Hello, everybody. How are you today?
I am so excited.
I have a ticket to the Football Association Cup final!
The FA Cup is a football tournament
played between teams in the English league system.
It's a very old tournament.
It first took place in 1871,
more than 150 years ago. -"Wow!"
There are two teams playing in the final today.
One of them is Chelsea, a club from London.
And the other one is Nottingham Forest,
my team!
Hurray!
Nottingham is a small city.
You may have heard about it because of Robin Hood.
Robin Hood was a hero, an outlaw who helped the poorest people
in Sherwood, a forest near Nottingham.
Robin Hood was a great archer.
I'm a big fan of Nottingham Forest, the footbal team,
and this year we have qualified for the FA Cup final!
The final always takes place in Wembley Stadium.
Wembley Stadium is the largest stadium in the United Kingdom.
Do you like football?
Do you want to learn about English football?
That's what we call the ball.
Footballs used to be made of leather from cows,
but now they're made from synthetic materials.
In every team, you have a goalkeeper.
They are the only player who can use their hands in the area.
That's my favourite position.
Then, you have the defenders.
The central defenders and the fullbacks.
The central defenders play in the middle,
and the fullbacks play at the sides.
The midfielders are very important and they play
in the middle of the field.
One or two are wingers and they play on the side of the attack,
and try and dribble the ball past their opponents.
Dribbling means getting the ball past opponents to pass it or shoot.
Finally, we have the strikers.
The strikers try and score as many goals as possible.
If a striker scores three goals or more,
it's called a hat-trick.
It's called a hat-trick because, long ago,
the first player to score three goals
was presented with a hat.
Now, you get to keep the ball and take it home.
(Phone ringing)
And what's the most important thing to do when you play football?
Is it run fast, jump high or score goals?
Of course!
In football, it's really important to score goals.
Do you like it when your team scores a goal?
I'm sure you do.
And, did you know? When you shout "gol!",
That word comes from the English word "goal".
Anyway, I have to go now.
The football match of the FA Cup final is about to start!
And I'm going to support my team with my friends and family.
We're going to shout and sing a lot.
We did it! Look, I can't believe it!
Nottingham Forest beat Chelsea two-one
in the FA Cup final!
It was so exciting!
So we learnt a lot about football today.
About the football players: the strikers, the defenders,
the goalkeepers; we learnt what a hat-trick was
and what a football is made of.
And now I have to go:
i'm going to celebrate with my friends and family.
Good-bye, everybody!