Learn English Through Football Podcast: Spare Blushes

In this week's football-language podcast we look at a phrase used after a player misses an easy chance - spare a player's blushes. We will also have  some predictions, including Arsenal versus Newcastle. 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 then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com

https://languagecaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/podcast.spare_.blushes.170525-1.mp3

Hello

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



Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English language skills. My name's Damon and I'm talking to you from a cloudy and wet Tokyo - again. It was the same story last week. I mustn't complain though, the week has been beautiful and sunny. I wonder what the weather is like in London? Damian?



DF:  Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well. I am sitting outside in a very sunny and warm London, the day before the FA Cup final and I’ll be giving my predictions later on in the show.

It’s been another really busy week in football - congratulations to Barcelona after their victory at Espanyol gave them the title. They have played some wonderful football this season and the opening goal in this game was scored by Yamine Lamal - what a wonderful strike it was!



DB: Yes, it was a great result for Barcelona, and Yamine Lamal, like his team, has had a great season.



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



DB: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message was in Mongolian and we will have a lot more messages like that coming up in different languages. I wonder if you can identify all the languages. We'll let you know what they were at the end of the show.

Today's Show

DB: Now, on the show today, I am going to be looking at the phrase to spare a player's blushes and vocabulary connected to this phrase. After that, Damian has his predictions for some big games this week, and we'll finish with a bit of information about how you can contact us as and we'll identify the languages used in our messages.



Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Chinese)

Spare (a Player's) Blushes

http://gty.im/2215465530



DB: OK, let's kick off with the main phrase for today's show. I was watching the highlights of the Chelsea versus Manchester United clash and heard this phrase used when Enzo Fernández of Chelsea missed a really easy chance in front of goal. Cole Palmer had hit a powerful shot, which was stopped by Onana, the Man United goalkeeper. However, the ball fell straight to Fernández about 6 yards out with only the keeper to beat.



The Chelsea player blazed his shot over the bar, he skied his effort. To sky a shot is to hit the  ball high - towards the sky - over the crossbar.



Luckily for Fernández, the flag went up for <a href="https://languagecaster.