All 32 Games Will Be Televised

Over the past few years, John Paul Dellacamera and Rob Stone have become virtually synonymous with women’s soccer in the United States, the former as a play-by-play announcer and the latter as a feature specialist who anchors Worldwide Soccer.

Things will be no different in the World Cup.

All 32 games will be shown on television--either live or on tape delay, by ABC, ESPN and ESPN2--and Dellacamera and Stone will be at the forefront of the coverage.

The games will be uninterrupted by commercials during each 45-minute half.

Most viewers, of course, will be focusing their attention on the United States team as it tries to recapture the world championship it won eight years ago. Two of the players from that 1991 side, forward Wendy Gebauer and goalkeeper Amy Allman, are part of the broadcast team.

The pair will do game analysis on at least 18 of the 32 World Cup matches.

In addition to Dellacamera, play-by-play will be handled by Bob Ley, Derek Rae and Holly Rowe. Additional analysts are Seamus Malin and former U.S. men’s national team player Ty Keough. ESPN Sportscenter’s Chris McKendry will file reports on the U.S. team throughout the three-week tournament and also will serve as a sideline reporter at all U.S. games.

Dellacamera, who said he has covered “pretty much all the U.S. games, or at least the ones that have aired on ESPN” since 1994, said it has been one of his most enjoyable broadcasting experiences.

‘The exciting part of the U.S. women’s game is the way they attack,” he said. “We’ve been spoiled by the success of this women’s team. It’s a real pleasure to call their games.”

In fact, the women’s game as whole is more appealing, Dellacamera claimed.

“It’s more of a pure game,” he said. “There are fewer stoppages for fouls. There’s less of pulling of jerseys, less acting, less diving and that sort of thing. It’s a purer game from that standpoint, especially the way the U.S. plays, with ball possession and stretching the defense. It’s a pretty game to watch as a fan or as an announcer.”

Best of all, access to the American players and their response to coverage has been tremendous.

“They’re super, they’re very cooperative,” he said. “Since 1991, a lot of things have changed. It’s heavily commercialized and these people have a lot of demands on their time. And still they’re very pleasant all the time to deal with and I think they respect what we do just like we respect what they do.”