We recently got a taste of World Cup action just up the street from the English, baby! office in Portland. The US Women’s National Team took on the Canadians, and two of the athletes were happy to teach some new vocabulary to our members around the world.

Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc talked about the number one term every goalie must know, “save”. She was tons of fun. We grabbed her right after she said hello to ESPN broadcaster and women’s soccer legend Julie Foudy (pictured above).

There were a few hundred fans there to watch the teams practice. Just before signing some autographs, US defender Ali Krieger gave us an interview. Since she’s such a smart player and a leader, we had her teach the more abstract term “distribution.” She also happened to use the phrase “sink or swim,” so we turned that into a second video.

We also recently featured a pair of lessons by the only Japanese player in MLS, Kosuke Kimura. He talks about last year’s MLS Cup in which his Colorado Rapids pulled off a come from behind victory, and he demonstrates how to “cut the angle” in a hotel lobby. This easy going attitude has made Kosuke a fan favorite, so it’s no surprise that these videos were covered by soccer blogs including Soccer 365 and Burgundy Wave.

You can find more soccer slang lessons on English, baby! See you next season.

Aurelien Collin is one of those people you meet and instantly wish was your good friend. He is so fun and energetic and you don’t even have to talk to him to see it–you can tell by the way he plays.

Even at training, Collin is a physical player, making plays for the ball, shouting and waving his arms. When he’s on the pitch representing Sporting Kansas City, he’s an animal–no one can miss this French star.

Naturally, we asked him to teach some fairly active terms when he agreed to be our latest celebrity English teacher. We started off with challenge because I had heard that Collin only had a couple of weeks to get ready for the season after joining his new team in KC. That sounded like a challenge to me. Of course, Collin said it wasn’t a challenge at all, but we talked about other types of challenges.

Next, we asked Collin to explain tackle.

Watching Collin speak English is kind of like watching him stop a striker. He has to get creative and he tackles the problem with confidence. MLS and Sporting KC are lucky to have this guy and so are we!

Soccer is getting more popular in the US every year. Here in Portland, we have a Major League Soccer team for the first time: Timbers FC. The team is very popular, and whenever I tell fans that our latest celebrity English teacher is Futty Danso, they get really excited.

From his energy on the pitch, to the way he celebrates after scoring a goal, you can tell Futty is a great guy. Even though one of his teammates had just been carted away holding his ankle on the day we met with Futty at training, he was happy to talk to us. John Strong was there covering the training for 95.5 The Game, and he suggested we have Futty talk about the term “shape,” so that’s what we went with for our first lesson with him.

After we talked to him, Futty agreed to let me throw some balls at him to demonstrate different traps for another lesson.

If you’d like to learn more about Futty, take a look at this fascinating interview with him about his childhood and Gambian soccer.

This Friday, we are featuring our first English lesson with a professional soccer player! We were thrilled to learn we would have French player Sebastien Le Toux on the site, especially after learning how thrilled he is to be playing in the US. Take a peak at our lesson on “flick” with Sebastien Le Toux of Sounders FC.

I talked to Sebastien on the phone for a few minutes the day before I went up to the Sounders’ practice field in Tukwila, Washington. We discussed what slang term would be good for him to teach. I asked him if he uses any slang phrases frequently and he said he might, but he might not know they are slang! I hadn’t thought of that.

His teammates couldn’t think of any idioms he uses often, so I looked at a list of soccer slang and chose “flick” because it’s slang outside of soccer as well. Plus, a short high kick was something Sebastien could demonstrate easily. He was more than happy to demonstrate how it can be an effective way to pass a defender by kicking a ball over my head!

Needless to say, the interview was a lot of fun. It was wild seeing part of the Sounders practice as well. I wound up catching a header drill where each player took turns trying to score on the keeper with their heads.

Here’s a shot of Sounders practice. Sebastien (who is called “Seba” by his teammates) is in the long shorts and blue shirt.

The Sounders will finish a successful season at home against FC Dallas on Saturday and then head to the MLS playoffs!