20 Great Football Idioms in English to discuss the World Cup!

20 Great Football Idioms in English to Discuss the World Cup!

 

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Harry Kane, England (2018)

Match the football idioms below with their literal meanings:

IDIOMS –

1. the Beautiful Game
2. it’s a funny old game
3. to be a game of two halves
4. a potential banana skin
5. to be honest
6. to play the ball, not the man
7. to be over the moon
8. to be as sick as a parrot
9. to be on a winning streak
10. at the end of the day
11. to go down to the wire
12. to be a big ask
13. to be held to a draw
14. by the skin of your teeth
15. to be a two-horse race
16. to play your heart out
17. to give 110%
18. to be strong on paper
19. to throw in the towel
20. back of the net!

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Bobby Moore, England (1966)

LITERAL MEANINGS –

a) to feel very disappointed
b) to be a competition between two teams or groups only
c) fantastic!
d) to win several times in a row
e) more can happen later
f) the outcome is decided at the last moment
g) to be forced to end a competition with equal points
h) to quit
i) don’t make contact with another player
j) unpredictable things can happen
k) narrowly; only just
l) football
m) to compete with a lot of passion
n) to be a good idea in theory
o) in my opinion
p) an opportunity for something to go wrong
q) ultimately
r) to try as hard as you possibly can
s) to feel very happy
t) to be a difficult thing to ask somebody to do

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Taken from Talk a Lot Intermediate Book 1, which you can download for FREE here.

Answers:

1. l)
2. j)
3. e)
4. p)
5. o)
6. i)
7. s)
8. a)
9. d)
10. q)
11. f)
12. t)
13. g)
14. k)
15. b)
16. m)
17. r)
18. n)
19. h)
20. c)

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