Shadowing Practice: Everything Wrong With The 2026 World Cup - Learn English Speaking with Video

Les maken...
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Here in the UK, as in many countries around the world, this particularly warm summer will be dominated by the World Cup.
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People will be drinking in beer gardens, getting slightly sunburned, watching Kane and Saka take England to the World Cup final, securing England their second star on their shirt.
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At least, that's the hope.
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However, put the actual football to one side, and the sheen on this World Cup starts to come off remarkably quickly.
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Before the tournament even started, there were questions about the decision to award the World Cup to the US, Canada and Mexico in the first place.
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We've seen one of the host countries, the US, headed by FIFA Peace Prize winner Donald Trump, one of the participants, Iran,
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and we've seen FIFA themselves make an absolute killing, with some tickets to the final being sold for just shy of $11 ,000.
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So in this video, we're going to have a look into this World Cup
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and go through some of the main serious criticisms being levelled against both FIFA and the host nations.
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Music Trump's war in Iran is just one of many instances of Trump's military action spreading around the world.
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In the latest issue of our magazine, we run through a timeline of all of Trump's strikes and interventions, from Somalia to the Pacific to Nigeria.
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That's just some of 80 pages in the magazine, because there's more in too long than you'd expect.
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Purchase your copy by clicking the link in the description.
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Now, let's just start with a quick caveat.
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We're not a sports channel.
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As such, we're going to focus on the politics of the tournament and won't be discussing, more than in passing, the criticisms made of the hydration breaks, the half -time show, or anything like that.
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Anyway, it's probably good to start by explaining exactly how the US, Mexico and Canada were awarded this tournament in the first place.
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back in 2010, when the US put forward their bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
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Many involved in the bid were certain of its success.
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They'd spent two years preparing the bid.
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They had already shown that they had the infrastructure to host the tournament back in 1994, and high -profile politicians, including Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and Barack Obama,
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were involved in various stages of the process.
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The only main rival bid was Qatar, a country without Celsius.
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In a shock move though, the FIFA Executive Committee, a shady group of 24 individuals representing continental federations,
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voted 14 -8 to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
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It turned out that Qatar had been bribing members of the executive committee, sometimes to the tune of millions of dollars.
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As a result of this, over the next few years, FIFA began to try and fix some of its working practices to stop something like this from being able to happen again.
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In 2015, it was decided that the host of the next World Cup after Qatar,
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the 2026 World Cup, would be selected by a FIFA council comprising all 211 member nations.
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a Swiss -Italian lawyer backed by the Americans from the second round of voting onwards, won the election to replace Sepp Blatter as head of FIFA.
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One of the first things Infantino did was to convince the
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FIFA Council to block any bids for the 2026 World Cup by countries in Europe or Asia,
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as the 2018 World Cup was hosted in Russia and the 2022 World Cup was hosted in Qatar.
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With so many countries excluded from hosting, this tilted the balance in the US's favour.
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Nonetheless, even with this, the US wasn't taking any chances, and realised that a joint bid with Mexico and Canada would help their chances of success.
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Canada and Mexico would help the US's reputation, and the US would help them overcome any concerns about lack of infrastructure for the tournament.
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In the end, the United bid, as it was known, won 135 votes.
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The only other bid was Morocco, which received 65 votes.
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With the 2026 World Cup being the first overseen by Infantino, and with this being the first World Cup not to be associated with the corruption that came before him,
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there was a hope that this year's tournament would help to rehabilitate FIFA's image.
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The expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams was supposed to make the tournament more inclusive.
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However, things began to take a turn in the run up to the tournament.
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Since his re -election, Trump has repeatedly mocked Canada, referring to it as the 51st state, and at times even going as far as suggesting that the US could annex it.
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This strained relations between the hosts and undermined the inclusivity of the tournament itself.
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Despite this, Infantino continued to cozy up to Trump and in December 2025 awarded him the newly created FIFA Peace Prize.
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Mere weeks later, the US kidnapped the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, and then started its war against Iran.
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This undermined Infantino and raised interesting questions about how the US might approach hosting Iran in the tournament.
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In the end, the US allowed the Iranian team to enter the US for 24 hours on the day of their matches, although there are reports that this has been extended to two days.
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In the intervening period, they are required to train at their base in Mexico.
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The thing is, it's not just Iran that's been subject to restrictions from the US.
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There have been multiple reports of excessive security checks being used against teams and players.
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The Uzbekistan players, for instance, were subjected to drug sniffer dogs and metal detectors when they first arrived at their training venue in New York.
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Additionally, we saw a referee from Somalia, Omar Artan, denied entry to the US despite holding a diplomatic for 11 hours.
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On top of this, we've seen fans have their US travel permits revoked days before heading to the tournament, despite previously being approved.
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With flights, accommodation and match tickets paid for, this decision meant that fans not only lost out on seeing their team in the World Cup, but also lost them significant sums of money.
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And while we're on the topic of money, as a result of FIFA introducing new dynamic pricing for tickets, we saw tickets sell for absurd sums.
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As we said in the intro, some tickets to the final were being sold for $11 ,000.
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This has contributed, alongside the sale of TV rights and sponsorship, to FIFA making an absolute killing.
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It's expected this World Cup will net them at $9 billion, more than double the revenue of the last Olympics.
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Additionally, the four -year revenue cycle from the last World Cup
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to the end of the World Cup this year is expected
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to be 73 % higher than the four -year revenue cycle between 2018 and 2022.
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In other words, while fans are losing out, FIFA is winning.
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It's also worth finishing by quickly acknowledging the environmental impact of this tournament.
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This is the first World Cup to be hosted by three separate nations, which necessitates significantly more air travel than previous tournaments.
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According to Reuters, as a result of this, the climate cost for this tournament will be double that of Qatar in 2022.
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With hotter summers already making it harder for players, to host in the future.
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The latest issue of our magazine is out now, and if you want our best value ever,
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subscribing and using code SUMMER26 gets you your first copy for as cheap as £4 .99, as well as 20 % off as long as you stay subscribed.
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I told you about one of the articles at the start of this video, but this issue is truly jam -packed with content from all around the world.
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Obviously, the headline section is our rundown of Trump's wars around the world, discussing all of the wrath,
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going nation by nation through the timeline, and reaching the ultimate question, has Trump created the modern holy war?
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From there we dive into our regional sections, starting with the UK, where we unpack the results of the recent elections, take a look at the UK's odd foreign posture,
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and discuss if Britain has become ungovernable.
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Then in the EU section we discuss how Russia's sphere of influence is fading, why Europe's energy transition isn't what you expect,
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as well as looking at the Euro's missing In the global section, we discuss if we're seeing echoes of the First World War,
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what's next for Iran, as well as what really came from the Gen Z protests we saw emerging last year.
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That's not even everything.
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With this 80 -page issue, our joint longest ever, there's even more to read than I've even been able to mention here.
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So click the link in the description to learn more and grab your copy today.

Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Everything Wrong With The 2026 World Cup”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: Cup, tournament, Fifa, bid, host. Deze video bevat 80 zinnen en 1450 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 8:23. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 173 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. 86% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:

WoordUitspraakBetekenis
undermine werkwoord/ˌʌn.dɚˈmaɪn/ondermijnen, ontwrichten
subscribe werkwoord/səbˈskɹaɪb/abonneren
timeline zelfstandig naamwoord/ˈtaɪmˌlaɪn/tijdlijn
caveat zelfstandig naamwoord/ˈkæviɑt/waarschuwing
hydration zelfstandig naamwoord/haɪˈdɹeɪʃən/hydratatie
kidnap werkwoord/ˈkɪdnæp/ontvoeren, kidnappen
necessitate werkwoord/nəˈsɛsəˌteɪt/noodzaken, noodzakelijk maken
onward bijwoord/ˈɒnwəd/vooruit
revoke werkwoord/ɹɪˈvoʊk/intrekken, herroepen
ungovernable bijvoeglijk naamwoordonbestuurbaar
bribe zelfstandig naamwoord/bɹaɪb/steekpenning, smeergeld
annex zelfstandig naamwoord/əˈnɛks/bijlage
oversee werkwoord/ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/overzien, overschouwen
comprise werkwoord/kəmˈpɹaɪz/bevatten, omvatten
intervene werkwoord/ˌɪntəˈviːn/ingrijpen, interveniëren

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

WoordBetekenis
turn out werkwoorduitvallen, resulteren

Grammatica in deze video

De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:

StructuurIn de video
Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doetwill be dominated · being sold · being levelled
Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog teltWe've seen · has been extended · have been

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 14 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals we're, we've, I've. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

  • De “th”-klanken: wrath /ɹæθ/, nonetheless /ˌnʌnðəˈlɛs/
  • De klanken “sh” en “zh”: hydration /haɪˈdɹeɪʃən/, shady /ˈʃeɪdi/, restriction /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/, accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/, politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/
  • Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: inclusivity /ˌɪŋkluːˈsɪvɪti/, necessitate /nəˈsɛsəˌteɪt/, rehabilitate /ɹiː(h)əˈbɪlɪteɪt/, remarkably /ɹɪˈmɑɹkəbli/, participant /pɑːɹˈtɪsəpənt/

Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:

  • Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: subscribe /səbˈskɹaɪb/, onward /ˈɒnwəd/, bribe /bɹaɪb/, comprise /kəmˈpɹaɪz/, exclude /ɪksˈkluːd/
  • /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: caveat /ˈkæviɑt/, kidnap /ˈkɪdnæp/, unpack /ʌnˈpæk/, wrath /ɹæθ/, diplomatic /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk/

Zo oefen je met deze video

  1. Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
  2. Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
  3. Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als undermine, subscribe, timeline.

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →