Poor Sportsmanship Leaves Door Open For Man City Soccer Victory

England loves soccer. English soccer teams play in the Premier League (PL).

Two of the biggest soccer teams in the PL are two of the bitterest rivals: Manchester City, known as “Man City” and Manchester United, known as “Man United.”

Last weekend, one of the most exciting games in the PL took place… and it came down to the final moments. It was a game that would decide who took home the cup.

If Man City won its game against the Queens Park Rangers, Man City would end up with more points than its rival, Man United. In that case, Man City would win its first PL championship in 44 years.

However, a win wouldn’t come easy.

At the end of “regulation play,” Man City was losing 2-1 to the Rangers.

If the game had stopped after regulation play, Man City would have lost. But, thanks in part to some unsportsmanlike conduct by one of the Rangers players, extra time was added on to the game; it was enough time for Man City to pull off a dramatic win.

Here’s what happened. After 90 minutes of “regulation time,” soccer games usually go into “stoppage time.” Stoppage time is time that’s added to a soccer game, to make up for lost time. Lost time is time that has been wasted during the game for things like substitutions, goal celebrations, injuries, fan horseplay or players fighting. The referees decide if, and how much, stoppage time will be added to a game.

In this case, Joey Barton (who used to play for Man City but now plays for the Rangers), elbowed an opponent and was thrown out of the game. He wasn’t happy about that, and took longer than normal to leave the field.

Because of that, the referees added five minutes to the game.

Thanks to Barton, Man City not only ended up playing a Rangers team with only 10 players instead of the usual 11, but they had five extra minutes to try to pull off a win.

And Man City made the most of those five minutes. Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero wrote themselves into club history with one goal each, to cement an exhilarating 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Rangers.

In one of the most exciting finishes ever, Man City snatched its first title in 44 years.

The soccer-mad city of Manchester can boast its greatness by having two excellent soccer teams. On Sunday, though, it was the Man City players and fans who were the loudest and proudest of all.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
Joey Barton is the captain of the Queens Park Rangers, and its highest paid player. He makes more than $120,000… not a year, a week. Because he elbowed someone in Sunday’s game, Barton will have to sit out at least the next 10 games the Rangers play. It’s not the first time this soccer player’s poor behaviour has been an issue, on and off the field. With this in mind, do you think this punishment was reasonable?

Do you think poor behaviour is accepted in many sports? Why or why not?

Reading Prompt: Reading Fluently
One key skill in reading is the ability to read fluently. This means that we can read with the appropriate expression, speed and phrasing.

Practice reading this article aloud to a classmate or friend. Make sure to add drama and excitement in your voice when telling this story.

Primary
Read appropriate texts at a sufficient rate and with sufficient expression to convey the sense of the text readily to the reader and an audience (OME, Reading: 3.3).

Junior
Read appropriate texts with expression and confidence, adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose (OME, Reading: 3.3).

Intermediate
Read appropriate texts with expression and confidence, adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose (OME, Reading: 3.3).

Grammar Feature: British vs. North American words
Many of the words and terms in this article were originally British, but have been changed to North American vocabulary. For example, the word “soccer” is used instead of “football”.

Try to fill in the chart, guessing what each British word means.