FOOTBALL AND THE WORLD CUP

This text is about one of the most popular sports in the world: football. It is played in almost every country and has gained popularity in the United States recently, where people call soccer (football is a different sport there)

But how did football ________ ?

It is not known for sure how football began. Many people believe that the first games were played in China and Japan over 1,000 years ago. The game that we know today probably started in England. Many of the earliest football matches were very violent and because of this, the British royalty tried to ban the sport. However, they were not successful.

In 1857, the first football team was created in Sheffield, England. In 1863, eleven English teams met to form the first Football Association. In 1904, a world association was created: FIFA, which stands for “Fédération Internationale de Football Association”. Twenty-six years later, in 1930, Uruguay hosted the first World Cup.

The World Cup is football’s biggest tournament and it takes place every four years in a different country and is watched on television and in stadiums by millions of people all over the world.

In the World Cup, thirty-two teams from different countries compete to try to win the championship. In the first competition, in 1930, only thirteen teams played. The winner of the first World Cup was the host country. The second World Cup was in Italy and the third one in France. Because of the war, after the games in France, the World Cup was not played again _______ 1950, this time in Brazil.

The 2002 World Cup was special. It was the first time the games were played in Asia. It was also the first time that two countries, Japan and Korea, hosted the World Cup together.

In 2014 Brazil is the host country for the second time. A total of 64 matches will be played in twelve cities across Brazil and for the first time a goal-line technology will be used.

                                                     

1. Which sentence is incorrect according to the text?

a) The sport that the English call football the Americans call soccer.

b) The first World Cup had fewer teams than the following ones.

c) The winner of the first World Cup was Uruguay.

d) The World Cup in 1934 was in South America.

e) The 2002 World was different from the previous competitions.

              

2. The third World Cup was in _______ .

a) 1950

b) 1954

c) 1938

d) 2002

e) 1946

3. The first gap in the text must be completed with __________ .

a) began

b) begin

c) begun

d) beginning

e) will begin

4. The second gap in the text must be completed with __________ .

a) during

b) to

c) by

d) in

e) until

5. The sentence: “The World Cup is watched by millions of people around the world” is in the Passive Voice. The same sentence, in the Active Voice is:

a) Millions of people around the world watched the World Cup.

b) The World Cup was watched by millions of people around the world.

c) Millions of people around the world watch the World Cup.

d) Millions of people are watched the World Cup around the world.

e) Millions of people around the world are watching the World Cup.

6. The word “later”, in the sentence “Twenty-six years later, in 1930, Uruguay hosted the first World Cup competition”, is the same as:

a) after that                                                               

d) before that

b) while                                                                     

e) sooner

c) earlier