Learn English Through Football Podcast: Group Decider
In this week's football-language podcast we look at some language connected to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the phrase, 'group decider'. We also try and predict two group deciders in the European qualifiers, including Hungary versus Ireland. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.
https://media.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/mc.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/LearnEnglishThroughFootballPodcast_GroupDecider.mp3
Hello
DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.

DF: Hello everyone and welcome to this week's football language podcast for learners of English who love the beautiful game of football. My name is Damian and I am here in London where it has been wet and windy - but we still managed to play some football this morning! What is the weather like where you are? And I wonder what the weather is like in Tokyo where the other member of the Learn English Through Football team Damon is based? How are things Damon?

DB: Hi Damian. I’m doing well thank you, and the weather over here in Tokyo is glorious. Sunny but with a nice winter coolness. The leaves on the trees have turned very autumnal and it’s the weekend, so very nice indeed here. I am guessing you must have been watching the World Cup qualifiers carefully this week, with Ireland in action hoping to get one of the two top spots in their group. What did you think of their win over Portugal? I know you’ll be talking about some language from the qualifiers later in the show, but what was your reaction?

DF: It was an amazing night - finally a big Irish win against a big football nation! It also means we have a small chance of qualifying for the World Cup which would be amazing, especially after our poor start to the qualifying campaign. And we'll be talking about some language to do with qualifying later on in the show.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)

DF: Now, this wasn't the only football I saw during the week; as I was in Málaga in the south of Spain last weekend where I was lucky enough to go back to La Rosaleda - and that's the name of the Málaga home stadium. And I went to see Málaga draw 2-2 with Córdoba in a second division match. It was great to be back in La Rosaleda although the last-minute equaliser - a real last-gasp goal - for Córdoba meant that the home fans were not all that happy!

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)

That message was in Spanish - indeed, it was from a Málaga fan - and yes, you are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast. Remember that our new website address is now learnenglishthroughfootball.com. You can still reach us at the old address, languagecaster.com and you will still hear some stingers mentioning Languagecaster too.