The 2026 World Cup is here.

Your colleagues are talking about it. And whether you love football, or genuinely couldn’t care less (= don’t care at all) — you still have to make small talk.

Before meetings, on Slack, during coffee breaks.

You don’t need to be a football expert to join the conversation. You just need a few useful phrases.

Here are 12 English small talk phrases that will get you through World Cup discussions at work.

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1. What time is kickoff?

Kickoff means the start of the match.

You can ask:

Is Mexico playing South Africa today? What time is kickoff?

Or say:

Kickoff is at 8 PM.
The match kicks off at 9.
The World Cup kicks off next week.

This phrase is extra useful because we also use kick off at work.

For example:

We’re kicking off the project on Monday.
Let’s kick off the meeting with a quick update.

So whether you’re talking about football or work, kick off means to start.

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2. Who are you supporting?

One of the easiest small-talk questions during the World Cup is:

Who are you supporting?

This means:

Which team do you want to win?

You can also say:

Who are you rooting for?

This is especially common in American English.

For example:

Who are you rooting for in the World Cup?
Are you supporting anyone this year?

You can answer:

I’m rooting for Argentina.
I don’t really have a favorite, but I’m rooting for the underdogs.
I’m just hoping for a good match.

That last one is perfect if you don’t have a strong opinion.

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3. I’m rooting for the underdog

An underdog is the team that people do not expect to win.

Maybe they’re smaller, less famous, or playing against a much stronger team.

For example:

They’re the underdogs, but they’ve been playing really well.

This is a great phrase for small talk because many people enjoy supporting the team that nobody expected to succeed.

You can say:

I think Croatia is the underdog this year. I’ll be supporting them.
Everyone loves a good underdog story.

You can also use underdog outside football.

For example:

Our startup was the underdog, but we still won the contract.

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4. What a goal!

When someone scores an amazing goal, the simplest natural reaction is:

What a goal!

You can also say:

That was incredible.
What a finish!
That was a great moment.

These phrases are more general and easier to use if you’re not super comfortable with football vocabulary.

For example:

Did you see that goal last night? What a finish.
That was incredible. I didn’t expect that at all.

Instead of saying:

The goal was very good.

You can sound much more natural by saying:

What a goal!

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5. That was a great chance

Sometimes a player has a good chance to score but misses.

A common football phrase is:

He should’ve scored.

For example:

He was right in front of the goal. He should’ve scored.

A more general phrase you can use is:

That was a great chance.

For example:

That was a great chance. I can’t believe they missed it.

You may also hear:

How did he miss that?

This is casual and emotional. It means the chance looked very easy.

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6. That was a bad call

Sometimes people disagree with the referee.

A useful, more neutral phrase is:

That was a bad call.

A call means a decision.

For example:

I don’t think that was a penalty. Bad call.
That was a bad call from the referee.

You might also hear fans say:

We were robbed.

This means they think the result was unfair.

For example:

That penalty was never a penalty. We were robbed.

This phrase is more emotional and fan-like, so use it when the conversation is casual.

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7. That game was a bit slow

Not every match is exciting.

Instead of using very specific football expressions, you can say:

That game was a bit slow.
Not much happened in the second half.
It wasn’t the most exciting match.
That was a bit of a snoozefest.

A snoozefest is something very boring. It’s casual and slightly funny.

For example:

I watched the match yesterday. Honestly, it was a bit of a snoozefest.

You may also hear the football phrase:

They parked the bus.

This means a team defended very deeply and focused mostly on protecting the score.

For example:

They scored early and then parked the bus.

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8. That was a nail-biter

A nail-biter is a very tense, exciting match where you don’t know what will happen until the end.

For example:

That match was a real nail-biter.
The last ten minutes were a nail-biter.

You can also say:

I was on the edge of my seat.

This means the match was so exciting or stressful that you couldn’t relax.

For example:

I was on the edge of my seat near the end.

These phrases are useful outside football too.

For example:

That product demo was a nail-biter, but everything worked in the end.

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9. What’s your prediction?

A prediction is what you think will happen in the future.

This is one of the easiest ways to start football small talk because you don’t need deep football knowledge. You’re just asking for someone’s opinion.

You can ask:

What’s your prediction for the World Cup? Who do you think will win?

Do you think the US will make it out of the group?

Who do you think will make it to the semi-finals?

You can answer:

I think it’ll be close.
I think they’ll win 2–1.
I’m not sure, but I think they have a decent chance.

This is useful if you want to keep the conversation light and friendly.

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10. What a comeback

A comeback is when a team is losing but manages to return and maybe even win.

For example:

They were 2–0 down, but they came back and won 3–2.

Comeback is also useful in everyday professional English.

For example:

After a difficult year, the company made a strong comeback.
The product had a slow start, but it made a comeback after the redesign.

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11. They couldn’t handle the pressure

In football, you may hear the phrase:

They bottled it.

This is informal. It means the team failed because of pressure.

For example:

They had a chance to win the group, but they bottled it.

A more general version is:

They couldn’t handle the pressure.

For example:

They were winning, but they couldn’t handle the pressure at the end.

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12. I’m not really into football, but…

You can still join football small talk even if you’re not a big fan.

Try these phrases:

I’m not really into football, so I don’t plan on watching the World Cup.
I’m more of a casual fan, but I’ll probably watch some of the World Cup.
I didn’t watch the full match, but I saw the result.
I’m not following every game, but I like the atmosphere around the World Cup.

These phrases help you participate without pretending to be an expert.

And that is important in professional small talk.

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A few phrases to keep handy

You don’t need all 12 at once. These five will get you through most conversations:

• What’s your prediction?
• Do you plan on watching the final?
• How is your national team doing?
• I’m rooting for the underdog.
• That was a crazy game last night.

That is enough to join the conversation and sound more natural in English at work.

And if you want to feel that confident not just in small talk, but also in meetings, emails, interviews, and team discussions, check out our English For Tech course, built specifically for tech professionals like you.

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