If you’re an Italian football fan, you’ve probably heard some of the most famous phrases. “Calcio” and the whole family of words with the same subject of the word is connected to football, as il calcio itself means the sport. The Italians are well known for their fierce spirits and quite intensely expressed emotions, so among all the sports-related words, you will likely hear a wide range of Italian curses as well, but that’s not what this article is about. What are the most popular phrases you just have to know, when watching Serie A matches?
Copa del Mondo
It’s one of the biggest sports events for Italians and the phrase ‘copa del mondo’ stands for World Cup. If they are not watching their beloved Serie A at the moment, Italians most definitely follow the World Cup Games or at least the European Football Championship.
Squadra di calcio
This term means a ‘football team’ and you will definitely hear the phrase from your Italian friends. They simply love this game and everything that is conntected to it. If we know something for sure – it’s the fact, that every Italian has his/hers favourite squadra di calcio. By the way, if you will ever hear phrase ‘Azzurri’ – be respectful: they are talking about their national team. It’s one of the most sacred and valued things in their country!
Avversario
Avversario, the member of the opposite team. The most devoted fans of the Italian clubs of Serie A will pronounce the word with genuine disgust! It is well known, that Italians watch the matches with their whole hearts and spirits, so you might experience some surprisingly rapid reactions.
Riserva
Riserva means the reserve player, who is sitting on the bench. However, Italians can also use another phrase to describe such person: ‘il panchino’, which is a contemptuous term and rather refers to the person who keeps the bench warm all the time.
La vittoria
Well, you’ve probably figured out, that this word stands for the victory. It’s one of the favourite words of Italians, who value their teams and believe in them. If you ever hear similiar word ‘vincere’ – it’s a verb, which means “to win”.
Pareggiare
Less valued than la vittoria, although in many situations still the best possible option – a draw. Just as a reminder, it’s a situation, when two teams achieve exactly the same amount of goals. Even though sometimes pareggiare is slightly bitter sweet, at times it might be the only possibility, especially if the teams are equally good or just the opposite – make similar amount of mistakes.
Cartellino giallo
Remember when we mentioned, that Italians might curse a lot while watching matches? Well, if one of the team members of their favourite team receives cartellino giallo, nervous reaction is guaranteed. Especially considering the fact, that two of those might mean, that one of the players have to leave the field. Yes, you’ve guessed correctly: cartellino giallo means the yellow card.
Scommesse sportive
When we’re at the football-connected words, we can’t forget about the famous scommesse sportive. It’s a well known fact, that Italians love football and thus, they also like to place bets on their favourite teams. The bets can be made on simple things, such as ‘which team will win’ or ‘who will score the first goal of the match’. But there is also a type of bets, which are really popular during the biggest sports competitions, when one can bet on many rather weird things: such as how many times was wife of a famous players shown on camera etc.
The mentioned words are just examples and we didn’t present you the full football vocabulary. Obviously, there are many more, that might come in handy when talking with Italians.
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