World Cup

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Considering England's recent trend of losing/struggling against teams that they should easily beat like Northern Ireland and azerbijhan I'm taking nothing for granted at the group stage.

[Fandango 1,439]

It's coming home, It's coming home, it's coming, football's coming home....

[I'm Gone 60]

Here's the release they sent out - sounds like full coverage:

ESPN Nets to Carry All World Cup in HD

Though I would add that ESPN commentary is terrible, so I would recommend putting the BBC radio commenterary on over the internet and putting the TV on mute

Are talking about Tommy Smyth and the other guy (Derek ?) that have been doing the Champions League matches? What's so bad about them?

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

No -- they're okay. I watched one of the friendlys (was it USA/Germany? can't remember) and there was some american guy who was pretty terrible. The commentary for Euro '96 and World Cup '94 (admittedly years ago) was so bad I almost threw my tv out the window.

[springrobin 0]

Here's the release they sent out - sounds like full coverage:

ESPN Nets to Carry All World Cup in HD

John Consoli

MARCH 15, 2006 -

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports will televise a total of 64 FIFA World Cup Soccer matches between June 9 and July 9 from Germany. ESPN2 will carry 31 matches, ESPN will run 21 and ABC will broadcast 12, including the title match on July 9 at 1:30 p.m.

The networks will not air commercials during the two 45-minute halves. Commercials will air during the pre-game, halftime, and post-game segments. The games will feature a continuous score and clock.

For the first time, all 64 games will be available in high definition on ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ABC HD; all the studio shows will also be telecast in HD.

Standalone studio editions of World Cup Live news, analysis and highlights will air between midnight and 2 a.m. on ESPN and ESPN2.

Though I would add that ESPN commentary is terrible, so I would recommend putting the BBC radio commenterary on over the internet and putting the TV on mute

That's great to know. My husband and I can't wait to watch! The last time the World Cup came around, ESPN had the scrolling bar at the bottom telling me baseball scores and covering the action.

As for the commentators, here is a petition. I don't know if it will make a difference, but some of the comments are funny.

World Cup Announcer Petition

[munchkins 0]

That means weeks of just football, OH NO!!!

[sukie175 0]

My mum will be here until June 24 and loves it too, so I will have a Footy buddy to watch with

[Rocio 0]

ESPN apparently have full rights

Unfortunately though, ESPN will probably not provide "full" coverage. We're not into soccer enough over here.

Edited April 14, 2006 by Rocio

[NeonExile 0]

Regarding the commentary, as long as neither David Pleat nor John Gregory are involved, I'll be happy. These guys are killing me almost every time I watch a Premiership game on FSC. Pleat just talks about irrelevant, random things that make very little sense, and if Gregory makes that joke about Arjen Robben having rollerskates on one more time, I'm going to smash my TV.

Ahem. Slight digression. I'm looking forward to the world cup. I've watched a couple of Champion's League games on ESPN2, and the commentary has seemed okay. Are those the guys we're talking about?