Superb sports-speak

The recent Euros produced a treasure trove of well-written articles on football. For fans, this is a rousing way to improve one’s English.

THIS match had been billed as the footballing equivalent of a fight between two hedgehogs, a meeting of counter-punchers forever crouched behind their defensive quills. Instead, the first half was absorbingly cut and thrust, with both teams committing themselves to sometimes full-blooded attack,” wrote Barney Ronay in The Guardian (June 24) after Italy defeated England at the recent Euro 2012 tournament.