normal.
And we were saying it's weird. This is weird because this was not normal before Gareth Southgate era.
So I mentioned with my friends, so we went to school together, it's all the same age, we were all 39.
And in our lifetime, until Gareth Southgate, which was 2018, we'd been in two semi-finals, but one we were too young in 1990.
So we'd only seen England in one semi-final before and we were like 34 at that point.
Now it's like three of the last four tournaments we've been in the semi-final.
And the other one was a quarterfinal against France. It's just unreal.
It's mental. And you know how you English always have the tendency to play everything down? You know how you guys do that?
There's so much criticism of Southgate and I don't think you can do this anymore.
You have to embrace it now.
So when we were in the pub yesterday, there was so many people being negative, like you started shouting, do this, do bloody Southgate.
And I was just thinking, he has changed everything. This was not normal.
And it's not like, okay, we have got good players now, but we've had really good players in the past and done nothing.
In 2008, we had like still like the golden generation. There was still John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney.
We didn't even qualify for the tournament, let alone get to like a quarter semi-final.
We didn't even qualify. The whole tournament was on. I remember watching it thinking this is absolutely rubbish. England aren't even here.
You were always knocked out on penalties as well. You had that narrative of you always losing on penalties. It was a burden.
And Southgate changed that. That's gone.
I know. The penalties against Switzerland, you're actually confident of thinking.
I read all these things that Southgate does. Again, this is my extra reading after the match.
So when someone takes a penalty, someone goes to meet the penalty taker, for example.
So it doesn't feel so alone. And they do all of these small things.
So I've been listening all morning to, I don't know if you know, the Atomic Kitten song about Southgate.
Is it Spice Girls? No, Atomic Kitten is the band.
They sang the song. I've been listening to that on repeat all morning.
And I'll tell you the best thing. So I had a few beers yesterday.
I wasn't really drunk or anything. But walking home, a little bit tipsy, I would say, but obviously really happy.
And people were singing in the streets. I walked past another pub and everybody played that song of like,
Southgate, you're the one, you still turn me on, football's going home. And everyone was just so happy in the streets.
I was singing in the street. It was such a great feeling.
I understand this feeling because you probably don't know much about ice hockey, but in the Czech Republic, it's one of the two national sports.
We are a relatively small country and this sport is extremely popular in Canada, the USA, now in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Soviet Union.
It always was popular in the Soviet Union. You can imagine if the Czech Republic win something. Oh my God.
So we won the World Ice Hockey Championship. It was hosted in the Czech Republic. We won it this year.
So I know exactly how you must have felt yesterday. You haven't won yet, but the final.
But so what you just mentioned, so you said it was in the Czech Republic, this ice hockey.
Now, this is the first time ever in the history of football that England have got to a final of a major tournament, not in England,
because in 66 and in the last Euros, they were both the finals were both in England, the tournament.
So this already is historic. So just just being there now.
Yeah, if I think logically, I don't really see how we can beat Spain, but that's the beauty of football that this the hope the dream is still alive.
Like, like, because anything could happen in 90 minutes. So it's not it's not impossible that we'll win that we that we can win.
It's not impossible. So it just just having that hope for me now, if if we lose, which there's a high possibility we will.
I still I still there's no way you can say this has not been a successful. You will be started. You will be proud of your team.
Of course, it started terribly. And I remember the same friends I saw last night.
The last time we met was the last group game, which was Slovenia. So right. Yeah. And and then the match finished.
It was Neil Neil. And I remember we were talking and we said, there's just been nothing to get excited about because we'd be we'd beaten Serbia one,
Neil, a boring one, one draw with Denmark and then a Neil Neil with Slovenia. And we all just said, there's just been nothing like that.
You just want to be excited. But then after that, the Slovakia game was terrible for 94 and a half minutes.
But then that Bellingham moment, I don't think I've ever had ever been so happy because I was at such a low.
I was thinking, how can we how can we lose this fight with the players we've got?
And I was just thinking, this is like Iceland again. I think I was so down. And then just in one second, overhead kick in the 94th minute.
I know. My God. It was a turnaround. Yeah. Yeah. Then there was that.
Then the penalties and now an 89th minute winning goal. Like it's just been pure excitement. No, no.
I understand the group. I will be honest with you, Martin. Yeah. Before the tournament, you were one of my teams.
I wanted to support you throughout the tournament. I stopped supporting you completely.
And in this game, I'm this game. I was saying it outright that I was cheering for Holland because you had let me down so many times.
I'm sorry. But I have to say in this game, actually, you seem to play it quite well.
Yeah, I agree. On the whole, you deserve to get to the final. And you wanted to play football.
You pressed high. I agree. You seem to be very positive in the game from the beginning.
Although we have to say Shabi Simons scored that first goal in the seventh minute.
The Dutch took the lead early. But I think it helped England in some way because generally the way we've played is let's not start playing until they score.
Yeah, exactly. Luckily, they scored early and we wake up quickly.
Whenever the other team scores, you start playing better. That seems to have been the equation in this tournament.
So that woke you up, as you said. You also seem to be strong mentally, your team, and you seem to be able to turn games around.
And that's what big teams do. You deal with the pressure, a lot of pressure, fan expectations, AI making fun of your manager.
Have you seen all these videos of Southgate speaking as an AI? Yeah, so much fun.
So yeah, yesterday, I agree. First half especially, I thought we were excellent.
Foden had that when he hit the bar or the post, it was really from a distance.
And he also had that one cleared off the line. And we had a couple of other shots and it was just like, right, this is like we're going for it.
Second half, I think they had the better of the second half. That's true.
And fair play to Southgate because he had to take off Harry Kane.
I mean, to me, my opinion should have done earlier, but who can argue with him?
But I didn't think he would have the balls to do it because Harry Kane, you know, main man, and he took him off.
I think he learned from Martinez. I think Martinez didn't do it with Ronaldo.
So, right. This is what makes the difference. You get a fresh player, fresh legs, fresh pair of legs, and they get the winner for you.
But Martin, before we get to that, unfortunately, I would also like to discuss the penalty incident because the Dutch, the Dutch are not very happy about this one.
Yeah, I know. To be honest, I don't think I would be particularly happy.
But the other side of that is, so when that incident happened, as soon as it happened, I said to my friends, I said, if that happens anywhere else in the pitch, I'll give you a classic example.
So I mean, let's say I'm in the right back position. Okay, so I'm Kyle Walker. I get the ball from my center back and I knock the ball down the line.
And as my leg goes out and attacking player runs and blocks my leg, 100% the referee will give a free kick for that.
Yeah, 100%. And I said to my friends, when that happened, I said that and I said, but there's no way this will be given because there just seems to be this unwritten rule
that if you do that with a shot, they don't give a penalty. I was surprised because the referee gave, did not give it.
Yeah, I know. That's what surprised me about it because, you know, the clear and obvious error thing.
I actually didn't believe that they turned it around.
Although when I was watching it, I will have to be honest with you. I thought it was a soft penalty.
I was actually leaning towards penalty. But then when I after after the game and I saw all the comments and I watched the replays again and again, and then I wasn't sure anymore after that, to be fair.
But the point is he kicked him. It was a late kind of challenge, right? The Dumfries kicked Harry Kane.
It was after he shot after he took a shot a bit iffy. But my biggest issue is the overall inconsistency of penalty decisions and the refereeing performances.
We have been on the receiving end as well. The Czech Republic. Yeah, I don't know if you saw the game against Turkey, but oh my God, the stuff that happened then.
The Germans with the Kukurela incident. It's just too much, you know, for me.
Actually, in the last semi final in the Euros, England played Denmark and got a penalty with Raheem Sterling.
And I said immediately after that come I even did a podcast. I said that was absolutely never a penalty.
And to be honest in that match, because that was also the winning goal in extra time, I think it was.
I always felt bad. Like I thought I thought I don't enjoy winning like that because that was that he dived. It almost made me feel a bit sick. I just did not like that at all.
I'm not in the same place with this one because I think I can see why that was given.
I also read this morning from like some VAR expert because, you know, I'm reading all of these stupid things.
It was the way his foot was sort of like studs up. Like that was apparently he was described as reckless.
So it was the studs up thing of I can't get my foot up.
But so say this is the palm of my hand. What is the base of my foot? Soul.
So this is it because if I can like studs up like that toward so that was described as reckless.
And to be fair, I can see that. So I'm not I don't feel bad this time because I think that by the law, by the letter of the law, I think the letter of the law.
It seemed like a penalty. But like I said, I can understand the Dutch why they don't like it.
Yeah, because there are a lot of things to consider. And one of them is even this referee's past.
Did you know, Martin? Yeah, I heard. Yeah. Did you know that this is a stupid decision to put him in?
This wire has previously been banned from football for accepting 300 euro bribe to match fix in 2005. So he was involved in match fixing.
And how can a referee like that? No, I agree. He was in charge of a semifinal of European competition.
It's the equivalent of letting a former criminal, someone who has committed a murder, lead a team of detective investigators or something like insane.
Again, I was talking to my friends about this. I mean, it's the more crazy thing is how is this career progress?
Surely that's the end of your career. If you're a referee and you get done for match fixing, that's surely the worst thing that can happen.
That's the end of your career. I don't see. So I imagine especially for 300 euros. I mean, that's not a lot of money.
So I imagine his career was like sort of at the starting point there, but I don't understand how it's managed to like go up.
I thought that would just be the end of your career. And rightly so. Yeah, I agree. Absolutely.
It's different for footballers, I think, right? Because basically they're not upholding the law.
These guys are upholding the rules and the law and they have to set the example.
Footballers are just sometimes, you know, they just like it's quite difficult for a footballer to be done for like for match fixing.
So I can't say I'm going to score 10 goals in a game. That's quite difficult for me to do.
You say that, but I'm not so sure because we have seen some examples of Ivan Thony.
I know it was different because he did not have an impact, a direct impact.
But now we have a piqueta situation of piqueta from West Ham United.
Tell me about the situation. I don't know.
Well, apparently there were several bets made in Brazil on a few Premier League matches and it was on yellow cards.
So you can bet on everything, can't you? Yeah, exactly.
You can bet on literally everything on the number of corners you have.
And I remember Matt Letizia said he he took some money and he had to kick the ball out for throwing immediately.
And then he tried to do it and he under hit the pass and it didn't go out and he was like absolutely cracking himself.
But I mean, yeah.
So there was that penalty, which they can be angry about.
But like I said, in my opinion, the letter of the law, it was it was a penalty because like I said, if that happens in that in the situation I described earlier, that is a free kick 100 percent.
And it also happened very early in the game.
They still had lots of time. So that that makes me feel not like I said, Denmark game.
It was an extra time and there was absolutely no way it was a penalty.
In my opinion, he dived and I felt generally bad for Danish people and I did not enjoy being in the final in that way.
I absolutely do not have that fair enough.
Fair enough, Martin. Fair enough. It's does it doesn't compare to that Kukurela incident in my book.
That was a clear penalty to me. I don't know in what in what world this is not given.
And then some other stuff in other games.
And I'm sorry, I have to go back to the Czech game against Turkey, like the decisions that were made in that game.
And you know how I know the referee was guilty because after he impacted the game by sending off our player and not sending off some Turkish players,
he kept giving them yellow cards like they were literally they had like 10 yellow cards.
So the whole team had a yellow card from the Turkey team because he felt guilty.
And in the end, it was that that sort of contributed to the fact that the Turks the Turks had it really hard in the in the late later stage because they were playing really well.
They were one of the most exciting teams of the tournament.
But they they were it was really hard for them without players.
Yeah, of course. They had to rely on some on some like third tier players or something.
Yeah, we've been quite lucky with that really.
And what I'm hoping is we're just kind of finding form at the right time.
I think I think last time I was on, I said the team that generally is the best and starts the best doesn't always win.
In fact, very often doesn't. So because I don't think anyone can argue with the fact Spain have been the team of the tournament.
But that that means nothing now almost as 90 minutes in front of us.
It means maybe more that that goes out the window.
And I just hope that we're now finding form at the right time.
I think as well with our so we have rice, mainu and then we have like Bellingham and Foden now in that four almost like a block of four.
I think that will help us because obviously Spain keep the ball really well in the midfield.
I'll tell you what, though, in my opinion, Bellingham, he is lucky to still be in the team.
He is so his tournament. He had the first 30 minutes in that Serbia game.
I don't think I've ever seen an England player dominate a game so so much like he was.
He was absolutely I remember he was dribbling everyone.
It was literally men against boys. It was just like I remember that game.
But then then he faded away completely.
Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah. And then somehow showed up in that moment against Slovakia.
It was like a moment of brilliance. Yeah.
But you could say the same about Foden like until this game.
He's a shit. Foden has been nowhere near his level.
I still agree. He hasn't been near his level because he's got such a high level.
But I still think he was kind of linking play quite well, not giving the ball away so much.
Was Bellingham. I actually said to one of my friends yesterday, he was starting to remind me a bit of Pogba
because Pogba when he was playing for Manchester United, I had the feeling he thought I'm so good you can't tackle me.
But obviously that doesn't apply to anyone.
And sometimes he was just so slow to do things. I just got the feeling he was just like, you know, I'm so much better.
And he has this arrogance. Yeah. Arrogance about him.
But let's just hope he does not start taking drugs like the player you mentioned.
So yeah, exactly. I mean, I to be fair, I don't think Southgate will make any changes for the final to the match to the team that started.
And he shouldn't. Yeah, I agree.
So the Harry Kane one, I just think so. To be fair, I would start Harry Kane, but I would bring Watkins on earlier.
I would bring him on. I think I heard this morning when I was listening to something, he only had four touches of the ball
and two touches were like for the goal, like one touch, bang.
But that moment, my God, like because it was just that running in behind, which Kane just does not do.
He just keeps coming short and doesn't run to just like stretch in the defense.
Like the last, if I'm a defender, you want people playing in front of you when people are running that way and you have to run with them and just that touch bang.
Oh, my God. It was just so classic side netting finish.
Yeah. Brilliant moments.
Just touch finish. Oh, my God.
Ninety first minutes and just just seeing his face like and so I've seen interviews with him and he was just like, that was the best moment of my life.
And it will be the joy of that. Just seeing someone's face like that of just like he was just running, just sort of like there's a really famous.
Have you ever seen this like in English, the pronunciation would be Tardelli, Italian player in 82 when he scored that goal.
It kind of reminded me of that. Have a look on YouTube of this Marco Tardelli, 1982 when he scored in the World Cup final.
And he just like just the emotion on his face. It was it was like that. It was just absolutely unreal.
You have to understand that. Well, basically, he's the here is the reason you are in the final now.
In extra time, anything could have happened.
We actually scored just before that soccer school, but it was just offside. It was a walker offside.
So I mean, I thought I thought we over 90 minutes, we were the best team yesterday.
The Dutch obviously are good team that and so in the first half when we were on top again, with my friends, we were saying that you can't expect that to happen for 90 minutes.
The Dutch are going to have their moments now. In fact, we were worried.
We thought like we we finished this first half. We were the better team and we're still drawing.
The Dutch are going to have their moment now in the game because it just happens.
But luckily, they didn't score when they had their moment. And then we we got ours right at the end.
They seem to be feared of you. They started off quite negatively in my opinion.
And in the end, I think you deserve you deserve to go through. So it's football coming home this time then.
Like I said, like logic, if I think with my brain, you have to say no, because Spain have just been so much better.
And we always struggle against teams like that that really can keep the ball.
That's not really an English thing like this kind of like tikka tikka kind of thing.
We just and I've seen English so many times in tournaments just chasing the ball.
I remember even in 2018, there was Modric and Rakitic, I think, Croatia, and they just absolutely dominated us.
And like you were just like running around. So I to be honest, I can probably see that happening.
But I think especially in this tournament, we've been a moments team.
Like we will stay in the game if we can stay in the game. We will have moments that that's that's for sure.
But I've seen the Spanish they leave themselves open. We will have moments that that's for sure.
So I believe if I believe Spain will have more of the ball, but we will have moments.
And if we make those moments count, then we have a chance.
But again, logic will tell me no. But like they're definitely they're definitely the favorites.
Let's be honest based on the performances they had and the way they have been playing and the way some of their players like Nico Williams,
the youngster Jamal, have been like showing all Daniel Olmo.
They have been absolutely brilliant and work as a unit, as a team.
And it's just by far the best football from anyone in this tournament.
It's just one it's just one game, Martin. Anything can happen.
And you have world class players in your team. In my opinion, it's whether your manager manages to motivate your players.
I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes like I felt your players, you know, they already have achieved a lot.
Maybe sometimes they don't give it 100 percent.
That's why, like, for example, someone like Slovakia for them, it's a bigger occasion for their players.
It's like it's the moment that everyone can see them. They can sell in.
They can be sold to better clubs. It's like their motivation is. Yeah, of course.
100 percent. Whereas some of your players might potentially think, oh, I don't want to get injured here because, you know, you know what I mean.
You know, so it's the final, though. So you have to you have to go for it now, Martin.
And you have, you know, the team we've got experience now, like other times, you know, so since Southgate came 2018 semifinal, no one had experience of that.
Not even me as a fan. Like it was like, what the hell is going on?
And then we got to the final. So and then obviously quarterfinals against France.
So the team generally the core of the team, like players like Kane, Trippier, Rice, Stones, Pickford.
They've they've all been there now. And it's like for them, they must think like we we have to get over the line.
So I think if we if we're strong defensively, which to be fair, we have been good defensively and we can limit them like, you know, they can have the ball, knock it around.
But as long as we limit their actual goal scoring chances, I think we will get chances to score.
And because we have players that can hurt them. Absolutely.
I think like with Foden now sort of starting coming into form. I mean, for me, though, I mean, there's no way this would happen.
To be fair, I don't even know if I would have the balls to do this.
Drop Bellingham for Palmer like Palmer has just been every time he gets the ball. I agree.
I think honestly, every time he gets the ball, I think something's going to happen here.
I agree with you, Martin, but don't you think it would disrupt the balance?
Yeah, I understand. I understand why you might think this point.
Yeah, I understand why you might think this. And I agree with you.
Palmer has been amazing and his self-confidence is just out of this world.
And he has had a fantastic season for Chelsea. So no wonder.
But I still I would still be worried that it might disrupt balance.
Let's imagine Bellingham wouldn't take it very well. Yeah.
And he would start sulking or something. And you know how that you know that situation with Ronaldo in the Portuguese team.
Yeah, stuff like that could happen. So just I think you should keep it as it is.
And just one last thing, Southgate, then let's talk about him again.
Should he stay then? He has to stay now, right?
In my opinion, yes. I mean, as well, who else would come in? Who's going to come in exactly?
If someone had a list of names and would say, you can replace him with, I don't know, Klopp wants the job or people like this, then maybe I would say yes.
But and the players love him. Right. So why disrupt it? And we're getting to finals and semi-finals, which again, I want to repeat, is not the normality for English people.
Absolutely not. It's not for anyone, Martin. It's not easy for anyone.
Well, maybe maybe like French in recent years, like finals. Yeah, but your recent years.
But it might not happen for another year. Yeah, it's not. It's not that easy to sustain that level.
You need to have a generation of talents who don't get their players don't get injured.
And it's so hard to keep that level.
So in my opinion, he has to stay like no manager or no team is perfect.
So they will always come in for criticism. And I agree.
At the start of this tournament, I was just thinking, what is this?
And we were lucky because Denmark, if they had won that last game, we would have finished second in the group and we'd have been on the other side of the draw with like France, Spain, Portugal and everybody else.
But luckily they didn't. So we ended up winning the group and we had the favorable side of the draw.
So, but yeah, again, that is part of football. Like you have to ride your luck. Sometimes we've done that, but no one can argue with this record.
Absolutely. No one can. So in my opinion, well, if, if he is, it should be his decision.
If he, because his contracts up at the end of this year, I think so it should absolutely be his decision.
Like he has earned the right. Like, you know, like sir Alex Ferguson, it was his decision when he wanted to go at Manchester United because he had earned the right.
The club would have never sacked him ever.
He had earned the right through success. And yeah, well, at the moment we haven't won anything, but success for me, like I said, I've seen so much rubbish over the years.
This is still been a successful period. If we lose on Sunday, I will still look back at this and think what a great period that was because there are so many memories and moments that I've had over the last few years, which I never had before.
And arguably even the semi-final might have been success arguably, but I agree with you. The final, like no one can argue against that.
In that 2018, we got to a semi-final and I honestly, I still look back at that.
I look back at that with fond memories then when we got to the final, the two, like two years later, because I mean, number one, it was so unexpected.
And it was the first time we had been in a semi-final in a World Cup in my life. And it was just so exciting.
We also won a penalty shootout that tournament for the first time in 22 years. And I look back at that and that's what it is football. It's just those memories of those moments.
Yeah. And Southgate has given so many of these in recent years.
Now the expectations have gone up as well. So that's the thing, like you raise expectations and then that's why the media and fans have been so harsh on Southgate in the recent years and even during this tournament.
And I think they have to stop now. They have to like take it back, the things they said about him.
I agree. I mean, there were so many people I was reading them saying like sack him now, like during the tournament. And I was just thinking you are mental.
Idiot.
Absolutely mental. Yeah. But I must admit there was a start of the tournament. There were times I was thinking, what is he doing? Why is he doing this? But you can't argue with him.
He's getting results and that's the end of the argument. You can say, yeah, but you should be doing this. You say, look, I'm in the final. That stop and argument ends there.
Exactly. Martin, you are in the final. I wish you good luck. At this point I'm probably supporting Spain because I've really enjoyed the way they play. I'm sorry.
Yeah. As a neutral. Yeah, of course.
I have to do this. I have to do this. But if you win and you deserve it, listen. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. And finally England get it done and it would come home again.
Let's see if you manage that. Fingers crossed. Thank you very much for coming on to the podcast again. You have any final words, Martin?
Yeah. Well, I just want to say that number one, this is when England got to a final last time I was in Italy.
So this is the first time in my whole life I've ever been in England for final number two, I just don't know what to do for it. I like, I don't know if I should go into London because like if we were to win, obviously there's a huge if there.
I just don't know what I could do, which would be big enough to like merit like this because if I just watch it at home and like what just go to bed, like it only goes to show Martin.
This only goes to show that you're one of the best guests on this podcast because just like me, you're absolutely adore football and it's just a huge part of your life.
Yeah. And it always will be. And this is the, this is the thing which seeing England win something is something I have wanted for my whole life and something that has never happened.
And it, I mean, I'm always getting emotional thinking about this. If we were to win, it would just be, it would literally be a dream.
Like when it's morning, I was listening to all of the football songs and it honestly reminded me of Euro 96 when I was a child and I used to come home and listen to football's coming home and just like that excitement.
And I was feeling like I was 11 years old again. It was just like, it's so emotional now.
I understand because just like you, I'm an absolute, absolutely mad about football and it means a lot to me.
And if, listen, I'm not, I'm not even a patriot. I don't consider myself a patriot. I'm not one of the people that is going to start raving about my country.
And I love it so much. I'm not, I'm not. I actually criticize the Czech people a lot and the mentality of the way they think.
And, and I, I've lived abroad a lot as a result of that as well. But when it comes to football, oh my God, like I will stand behind my team.
Same. And I love these international tournaments because I'm even against like, like all of the, you know, like these manmade borders, like who says like France should stop there.
And like this country starts there and like all of the immigration stuff of like, you know, you're not English.
Like I hate all of that, but when it, when it comes to football, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's nice.
Like in a right way, obviously, like I saw some England fans and some Dutch fans, they were singing Hey Jude together yesterday.
And you think this is great. Like in like my sort of membership group, there's lots of, we've got all the countries there and everyone's been like right in Stafford.
Like, because my country, my country is playing your country. It's brilliant. It's just brilliant.
It just like unites people and it's yeah, absolutely. Martin, Martin, I agree with you completely. We have to go. Thank you very much for being on the podcast.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Been a pleasure and fingers crossed. All the best to your team. If you play well, you deserve it.
Absolutely. Thanks. I mean, to be honest, at this point, I'll take any kind of win, but I wouldn't want to win again, though, with like a diving or bad penalty.
But if we play badly and win, I'll still take that now. I'll take anything as long as I don't want to win in like a diving way or anything like that.
Fair enough.
Anything I'll take.
Martin, enjoy, enjoy the final. Take care, man.
See you. Bye bye.
Hi, everyone. Welcome back. This is the Language Corner.
And this time, I swear I'm going to keep it short and sweet because this episode has been too long already.
Towards the end of the episode, I said to Martin, I can't support you, Martin. I will support Spain.
Are there any other ways to say that you support a football team?
Yes, there are. You can say that you cheer for a team. You can say I will cheer for you.
You can say that you will root for a team. I will root for the England team.
Or even you can say I will back your team.
So to support someone, to cheer for someone, to root for someone and to back someone.
All right, everyone, don't forget to subscribe to the Footgrish podcast if you don't want to miss any future episodes about football.
This is your way to improve English.
And you do it by listening to me talking to someone or sometimes by myself about your favorite passion.
Come on. This is the best way to learn.
So thank you very much for listening again and I'll speak to you soon. Cheers. Bye bye.