Learn English Through Football Podcast: Selection Dilemma

In this week's football-language podcast we look at some more language from the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, including the phrase, 'selection dilemma'. We also look ahead to this week's football and try to predict the Manchester derby this weekend. 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://learnenglishthroughfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/podcast.selectiondilemma.130925.mp3

Hello

DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.



DF: Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the football. My name is Damian and I am based here in London where the weather is a little chilly with showers and rain. It's typical autumn weather! What is the weather like where you are? And Damon, what is the weather like in Tokyo?



DB: Hi Damian, hot, humid and wet. That's the weather over here in Tokyo. I'd love some typical autumn weather, but we have just had hot days for the past three months!



OK on today's podcast we will be looking back at the international break. Listener, was your country involved in any matches and how did they do? Damian will talk about the football phrase 'selection dilemma'. After that, we look ahead at a big game coming up in the Premier League, the Manchester Derby.



DB: Right, before we move on to talk about some football language, just to let you know that we are still making some changes to our site. Remember, that we are now known as learnengishthroughfootball.com after changing our domain name. This means we are no longer using languagecaster.com but don't worry you can still find us even if you still click on the old name and you will still hear and see languagecaster on many parts of our site and hear it on our podcast.



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



DB: Yes, that message was in Uzbek and we will have some more stingers or messages throughout the show in different languages. Try and guess what languages they are and we will let you know what they are at the end of the show.



And of course it would be great if you could send us a message in your own language - just tell us, 'You are listening to the Learn English through football podcast' in any language that you know.



Right, here's another stinger for you and I will give you a clue. This is a European country and a four-time World Cup winning side.



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



DB: Next up is Damian, who will be talking about some football language from the international break. The phrase is connected with managers and choosing the team.

Football Language: Selection Dilemma

http://gty.im/2234547079



DF: OK, I am going to look at a phrase that came out after England's comprehensive World Cup qualifying win in Serbia: selection dilemma. So, a dilemma describes a situation when there is a difficult decision to make. Maybe you have too many choices or perhaps both choices are either very good or very bad - it's difficult to decide between them. Now, one of the duties of a football manager, possibly the most important duty, is to pick the team; they have to choose the players <a href="https://learnenglishthroughfootball.