2. Using the table above to help you, fill the gaps in the following sentences?
1. Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and David Beckham are famous _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
2. ‘Beckham made it 3-1 with a wonderful _ _ _ _ in the 71st minute.’
3. ‘What’s your position? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, defender, midfielder or _ _ _ _ _ _ _?’
4. The players were angry about some of the _ _ _ _ _ _ _’s decisions.
5. ‘We’re not playing very well at the moment. In the last game we had two _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ but the other team’s goalkeeper _ _ _ _ _ both of them.’
6. ‘He’s pulling the other player’s shirt – that must be a _ _ _ _!’
7. I know the team’s playing badly, but I don’t think it’s the _ _ _ _ _ _ _’ fault. I blame the _ _ _ _ _ – he’s useless.’
8. ‘Do you know the _ _ _ _ _ in the Chelsea game?’ ‘Yeah, they’re winning two-_ _ _’.
9. ‘My favourite team is Real Madrid. They play really well, and I also think their white _ _ _ looks really nice.’
10. ‘There won’t be a game today. There’s still too much snow on the _ _ _ _ _.’
11. ‘I was never any good at football. I could never _ _ _ _ the ball in the direction I wanted it to go.’
3. Read the texts: Patrick
I
think I’m very lucky to be a football journalist. It’s the
perfect job for a guy who’s been obsessed with the game all his
life, and loves writing about it.
I’m worried about what’s happening in professional football, though. It seems there are too many people in the game who only think about the money. I don’t think you can justify the ridiculous amount of money the top players earn, for example. To pay their wages the clubs have had to increase ticket prices, so a lot of fans can no longer afford to go to games very often.
I guess I’ve watched thousands of games during my career. The best player I’ve ever seen is Pelé, back in the late 60s, when I was just a boy. He was incredible. As for the best team, that’s more difficult, as different teams have different styles. At the moment, in Europe, I like Barcelona and Arsenal, because they both play attractive football.
Kate
Last night I was with a group of people and suddenly the men started talking about football. They assumed I wouldn’t know as much as they did, and were very surprised to find out that in fact I knew a lot more. As I told them, I’ve been a football fan since I was seven and I also played for a few years when I was a teenager.
In Britain, as in many other countries, more and more women have been going to football matches in recent years. In most British stadiums there’s more of a ‘family’ atmosphere these days, which is different from the 1970s and 80s when the atmosphere was more aggressive.
I was pleased that so many games in the recent Women’s World Cup were on TV. The tournament, which took place in China, was very exciting and showed that women’s football has really improved. The winners were Germany, who beat Brazil in the final.
4. Now fill the gaps below to complete the crossword and reveal the name of one of the most successful clubs in the history of English football. According to some estimates, this team also has more fans than any other team in the world.
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