English Collocations in Use (Advanced) Unit 27 Sports

When Paul decided to take ... the challenge of doing extreme sports, he quickly acquired a taste ... rock-climbing.

The forwards of the national football team ... a blinder even though the defence wasn't so strong.

After one of their players got hurt by the opponent, Malaysia ... a penalty.

When the match begins, the players ... to stand for the national anthem.

Although Rwanda ... an excellent performance throughout the qualifiers, it came fourth and could not qualify for the World Cup.

1. On the last match day of the qualifiers, Kowalski [blank_start]secured[blank_end] a convincing victory for Poland. 2. The semi-final [blank_start]stood[blank_end] at 3-0 when the players went on a half time break. 3. Peterson [blank_start]scored[blank_end] an own goal in the 48th minute which struck everyone in the defence. 4. However hard he tried and [blank_start]summoned[blank_end] up the energy to go to the gym every other day, he failed after two weeks. 5. As soon as I [blank_start]got[blank_end] the hang of it, baseball seemed a pretty enjoyable sport to me. 6. Many people were dreaming of becoming captain so Thierry [blank_start]jumped[blank_end] at the chance and accepted when he was offered the title. 7. The Wilkins brothers couldn't be defeated even if all the world's best boxers [blank_start]pushed[blank_end] themselves to the limits. 8. I [blank_start]had[blank_end] a whale of time when I was on holiday for two weeks, but now it's time I got back to work again. 9. The noises from the stadium sounded as if the crowd [blank_start]went[blank_end] wild after each and every goal scored. 10. In the second half, it was high time the Brazilian team [blank_start]broke[blank_end] through the Panamanian defence.

Which of the following verbs collocate with 'penalty'?

Is 'have a whale of time' a positive or a negative feeling?

When I push myself to the limits, I'm almost giving up because I have tried so hard.

A match normally ends with the players taking the field.

The water polo match last weekend was hilarious. Although there was [blank_start]precious[blank_end] little change of my favourite Croatian team to win the tournament, we fans out there were all pushing ourselves to the [blank_start]limits[blank_end] to cheer for them as much as we could. We were truly having a [blank_start]whale[blank_end] of time until one of hour players got hurt. Although the team was [blank_start]awarded[blank_end] a penalty, he couldn't recover and the team had to continue with a smaller number of players, but still managed to [blank_start]put[blank_end] up a determined performance. Sitting in the crowd reaching [blank_start]fever[blank_end] pitch every time they scored was an amazing feeling, but all of us went completely [blank_start]wild[blank_end] when our player Rokovicz scored an [blank_start]own[blank_end] goal. We'd all forgiven him, however, the opponent team jumped at the [blank_start]chance[blank_end] and quickly broke [blank_start]through[blank_end] our defence in the last minutes.

I find it extremely difficult to ... my balance between sports and my job.

The referee decided on giving three free ... to the Albanian team.

With amazing offensive strategy, the team secured a ... victory for their country.

What can you see in the following picture?

This crowd is ... .

This person is incapable of ... up the energy to keep working.

The score at 9:10 is ... at 10-6.

I had never [blank_start]done[blank_end] extreme sports before, but the moment I saw my best friend do ski-jumping, I acquired a [blank_start]taste[blank_end] for winter sports in general. This has been the third year that I've [blank_start]taken[blank_end] up the challenge of skiing, and I'm sort of getting the [blank_start]hang[blank_end] of it. My goal is to show all those former classmates of mine who were playing a [blank_start]blinder[blank_end] at school in the ice rink that I'm just as good as they are. On the plus side, I also managed to keep in [blank_start]shape[blank_end] by going to the gym outside the snowy season. Although sometimes it takes me a lot of effort to [blank_start]summon[blank_end] up the energy even to get out of bed in cold weather, I usually have a [blank_start]whale[blank_end] of time at the gym with my pals and we all encourage each other to [blank_start]push[blank_end] ourselves to the limits every time. I hope I can jump at the [blank_start]chance[blank_end] when I'm invited for my next two-week skiing holiday, there's a precious [blank_start]little[blank_end] chance that there will be no snow in the Alps this winter.