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Boxing glove.

Medium: Knock out

Medium: Knock out

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to knock out

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.


Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is knock out. Have a listen to this:

Jack: I love knockout matches.

Rich: I don’t, I think league matches are better. Anyone can knock out anyone else in a cup match. The league is a much better competition.

Jack: Here we are using knockout as an adjective and as a phrasal verb.

Rich: To knock a team out of a competition means to eliminate them from the competition. Liverpool knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League last season. Liverpool continued to the final and Barcelona went home.

Jack: We can use it as an adjective, too. We often speak about knockout matches or the knockout rounds or stages of a competition.

Rich: The knockout stages are what comes after the group stages of a competition. In the knockout stages, the winners go to the next round or stage and the losers are eliminated.


Jack: The phrasal verb knock out has a more general meaning.

Rich: It means to cause someone to become unconscious. A footballer could be knocked out by an accidental elbow from an opponent or even a ball that hits him or her in the face.

Jack: We are knocked out by something. This could be an elbow, a football, a boxer’s punch or even alcohol and drugs.

Rich: The aim of a boxing match is to knock each other out. When the referee in a boxing match counts to ten the fight stops and the fighter that is standing has won by knockout.


Jack: We might describe the final punch in a boxing match as the knockout blow. The punch that finally won the fight.

Rich: We can use this phrase knockout blow in other contexts. It is used to describe the final action or event that caused something to fail. Listen to these examples:

Jack: The injury was a knockout blow to his hopes of playing in the World Cup.

Rich: The economic crisis delivered a knockout blow to the company’s finances and it soon went bankrupt.


Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

  • Do you prefer watching knockout matches or league matches?
  • Can you remember a match when a small team knocked out a much bigger team?

Write your answers in the comments section below.

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Comments

KareemZain
07/08/2023
EG
383
points

I don't really have a preference as long as it's an interesting football match.
Yup I remember when Morocco knocked out Portugal in World Cup 2022.


KareemZain
07/08/2023 14:48
Egypt
Manchester City
383

I don't really have a preference as long as it's an interesting football match.
Yup I remember when Morocco knocked out Portugal in World Cup 2022.

Michaelsun
16/02/2022
CN
738
points

I prefer knockout match.
Chinese women football knocked out Japanese football team.


Michaelsun
16/02/2022 06:41
China
Manchester United
738

I prefer knockout match.
Chinese women football knocked out Japanese football team.

Roberto Avelar's picture
Roberto Avelar
28/10/2021
BR
110
points

I prefer watching knockout matches.


Roberto Avelar's picture
Roberto Avelar
28/10/2021 00:39
Brazil
Manchester City
110

I prefer watching knockout matches.

Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
26/04/2021
BR
1512
points

I prefer knockout macthes. They brings more emotion and excitement.
I remember when Mazembe knocked out S.C Internacional ath the FIFA Club World Championship in 2010.


Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
26/04/2021 16:02
Brazil
Arsenal
1512

I prefer knockout macthes. They brings more emotion and excitement.
I remember when Mazembe knocked out S.C Internacional ath the FIFA Club World Championship in 2010.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020
UA
6278
points

By the way, I don't like boxing because of the possibility for a boxer to fall under the knockout blow. Heavy blows, indeed,  may cause a lot of severe problems in the future as we often can see, e.g. Mohammed Ali would finally get Parkinson's disease due to such traumas during his long and victorious career.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020 02:41
Ukraine
Liverpool
6278

By the way, I don't like boxing because of the possibility for a boxer to fall under the knockout blow. Heavy blows, indeed,  may cause a lot of severe problems in the future as we often can see, e.g. Mohammed Ali would finally get Parkinson's disease due to such traumas during his long and victorious career.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020
UA
6278
points

Lately, poor Jimenez has been literally knocked out by Luiz.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020 02:33
Ukraine
Liverpool
6278

Lately, poor Jimenez has been literally knocked out by Luiz.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020
UA
6278
points

In 1969 a team from the second by force division of Soviet football Karpaty (Carpathians) L'viv won the National Cup. They were promoted to the first division the following year though, after becoming the winner of the second division. Nevertheless, I think it was a glorious feat - being underdogs and overcoming several stronger teams of the upper football layer. So, it was a SERIES of matches in the later stages of the competition.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020 02:31
Ukraine
Liverpool
6278

In 1969 a team from the second by force division of Soviet football Karpaty (Carpathians) L'viv won the National Cup. They were promoted to the first division the following year though, after becoming the winner of the second division. Nevertheless, I think it was a glorious feat - being underdogs and overcoming several stronger teams of the upper football layer. So, it was a SERIES of matches in the later stages of the competition.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020
UA
6278
points

I prefer watching knockout matches to league matches because they require full demonstration of skills NOW, not for a PERIOD of time when there are opportunities sometimes to loosen the reins.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
01/12/2020 02:22
Ukraine
Liverpool
6278

I prefer watching knockout matches to league matches because they require full demonstration of skills NOW, not for a PERIOD of time when there are opportunities sometimes to loosen the reins.

mat_cfc_pl
24/11/2020
PL
351
points

I prefer watching league matches.
Yes, It was 2010 Lech Poznań knocked out Manchester City in Polend. In addition Lech learned City fans to something more commonly described as 'The Poznan' ;)


mat_cfc_pl
24/11/2020 09:52
Poland
Chelsea
351

I prefer watching league matches.
Yes, It was 2010 Lech Poznań knocked out Manchester City in Polend. In addition Lech learned City fans to something more commonly described as 'The Poznan' ;)

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
06/08/2020
TR
6510
points

There is a result I can never forget when MK Dons knocked out our Manchester United from EFL Cup in August 2014 during Louis Van Gaal era and defeated us by 4-0 .
It turned to the poorest performance I have ever seen from the Red Devils.
Btw , I think that was the key game for Dele Alli to join Spurs later on.


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
06/08/2020 00:04
Turkey
Manchester United
6510

There is a result I can never forget when MK Dons knocked out our Manchester United from EFL Cup in August 2014 during Louis Van Gaal era and defeated us by 4-0 .
It turned to the poorest performance I have ever seen from the Red Devils.
Btw , I think that was the key game for Dele Alli to join Spurs later on.

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
05/08/2020
TR
6510
points

I think I like both of them as league matches give you another chance to bounce back and knockout matches help you to see high tempo matches and maybe extra-time and even penalties.


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
05/08/2020 23:57
Turkey
Manchester United
6510

I think I like both of them as league matches give you another chance to bounce back and knockout matches help you to see high tempo matches and maybe extra-time and even penalties.

hsn's picture
hsn
06/06/2020
TR
5525
points

I prefer knockout matches because there is no repeat of them.They include high level of tempo and very much goal position.

Yes. In my country one of the super league finalist team eliminated from knock-out cup match.
It was legend.


hsn's picture
hsn
06/06/2020 16:51
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5525

I prefer knockout matches because there is no repeat of them.They include high level of tempo and very much goal position.

Yes. In my country one of the super league finalist team eliminated from knock-out cup match.
It was legend.

Gergő Nagy
28/03/2020
HU
3396
points

To tell the truth, I love both of them because these mathes are different and the feeling is another.
I remember the Barcelona-PSG which was an unforgettable match. 6-1


Gergő Nagy
28/03/2020 09:31
Hungary
Chelsea
3396

To tell the truth, I love both of them because these mathes are different and the feeling is another.
I remember the Barcelona-PSG which was an unforgettable match. 6-1

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1mobeckham6510
2Alex_from_Ukraine6278
3hsn5525
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4768
6Liubomyr4408
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia71478
2Ukraine33300
3Spain28277
4Serbia27289
5Brazil23896
6Albania20578
7Vietnam19939
8Turkey19810
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United141846
2Liverpool110282
3Chelsea88559
4Arsenal85717
5Manchester City56951
6Tottenham Hotspur19169
7Newcastle United10457
8West Ham United7454
9AFC Bournemouth4454
10Crystal Palace4240

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

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