Class 12 English Unit 3: Sports Reading: Euro 2020 Language Development Section

 

Unit 3: Sports Reading: Euro 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTmK8O9nttY

Reflection of the Essay

London, July 12: Italian soccer’s redemption (recovery)story is complete. England’s painful half-century wait for a major title goes on. Italy won the European championship for the second time by beating England 3-2 on penalties on Sunday. The match finished 1-1 after extra time at Wembley stadium, with English fans hoping to celebrate the team’s first international trophy since the 1966 world cup. It’s coming to Rome,” Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci shouted into a TV camera amid the celebrations, mocking the famous lyric “it’s coming home” from the England team’s anthem. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, specialist penalty-takers of England also missed their penalty kicks. Saka and Sancho cried, Donnarumma was encircled by his teammates as they sprinted(ran) toward him from the halfway line at the end of the second penalty shootout.

Then Italy’s jubilant players headed to the other end of the field and ran as one, diving to the ground in front of the Italian fans who have witnessed a rebirth of their national team. Italy was not qualified for the World Cup just before four years ago after six decades in their history. But now, Italy is the best team in Europe because of Roberto Mancini, a coach of Italy. Under his training, Italy made a record of 34 international unbeaten matches. “It was impossible even to just consider this at one stage,” Mancini said, “but the guys were just amazing. For England, it’s the latest heartache in shootouts at major tournaments, after defeats in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, and 2012.  “The boys couldn’t have given more,” England captain Harry Kane said. “Penalties are the worst feeling in the world when you lose. It’s been a fantastic tournament — we should be proud, hold our heads up high. It was Luck Shaw’s first goal for England in major final of 55 years and it prompted a fist-pump between David Beckham and Tom Cruise in the VIP box amid an explosion of joy around Wembley, which had at least 67,000 fans inside. It was reminiscent of the 2018 World Cup semifinals when England also scored early against Croatia then spent most of the game chasing its opponent’s midfield before losing in extra time.

Incredibly, Pickford, the midfielder who converted the decisive penalty in a shootout win over Spain in the semifinals also failed to score as he tipped the effort off the post. It was Donnarumma who then made the crucial saves and within minutes he had also been named player of the tournament, the first goalkeeper to be so honored. So instead of coming home, the trophy is headed to Rome. “We’d heard it day in, day out from Wednesday night — we heard it would be coming home to London,” Bonucci, an Italian defender said. “I’m sorry for them, but the cup will be taking a nice flight, making its way to Rome so Italians all over the world can savor this.”

Working with words

A.   Many English words are from other languages, such as redemption in the news above comes from the Latin word redimere, a combination of re(d)-, meaning “back,” and emere, meaning “buy.”

Now, find out the origin and the meaning of the following words from the text.

Words	Origins	Meanings
penalty	Anglo-Norman French ‘penalite’	a disadvantage imposed on a team or competitor for violation of the rules of a sport
major	French ‘majeur’ Latin ‘magnus’	greater in dignity, rank, importance, or interest
stadium	Greek ‘stadion’	a large usually roofless building with tiers of seats for spectators at sports events
trophy	French ‘trophee’	a sign of victory, a monument
defender	Latin ‘defensor’	one who protects from injury, attack, or danger
anthem	Old English ‘antefn’	a song that has special importance for a particular group of people
dejection	Latin ‘deicere’	lowness of spirits: depression, melancholy
jubilant	Latin ‘jubilare’	feeling or expressing great joy
record	Old French ‘record’	some how to preserve a note or evidence of something so that it can be consulted later
suave	Latin ‘suavis’	smoothly though often superficially gracious and sophisticated
podium	Latin ‘podium’	a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings
tournament	Old French ‘torneiement’	a series of games or contests that make up a single unit of competition
reminiscent	Latin ‘reminisci’	talked or written about old times, past experiences
incredible	Latin ‘incredibillis’	too extraordinary and improbable to be believed
savor	Old French ‘savor’	the taste or smell of something

B.    Consult a dictionary and define the following terms related to cricket.

Example:

wicket: two sets of three sticks standing on the ground with pieces of wood lying

stump     crease           boundary     sixer            googly         leg-bye

wicket     maiden        pitch            power-play  no-ball        yorker

 

Words	Definitions
stump (N)	each of the three upright pieces of wood which form a wicket
crease (N)	a certain area demarcated by white lines painted or chalked on the field of play
boundary (N)	the perimeter of a playing field
sixer (N)	six runs in one ball
googly (Adv.)	a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler
leg-bye(N)	a run scored by the batting team if the batsman has not hit the ball with their bat
wicket (N)	sets of three sticks are called wickets that are set in the ground at each end of the pitch
maiden (N)	any over that is bowled by the bowler that results in zero runs being added to the batting team's run total
pitch (N)	The central strip of the cricket field between the wickets is 22 yd (20.12 m) long (1 chain)
no-ball(N)	An illegal delivery to a batsman that is also the extra run awarded to the batting team as a consequence
yorker (N)	a ball bowled so that it pitches immediately under the bat

Comprehension

A.   State whether the following sentences are True or False or Not Given.

a.      England was the champion of 1996 World Cup Football. – True

b.     Italy bagged its first Euro Cup trophy in the Euro Cup 2020. – True

c.   The English team has won more trophies in International Football than Italy. – False

d.     According to the captain of the English team, the pain of losing a match has lasting effects. – Not Given

e.      The Italian team was playing in their home ground. – False

f.       The goalkeeper of the Italian team had performed the best than any other players in the match. – True

B.    Answer the following questions. (Answers only)

a.   The reporter says that England is waiting to heal its half-century pain because England had not won any title after 1966 A.D.

b.   The Italian players reacted by shouting into a TV camera amid the celebrations, mocking the famous lyric “it’s coming home” from the England team’s anthem as soon as they became the champions.

c.      Saka and Sancho cried because of their third straight penalty failure.

d.     Penalty shoot-out has long been a bitter experience for the English team because they missed three penalty shoot-outs consequently.

e.      Less than four years ago, Italy fell to the lowest point in its footballing history with failing to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades. They are now the best team in Europe and with a national record of 34 games unbeatenunder Roberto Mancini. Mancini brought great confidence to the Italian football team and went all out to win the Euro 2020.

f.       The Euro Cup Final 2020 reminds the audiences of the 2018 World Cup semifinals because England also scored early against Croatia then spent most of the game chasing its opponent’s midfield before losing in extra time.

C.    Pronunciation

Divide the following words into two groups following their pronunciation /aɪ/ and /eɪ/.

fine,        shine,                    rein,             rail,             why,            sleigh,

height,    bright,                   might,          snail,           break,          fake,

five,        freight,                 eight,            game,           claim,         friend,

sight,      white,                    gait,             by,               hail,             frame

/ai/	/ei/
fine /fain/	rein
shine	rail
why	sleigh
height	break
bright	fake
might	snail
five	freight
sight	eight
white	game
by	claim
	friend
	gait
	hail
	frame

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