Ecuador Loses to Japan on Penalties
Listen to the story
Ecuador played a football match against Japan.
Many players in the Ecuador team play for Brazilian clubs. They play for Cruzeiro and Atlético.
The Ecuador coach is Gallardo. He made the team better.
The match finished with no winner after normal time.
The teams then took penalties. This is a way to find a winner.
Japan won the match on penalties.
Ecuador lost the game.
Players from Cruzeiro and Atlético were starters in the match. This means they played from the beginning.
The game shows that Brazilian clubs have good foreign players.
Fans of Cruzeiro and Atlético watched their players in this big game.
Vocabulary15 words
- penalties
- a way to decide a winner by kicking the ball one by one
- starters
- players who begin the game
- national team
- a team that plays for a country
- coach
- the person who leads a sports team
- match
- a game between two teams
- club
- a sports team that people play for
- shootout
- a short way to find a winner using penalties
- squad
- all the players in a team
- defeat
- when a team loses
- opponent
- the team you play against
- improve
- to make something better
- draw
- when both teams have the same score
- goalkeeper
- the player who stops the ball from going in the goal
- tournament
- a competition with many matches
- lineup
- the list of players who start a game
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Quiz
Answer key
1. Japan 2. Japan won on penalties 3. Cruzeiro and Atlético
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Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
Ecuador played a football match against _____.
Many players in the Ecuador team play for Brazilian clubs. They play for Cruzeiro and _____.
The Ecuador coach is _____. He made the team better.
The match finished with no winner after _____ time.
The teams then took _____. This is a way to find a winner.
_____ won the match on penalties.
Ecuador _____ the game.
Players from Cruzeiro and Atlético were _____ in the match.
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