It is certainly among the most emotional. The reason is simple. People really care what happens on the football field and they become emotionally attached to the teams involved. And since football matches involve two teams, each game produces two very different sets of emotions – one for supporters of the winning side and an opposite set for supporters of the losing.

The Bangkok Post’s coverage of Euro 2000 has been dominated by these conflicting emotions. As you read the examples on this page, watch for the contrasts and look for the words and expressions which were used to describe them.

1. In the stories about Romanian and English fans, find phrases describing how happy people move or walk as compared to how sad people move or walk. Find another example of a sad way of walking in the last story on the page about Norway.
2. You certainly know the word "unhappy". Find a stronger, more descriptive word in the story about English fans.
3. Find a noun in the story about Portugal which means extreme happiness. What is the adjective form of that word?
4. What does the word "invincible" mean? Thus far in the tournament, has Portugal been invincible?
5. In the story from Germany, find two verbs that mean "criticised severely".
6. In the same story, find a word that refers to a "complete failure". Find the adjective and noun forms of an expression that refers to being ashamed. Finally, find a verb which means to express sadness or regret. What is the adjective form of this word?
7. In the story on the Dutch victory, find synonyms (words with similar meanings) for "slowed down or caused problems for" and "pulled".
8. In the Czech story, find a noun which indicates that the referee’s decision to call a penalty was dishonest.
9. In the story on the Spanish victory, make a list of words or phrases that the writer used to describe the excitement and drama of the miracle win.
10. In the final story, find a word that refers to a sad song normally sung when someone dies.

JOY AND SADNESS People express emotions in both words and actions. Look for examples of both in these stories below. Romania's Ioan Ganea jumps for joy in front of the England fans after slotting home the winning goal from the penalty spot in Charleroi. His kick gave Romania a 3-2 win which sent them through to the quarter-finals and consigned England to an early flight home. — REUTERS Romanians take to the streets in their millions Bucharest, Reuters Romania’s 3-2 win over England at Euro 2000 brought about a quarter of the country’s 22 million population onto the streets to celebrate, police estimated. Festivities went on into the early hours but passed off largely without incident. "All of Romania’s 300 small and medium-sized towns had at least 10,000 people on the streets," Police Colonel Haralambie Neda said. Half a million massed in the central Bucharest, but only three arrests were made. "We are the best, we are the champions," the crowd shouted. Fans streamed out of Bucharest bars and homes with bottles of alcohol in their hands and headed for the University Square, waving tricolour flags and shouting "victory, victory". Police cars, which started cruising Bucharest with lights flashing as soon as the final whistle was blown, were unable to get through the human sea which filled the city’s main avenues. "It’s total madness, but so far we are able to keep it under control," a police officer said as a young man draped a police armoured car with a Romanian flag. Spraying champagne, young men ripped off their shirts and danced on car roofs. Garbage can lids, blaring horns and whistles filled the city with noise. Dejected fans in quiet exit Charleroi, Reuters Dejected England fans trooped out of Charleroi on Tuesday night as their team were knocked out of Euro 2000 after losing 3-2 to Romania. The majority made their way peacefully towards the bus and train stations and only a couple of hundred remained in the central square of the southern Belgian town. Police kept a low profile, eyewitnesses said. Shortly after midnight, only about 50 England fans remained in the city square, bemoaning a sorry England performance against the Romanians. It was a sharp contrast to Saturday when England played Germany in the city and hooligan violence in Charleroi and Brussels prompted Uefa to threaten England with expulsion from the tournament if there was a repeat. Return to the questions. PRAISE AND CRITICISM Nothing produces more emotion than an unexpected win and an unexpected loss. Both were in evidence after Portugal’s win over former champion Germany. Euphoria greets victory Lisbon, Reuters Portuguese media were euphoric yesterday after a reserve side extended an unbroken run of victories at Euro 2000 with a 3-0 win over outgoing champions Germany. "Invincible Portugal!" read a banner headline on the front page of Diario de Noticias. "Historic!" trumpeted Publico daily while sports paper and Portugal’s top-selling daily Bola proclaimed: "Hello world!" All the papers carried a photo of Portugal’s hat-trick hero Sergio Conceicao, who Bola quoted as thanking God for helping him demolish Germany. Soccer euphoria spread to the EU summit in advance of Tuesday’s victory, where beaming Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guteres sported a national team soccer scarf for the family photo" of EU leaders. Return to the questions. German newspapers lash out at ‘fiasco’ Berlin, AFP Germany’s newspapers yesterday blasted the national side and manager Erich Ribbeck following the humiliating 0-3 loss to a second-string Portugal side which sent them crashing out of Euro 2000. Germany's Jens Jeremies, Markus Babbel, Oliver Bierhoff and Carsten Janker and other teammates watch the game in despair. The team had been severely attacked by the press at home. — REUTERS "You are the idiots of football in Europe," headlined Bild. "Mega-humiliation," screamed Express and "Fiasco" lamented Neue Rhein Zeiting. They also agreed that it was time for much-maligned coach Erich Ribbeck to call it a day. "Germany is ashamed of you," the mass-circulation Bild said. "no wins, no heart, no struggle, no desire." Never before has a German team left a tournament in such a lamentable state," it said. "The whole of Europe is laughing at our "heroes," the Cologne Express said. "Thank God it’s all over." Return to the questions. JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE Life is seldom fair to a football referee. When he makes a controversial decision, those who benefit smile in satisfaction, but they never praise the referee. Those on the other side, however, are anything but quiet and they condemn the referee in the strongest terms possible. De Boer double act saves lucky Dutch Amsterdam, Reuters Holland's Ronald de Boer takes a spectacular dive after having his shirt pulled by Czech Republic's Jiri Nemec (right) in the 89th minute in Amsterdam. Referee Pierluigi Collina awarded a penalty and the dutch won the match 1-0. — AP The Netherlands enjoyed the kind of luck nature always seems to reserve for host nations when they beat the Czech Republic 1-0 in their opening Group D match on Sunday thanks to a controversial 89th-minute penalty from Frank de Boer. Italian referee Pierluigi Collina pointed to the spot after he judged that midfielder Jiri Nemec had impeded Frank’s twin brother Ronald as he attempted to reach a cross whipped in from the left by Boudewijn Zenden. Ronald appeared to fall on his back in slow motion after his shirt was tugged and Nemec, one of the cornerstones of increasing impressive Czech performance, looked at the referee in horror when he realised he had been penalised. Return to the questions. Tears flow in dressing room Amsterdam, Reuters/AP Czech star Pavel Nedved pleads with Italian referee Pierluigi Collina after he gave the Dutch a hotly-disputed and match-winning penalty. — REUTERS Tears flowed in the Czech dressing room with injustice piled on to defeat as the Dutch sneaked home 1-0 in their Euro 2000 opener on Sunday thanks to a hotly-disputed penalty. The whole world saw we were better than the Dutch, but thanks to a dubious penalty, they have three points and we have none," said Czech playmaker Pavel Nedved. Czech coach Jozef Chovanec declared: "It’s a scandal. I don’t know what to think. Several players are crying in the locker room right now, and it doesn’t surprise me." Return to the questions. Miracles and harsh reality There have been many movies about sports miracles, but sometimes they happen in real life as well. For the winning side it is a dream come true, but for others it seems more like a nightmare (a bad dream). "Viva Espana" rings out after miracle victory Rotterdam, Reuters Spanish hero Alfonso celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Yugoslavia deep in injury time to ensure Spain moved on to the quarter-finals. — AP Spain pulled off the greatest survival trick in international soccer history on Wednesday with a two-goal flurry in deepest stoppage time to scramble their way into the quarter-finals of Euro 2000 with a 4-3 win over Yugoslavia. In a match that will be remembered forever for its high drama, sensational finish and sizzling soccer, Spain refused to lie down and die when the last rites were being read. Needing a win and 3-2 down with three minutes of stoppage time already played, there was no way back bar the most improbable of miracles. But miracles sometimes happen on soccer pitches and an already fanciful script suddenly turned into pure fantasy. First, Gaizka Mendieta scored a penalty to equalise and then, with more than five minutes gone of time added on, Alfonso volleyed home a glorious winner to save Spain from yet another inglorious exit from a major tournament. Spain, so often under-achievers in the past, played brilliantly in a stunning match, three times coming back from behind. Return to the questions. From joy to misery in two minutes Arnhem, Netherlands, Reuters Norway knew their Euro 2000 fate was sealed when they heard Spanish journalists whooping with joy up in the press box. They bowed out of their first European Championship to the sound of a dirge sung by their fans who had thought a 0-0 draw with Slovenia had taken their team into the last eight. Yugoslavia were leading Spain 3-2 at the time in the other Group C match on Wednesday and a commentator on Norwegian television hailed the draw by bellowing: "Yes, we are in the quarter-finals, this is historic." But two goals in the last two minutes of injury time by Spain in Bruges turned the group on its head, and sent the Spaniards through instead of Norway with Yugoslavia. Norwegian players Erik Mykland (left) and John Arne Riise react after seeing on a giant scoreboard the news that Spain had beaten Yugoslavia. — AP The Norwegian players remained on the pitch after the final whistle went in their game, uneasily looking towards the press box where reporters were watching pictures from Bruges. Cheer followed cheer among the Spanish reporters and the Norwegian players knew they were out. They trudged sadly down the tunnel and the supporters literally changed their tune, from lively chants to a painful and heartfelt dirge for their team. "No matter what I say I’m crushed," said coach Nils Johan Semb.

TEACHER'S NOTE Obviously, this week’s lesson is designed to take advantage of the current excitement over the Euro 2000 football championship. It will also give your students a good background for the types of stories they will see in the Bangkok Post over the next few days as the tournament draws to its exciting conclusion. Thus, you might want to encourage them to read about the championship game in English as well as in Thai. This lesson was also designed to show teachers how to make a useful lesson from a major news event. The key here is to organise the lesson in an interesting way. For sports events, focusing on contrasting emotions is an obvious choice since it creates interest for non-sports fans too. The lesson is mainly for fun, but the exercise at the end will help your students build their vocabulary. Next week: Students from Bangkok Christian College take over for a lesson based on real.time Go back to the top