You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. Love football, learn English.
Who are the favourites in the Euro 2024 final? England or Spain?
What will be England's starting eleven?
What do the pundits say will be the key battle in this game?
And what does the expression to have bottle to do something mean?
Hello everyone, welcome to another exciting episode of the Footglitch Podcast.
A podcast where we combine the thrill of football with the art of learning English.
I'm your host Zdenek Lukas and today we have another fantastic guest lined up for you.
It's actually my Vietnamese friend David. I call him Jenks, that is his nickname.
And by the way, he's not actually Vietnamese because he is English, although he is living in Vietnam.
I hope it makes sense and I hope your name is Jenks or David. Which one is it?
Say that again Zdenek, sorry I missed that.
Your name is Jenks or David.
My nickname is Jenks. You can go David or Jenks.
I always call you Jenks.
Sign name, yeah.
But you are not Vietnamese, you are English.
I am English, that's correct, yes.
So you probably know what we are going to talk about because it's actually happening tonight in a few hours time.
That your team is going to be in the Euro 2024 final.
Exactly, yeah, well, exciting times. It's become more familiar now actually for us that we've got to a couple of finals and a semi-final.
But it's just getting over that last hurdle of winning something.
And as a Spurs fan as well, that's familiar.
Yeah, yeah, I've got some questions about that.
But we should say that this is the first time that your team actually is in the final and it's not on your home soil as well.
That's true, yeah.
The World Cup was in England and so were the Euro 2021.
2020 or 2021, one of those two.
And obviously you haven't won anything since 1966 when you won the World Cup.
I don't think you were alive, were you?
I was not. I'm happy to say I was not alive.
Otherwise I'd be quite old now.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Your weight is actually, your trophy weight is actually longer than the Czech trophy weight.
Can you believe that?
When did the Czech win? In the 90s with Paborsky?
No, no, in the 70s.
We won the Euro in the 70s.
In the late 70s.
So I wasn't alive either to be fair.
But the point is it's been a long time.
So you must be really buzzing for this one.
Yeah, I think it's exciting.
I think we go into it as underdogs.
But yeah, it's exciting nonetheless.
It's one match, anything can happen.
And I think with the draw we would have expected to get to the final.
I don't think it's an overachievement with the way the draw kind of panned out with France coming second in their group.
And with the players that we've got.
Yeah, but it's obviously very exciting.
Yeah, I can already hear that in the background your manager Gareth Stoutgate is cooking something for tonight.
I can hear it.
So basically, let's discuss that.
I was wondering if we could go through your starting eleven.
Yeah, one second. Let me just tell my girlfriend to keep the noise down.
She's the one.
It wasn't Gareth. I thought it was Gareth.
Okay, listeners, I think David is telling his girlfriend to tone it down a bit.
We all thought it was Gareth Stoutgate, but apparently not.
No, she's giving me an angry look for telling her.
Oh my God, I don't want to be in the middle of this.
I think the starting lineup tonight will be the same.
But I think he may put Luke Shore in the head of Trippier.
Just because of how good Spain are at pressing, I think it's really important that you have a left footed option at left back just for angles.
But don't you think you will disrupt the balance?
And don't you think that he's not really match fit Luke Shore?
He hasn't played much lately, right?
That's the thing. I think even if he played about maybe 15 minutes against Switzerland, he played 45 minutes against Holland.
Even if he can only last 45 minutes tonight, I would still start him just because I think the first goal in any final is quite important.
And I think Spain are a team that if they get ahead, they can easily keep the ball under pressure and become quite secure that way.
Whereas if we get the first goal, then they'll have to open up a little bit and then you could easily see someone like Foden getting in between the lines and causing it to become the counter.
So I would start Shore.
You're not sure. You're not sure.
He's very loyal Garasaske. Trippier is just kind of one of those players that you probably feel a bit bad leaving him out.
Yeah. Yeah. I remember the way he stuck with Maguire and stuff.
But let's go with your keeper. So I think you will pick up where you left off, picking Pickford.
Pickford will definitely start.
Nice.
The master of shitholes.
Yeah, actually Pickford is pretty popular in England.
He obviously doesn't play for a top team, but I mean, he starts in the Premier League every week.
Like people say he's never really let England down, although he nearly did with that Shakiri corner.
He's been playing quite well, I would say. So then you have Gahey, right? Probably one of your best players of the tournament.
Gahey has been very good. That's the thing with England. There's not really a weak link apart from maybe Trippier and Lefkback.
And who is the other one? So who's your other centre back?
John Stones.
John Stones, you know.
So he's pretty good as well. Walker is a defensive right back.
If you think about how you play in possession nowadays, it's normally a 3-2-5 or a 2-3-5.
Then Walker as the right hand side of that three is very, very good at covering that whole area of the field.
He's so fast and despite his age, he's one of the fastest players.
So athletic, yeah.
The good thing about him is he can also overlap as well.
So he's like, I mean, what the chance the Foden hit the post was a Walker overlap, which drew the defender away.
People don't see this. They say, oh, why is the Foden creating a chance? Why is he doing anything?
But you've got to have runners off the ball taking defenders away for a player to isolate one on one against another one.
Yeah, you know what? I really like this player is a city player, but I think he would walk into any team.
Foden?
No, Walker, because his name is Walker. He would also make a great zombie.
But he walked out of Tottenham to join the city.
And at the time, I think we had quite a good deal.
It was like 55 million or something, but in hindsight, I think probably not so much.
I think he made the right decision for himself.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, if you compare his Danny Rose, who was similar levels at the time.
Although this episode is not supposed to be a dig at Tottenham, we can do that in the future.
But we are discussing the lineup of the England team against Spain.
A possible lineup. It's not confirmed yet.
Although you have Gareth Southgate in your kitchen. I don't think I don't think I've moved into the spare room now after the looks Gareth Southgate was giving me for telling her to be quiet.
You know, it's a lot of pressure, pressurizing situations.
So I understand it's late here.
So like the games at 2am and certain people are hungry.
It's late in Vietnam. Certain people, meaning you.
And I'm being my girlfriend.
I see. Please tell her to tell her to forgive me.
And it's all it's all on me because this interview was my idea after all.
But OK, so let's continue with the midfield then.
So play Declan Rice with Kobi Menu.
He'll play a back three. He'll play sorry. He'll play a back three. So we walk a star right back and Saka starting right wing back and Saka is also like a number as a Tottenham fan.
It's hard to say good things about an Arsenal player, but Saka's.
If I have to say about one player, I'd say about Saka because he's he's very humble and very.
Yeah, he's a great guy.
And as a player, he's just very complete in everything that he does. Like he he doesn't lose the ball much unnecessarily.
I've always noticed that he always holds on to the ball under pressure and he seems to make really good decisions about when to take on his man, when to hold it, not always playing it back, which a lot of wingers hide and they play it back to their right back or centre back all the time.
So he's great as a right wing back because I think he allows us to play the back three Walker and Saka because they're so versatile.
Okay, I actually I'm quite surprised you're saying this. I thought Walker would be the wing back, the right wing back and Saka would be the.
Because I've heard an assessment here saying that there will be a key battle because apparently most of the attacks go on the on the left where Nico Williams is that you are sorry, the Spanish attacks where Kukurela and Nico Williams is.
And apparently, according to this analysis, the key battle will be between Nico Williams, Kukurela against Saka and Walker, who are on the right.
So, but who else? I'm a massive fan of Nico Williams and I wanted him at Tottenham before this tournament.
Obviously, that's not going to happen now.
But I think if you wanted one player in the world to be up against him, it would be Kyle Walker.
So it will be quite fluid, I think, in terms of how they defend that position.
What I do think is important is that they defend the wings very aggressively. England definitely need to get out to Yamal and.
Yamal, speaking of Yamal.
Very quickly.
Speaking of Yamal, he just turned 17. So let's hope it's not like in a computer game where a character levels up, you know.
He's like you're 16, he was a baby at the age of 16. Now he's 17. He's going to score a hat trick against you or something.
He might have gone out last night, he might have been on the beer.
Exactly. That's another theory. But then again, he's underage. So can he?
I'm sure that's the way.
If that was in England, he definitely would go.
That's for sure. I don't know how it's in Spain, though.
Yeah. And also, we must not forget about the involvement of Lionel Messi, who bathed him when he was just a baby.
What Yamal's father is saying is that maybe it was Yamal that blessed Messi, because Messi was 17 when he bathed him.
Yeah.
It was the other way around, the father said.
Well, we have the photos of that.
It's incredible. So who do you have up front then?
Well, first of all, in the middle would be Rice with Kobi Menuh.
And I think Kobi Menuh was really important to get into the team. Him or Adam Morton, because you need someone who can keep the ball under pressure deep.
Adam who?
Adam Morton plays for Palace.
He hasn't played yet.
He's a very good player, by and a link with him. He came from Blackburn maybe to Palace.
He also is very technical and just composed with the ball, a bit like Michael Carrick.
OK.
But Kobi Menuh, I always think you need a ball player deep, because you need to, in the modern game, you've got to get out of pressure.
I don't think Declan Rice is good at that. I know people love Declan Rice.
I think he's got really good at defending and he's really good at driving forward.
But I don't think he's the best at playing under pressure with his back turn, looking at scanning and looking at the angles.
Yeah, that's fair. But Menuh is that kind of player. He's a dribbler.
Very good at that. Jibler, composed, scans a lot.
And yeah, just adds a lot of balance to the team.
And I'm a massive fan of Gallagher as well in terms of pressing, but I don't think he can do the scanning in the same way as Menuh.
Yeah, but it didn't seem to be in the same form, in the same form as the others.
So I think he won't be touched. It's more likely that Palmer will play instead.
Well, further forward, Palmer. I don't think he'll play Palmer. I think he'll keep the same...
I agree. But if there was one player that could come in to do the job, it would be Palmer.
Yeah, because Palmer's come on as a sub a couple of times and really affected it. And like, subs are really important.
Of course, of course.
So that's his role this tournament. Maybe next tournament he'll start. But I think for now, I think...
I think Ful Fulden against Holland in the first half was unplayable. I don't think they could get near him.
I don't think he's had a great tournament, but that's because he's been stuck out on the left, which is just really misused.
But now he's playing that right number 10. I think he's just like...
He was much better last time.
I think he wasn't that good against Switzerland, but this time, this time against Holland, he was much better.
I think maybe because Holland reminded him of Haaland in similar words, right?
So he's used to playing with Haaland, right? In Manchester City.
Anyway, we've got obviously your favorite player up front, Harry Kane.
Harry Kane, yeah. Don't doubt Harry Kane. That'll be a top scorer again if he scores tonight.
I was wondering, yeah, what would you say if somehow he won the Golden Boot and you lost against Spain?
Wouldn't that be so Harry Kane to do that?
Oh, yeah, that would be very Harry Kane.
But I mean, I think Harry Kane would happily not start tonight if it guaranteed England winning.
People think Harry Kane's selfish, but having seen him for Spurs for 10 years is anything but.
He's been a victim of Tottenham's success really in recent years,
because Tottenham, when I started supporting them, weren't like top four, Champions League final like that.
But when he came through, it was underpatch, so it was our kind of glorious, even though we won nothing.
And he was a victim of that because he stayed loyal.
But I mean, he could have gone anywhere and won trophies.
It's just one of those random bits of every freak, freak of nature.
He has been cursed with Gimper, cursed though, like everybody's pulling his leg for not he hasn't won anything.
Right. So even when he goes to the to the best club in German League,
we have been winning the title left, left, left, right and centre winning.
I don't know how many times, like 12 times in a row or something like that, something as ridiculous as that.
Did he win the Golden Boot there again?
Yeah, over 30 goals.
And it's the year where Bayer Leverkusen are just this incredible team.
And to be honest, even next year, they've got Vincent Kompany, who seems like a good young manager, but you don't know.
It's not like a trial. It's not.
There's no guarantee that he'll beat Sevilla London next year.
Absolutely. But let's say, let's say this is the one opportunity that Harry Kane has to break this curse.
He needs to do that.
Yeah, I don't think England play to Harry Kane's strengths.
That's that's one of the main issues.
I think Harry Kane is very good in the box and he's very good at dropping deep and spraying passes.
And all these ex-pundits who are saying Harry Kane shouldn't shouldn't go deep or just talking out their ass basically, because that he's even about look at Totty.
Look at all those players.
No, it's his game. We know that he likes to drop, drop deep and hold the ball.
He's got a good pass on the line.
Yeah, exceptional pass. Long pass.
Yeah, so I'd be telling Saka, Fode and Benningham all to run him behind and just let him do what he wants.
Otherwise, just play Watkins and let Watkins run him behind if you want that.
And to be honest, yeah, I mean, it won't happen.
But we've got the team.
So can I get your prediction for this game?
Oh my gosh, this is a tough one.
My head says it will be 2-0 to Spain just because Roger will make a few fouls in the first half that should all be yellow cards and the referee won't have the bottle to give it to him.
Yeah.
Hats off to Fode on the break.
He won't give him the yellow card and then it will stop England countering.
And then they'll just kind of swarm all over us and eventually get the goals.
But my heart says that actually it's more of a 50-50 game.
I think England have lucked into this box midfield now with their 3-4-3 box and Spain have a player three in the midfield.
So Fode and Benningham, Maynard and Rice can play a 4-3, which is what they did against Holland in the first half.
And then Holland changed it and nullified the game. It just kind of like the game just became a nothing game.
So if first half England can dominate that midfield 4-3, then there's a chance.
For England's sake, let's hope your heart is stronger than your brain.
But obviously it's a final, David.
Anything can happen. It's clear that Spain are everybody's favourite and they have been playing some brilliant football.
Yeah. How often does a team who plays well the whole tournament win it?
That is a good question.
It's more often than the lucky team. Benningham are over-head kick, dodgy penalty against Holland, Swiss penalties.
It's more often that that team is being through the adversity, scrapes through.
So you never know.
It's true. It's true. It's just one game. It could go to extra time penalties.
And you seem to be much better at penalties than in the past.
And then Tony misses with his no-look penalty.
Well, let's hope for your sake. I'm not sure I'm supporting you actually.
I thought you would be. You've lived in London.
The thing is, when it comes to my friends, I've got Spanish friends just like I have English friends.
So that doesn't help me decide. I haven't lived in Spain. I've lived in England.
You teach English as a language.
I do. I'm an English teacher.
So I think you should have to support England therefore.
I should. But you basically lost me with the way you played in this tournament.
And Spain have won my heart. So I'm sorry.
I think... I hope you don't mind.
But I think I might be on the Spanish side this time.
You want Spain to win.
But what I will say is, if you play well and you deserve to win,
and if there's no dodgy penalty or something, which seems to happen when you play,
then these days...
I know in the past, I know you have had your fair share of unfair decisions.
Maradona, Lampard, I remember all that.
And a lot of German fans are still upset about that Kukorea penalty that could have been a penalty as well.
A lot of German fans booing him.
No, I know. He will be under pressure. He will be whistled.
It happened the last game in the semi-final.
So there will be a lot of booing him, which I think is a bit too much.
It's a bit childish. But this is football fans for you.
You can't expect much from them.
I mean, we are obviously much better, you and I.
Anyway, it's been a pleasure talking to you, Jenks.
If you play well and you deserve it, you know what? Well done.
There will be more stuff about England on this podcast.
All right.
Well, enjoy your dinner. Enjoy your dinner and the final after that.
All right. Take care.
Bye bye, mate. Cheers.
All right, guys, welcome back to the Language Corner.
As always, I would like to keep this one short and sweet.
And today the main reason is because I need to get this episode out as soon as possible.
And, you know, making a podcast, it actually requires some time as well,
because first of all, you have to prepare it, then record it.
After that, you need to edit it, add all the jingles, you know, the final touches to everything,
and then you can publish it and then you have to promote it on social media.
It's not easy to make a podcast.
And the final is literally just around the corner.
So honestly, I need to keep this short.
All right. And today I would like to talk about the expression to have bottle to do something,
because David was actually talking about the Spanish player Rodri.
And he was sort of complaining about the fact that the referees don't really want to send him off much
because he's such a popular player with so much respect.
And he sometimes does these cynical fouls, right?
And David said that he doesn't think that the referee will have bottle to send Rodri off.
He doesn't think referee will have the bottle to show him some cards, right?
So that means he won't have courage.
To have bottle to do something means to have courage to do something.
The referee will just let Rodri off.
Rodri will get away with this with these fouls. OK?
By the way, this is kind of a slang expression.
It's kind of an idiomatic, colloquial phrase.
And there is another one which is often used in football.
And that's if you bottle it.
That's a good one as well. So I might as well explain this one too.
So basically, this is used when you fail an opportunity, right?
So often you're in a position where you have to do something,
where you have to prove that you have what it takes.
But often because of being too afraid, too frightened, you mess up.
An example could be he should have taken the penalty, but he bottled it, right?
He was too afraid to take the penalty.
So he let someone else take it and that player missed it or something like that.
So to bottle it. Often when you're under pressure, you're more likely to bottle it.
So for example, Spain are the favourites and they have a better team.
They have better players, I think, than England.
So you could say that if they lose against England tonight, they bottle it.
That would be a nice example.
All right, listeners, that's it for today.
Thank you very much for listening.
Don't forget to subscribe to the Footglitch Podcast.
This is a podcast about football and I will be speaking about more and more stuff in the future.
Obviously, this tournament, Euro 2024, this is how we kicked off this podcast, pun intended.
But after that, of course, a new season starts, the Premier League and European League, European football.
There's more stuff coming your way.
So please subscribe to the Footglitch Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, not to miss any future episodes.
I've been Zdenek. Thank you very much for listening and I'll speak to you next time.
Cheers. Bye bye.