Cup Will Be Tough to Miss
On one continent, U.S. national team Coach Bruce Arena sizes up his options for the 2006 World Cup, which begins Friday in Germany.
On another, soccer fans living in the U.S. size up their options for following the 64-game tournament, which is something of a news bulletin.
This World Cup, soccer fans actually have choices.
ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will be airing all 64 games live, starting with Friday’s opener between host Germany and Costa Rica on ESPN2 at 8:55 a.m. PDT. ABC will televise 12 games, including the June 17 match between the U.S. and Italy, and the July 9 tournament final. ESPN will air 21 games, including the June 22 U.S.-Ghana match, and ESPN2 will cover 31 games, including the Americans’ June 12 opener against the Czech Republic.
ABC/ESPN’s lead broadcast team will be play-by-play commentator Dave O’Brien, a baseball announcer cutting his teeth on the biggest soccer event in the world, and analyst Marcelo Balboa, a veteran of three World Cups as a player for Team USA. O’Brien and Balboa will work all three U.S. first-round games.
Other broadcast teams are JP Dellacamera-John Harkes, Rob Stone-Robin Fraser, Glenn Davis-Shep Messing and Adrian Healey-Tommy Smyth.
Fans not thrilled with the ABC/ESPN lineup can follow the tournament on Spanish-language networks Univision and TeleFutura. Univision is televising 56 games, TeleFutura eight.
Or fans can listen to the live action on radio. XM Satellite Radio will provide 24-hour coverage for 31 days on two channels, English-language 148 and Spanish-language 147. Channel 148, with play-by-play commentators Dave Johnson and Phil Schoen and analysts Jeff Agoos and Thomas Dooley, will carry 56 live matches. Andres Cantor will be the commentator on Channel 147, which will air 50 live matches.
Additionally, XM will broadcast pregame and call-in shows, interviews and special World Cup-related programming throughout the tournament.
Other alternatives include German commentary provided by Setanta Sports, available on DirecTV; French commentary on TV5Monde, available via Comcast Cable; Farsi commentary on Tapesh TV, available on Globecast satellite television; and Korean commentary on KBS World, available on the Dish Network.
Fans can also follow the World Cup on the Internet. ESPN’s broadband service ESPN 360 will air simulcasts of all 52 games broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2.
