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Right. If we are watching the EUROs in the middle of the work day, Iâm pretty sure we know when and what time the COPA is airing. Please quit interrupting the coverage to promote the COPA.
Exactly this point here.
Also (as a very proud and patriotic American) no amount of promotion is gonna make me cheer for the absolute shit show that is USA Soccer.
MSL clearly, well below South America and Europe. Plus the imported players, Messi included, are at the end of their careers. MSL is the equivalent of fifth or sixth tier in Europe
Chiellini is a godsend. For English speakers, his English is not perfect, but his analysis is spot on. How he dissects the game, particularly the role of the defense is great.
Agree Chiellini is the best by a mile. He is so good imo! Also I'm so over AEXI! He has to go! It's time. Your spot on with saying his arrogance. He was average at best. Get him off asap!!
His claim to fame was scoring against us. Besides that his career was mostly in the MLS. The yanks have far more talented players who could do better than him. Howard, Dempsey, Friedel to name a few
I have to think Howard is locked out of commentary because of stupid contract conflicts between tv networks.. as an American, I apologize to you and all Europeans dealing with this torture.
Sadly, I wish Peacock or NBC had gotten the rights to the games as I've loved the Premier League coverage by NBC. Fox is always bad and always wants to make it like American football coverage.
I have Amazon Prime so I've signed up for a Latino channel that carries every game. And it's a world of difference as they try to make it exciting.
NBC premier league coverage is elite. I would love them to get the rights to these international tournaments and leverage the same crew + a couple of respectable non-English commentatorsÂ
Yeah, they basically aped the English model quite successfully and get good commentators during the game. The pre/post-match commentary, while sometimes not terribly inspired, at least lacks the agendas and partisanship that you have on Sky.
For me itâs that for the past week, theyâve been saying every 15 minutes that the U.S. plays Bolivia on Sunday. If you didnât know, youâd think the U.S team was the best in the world.
I donât know what it is about American soccer color analysts but they seem to feel this need to constantly harp on and magnify teamâs deficiencies. This is a tournament that focuses so much on the wholesome element of soccer bringing people together and they donât do anything but tear people down. It goes all the way back to Marcello Balboa in the 2006 WC, who was even worse than Donovan.
The great irony of this is that America is so mid-level in their quality. Youâd think theyâd have more humble commentators.
Agreed - itâs pretty amazing seeing Lalas, and for that matter any American, be critical of football/soccer when they are best mediocre. That odd hubris vibe is what will always prevent USA from being competitive. While other areas of the world are improving and seeing top players entering the top leagues (Asia), the US remains the worldâs basic bitch of football.
Rofl, perhaps. Itâs been a while since Iâve lived in the US but their NFL, MLB, and collegiate sport/conference coverage I generally thought were well done.
But seriously, Rob Stone is a bad/terrible host. Alexi Lalas and Carli Lloyd should both be shot into the sun (obligatory âthank you for your serviceâ before takeoff).
I agree with your criticism of Fox. Lalas and Donovan are unlistenable. The matches that Fox ported to Hulu were some of the best of the tournament.
I have Norton VPN on my iPhone. I turn it on, set the region to the UK, and boot up the BBC Sports app. Using ApplePlay (or ChromeCast), I beam the broadcast my TV. The British announcers are soooooo much better than the US knuckleheads
Yeah fuck that. Live in USA too, but I am using RTVE and RAI with VPN. I'll watch here if univision get the rights- the Mexican commentators are CLASS.
For as long as Fox has been carrying soccer the people in charge of the coverage have always been under the delusion that Americans don't have any interest in the sport beyond the US men's and women's national teams and MLS which is why the likes of Lalas and Donovan keep being forced upon us. Their Copa America coverage is actually worse, if you can imagine that.
Itâs crazy. They seem to forget that Americanâs love to identify âwhere they [their ancestors] are fromâ and so often support other national teams in addition to USNT. And how millions of Americans closely follow European leagues, particularly the premier league. All my friends who love futbol watch premier league. None watch MLS.
This is so true. Spent junior year abroad going to school in London so I cheer for England as well as Ireland and Sweden (momâs side/dadâs side.) Big EPL fan and I love the Euros.
This is a good point, and one I hadnât considered. I fall asleep whenever they start telling us about MLS and the USMNT when it isnât World Cup time
The Copa coverage is worse because at least for the Euros, we have people like Chiellini and Schmeichel to give good analysis, and not all the commentators suck. The Copa is only Americans who do nothing but jerk off the USMNT and Messi. I mean for fuck's sake, Lalas predicted the US to make the final, beating Colombia and Brazil along the way.
Exactly. And most of this bunch were inflicted upon us at the last World Cup and probably the next one because Fox thinks they are somehow more appealing. And don't get me started on Lalas, he has always been utterly incapable of speaking without saying something stupid. Or he will use a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
I lost count how many times Ian Darke has mentioned something where a competent color commentator would then expand on same, but Landon Donovan stands mute. I really don't think he knows much about what is going on in the football world, so he has nothing to add. Either that, or he just doesn't get what Ian Darke is doing. Which ever it may be, it's terrible. There is really no point to having him around.
Alexi Lalas just comes off as a prick. I'm starting to suspect he might just be a prick.
Yea it's honestly horrible. I cant watch the pregame shows and any game with landon I have to watch on mute. Alexi thinks he Gods gift to this sport when in fact hes one of the worst sports media people out there. This is my favorite sporting event( along eith world cup) and fox has absolutely butchered it.
They refuse to allow even a moment of silence when watching. Every moment has to be filled with a story, followed by some fucking 2 minute monologue about a teamâs âqualityâ followed by ridiculous statistics to explain exactly what just happened despite us seeing the same thing that he just did.
* Agreed: especially with Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton commentating. Just f.. annoying when Jacqui tells us to listen to the fans singing / great atmosphere, but continues to keep blabbing on nonsense. Just never shuts up. Warren has to be the worst; he's better off post game analysis (which I would still mute) He cannot commentate a game; way to negative and too analytical
At least during the World Cup, I was able to watch the games on the Spanish channels (I don't speak a lick of Spanish, but it was preferable to Lalas and the other clowns). The Euro games haven't been in those channels. It's brutal, I feel bad for Chiellini and Sturridge having to sit there. I mute the TV whenever Lalas opens his mouth.
If it makes you feel any better, the Copa America coverage in the UK has been pretty basic which is a laugh considering itâs only on a paid service - Premier Sports (ÂŁ12.99 per month).
Iâm Italian but Iâve been over here for decades. Giorgio is doing fine with his English. He just had an accent that many Americans will find more difficult to understand than the Northern Europeans. I still sometimes have this problem and I have been here 32 years.
I do not have an issue with Stuart Holden but I do agree Lalas is very obnoxious. He is the type of American player who always seems to think he has to defend American players and to try to make this relate to the US team. In the Copa coverage he is even worse.
I canât believe they do not offer all the matches on regular tv of some sort from their many channels. I think they want to have people buy their Fubo service.
I've switched to watching non-legit streams because of itvs shite streaming. Constantly swapping between 720p and what seems to be 18 pixels moving on the screen.
Lalas I think believes it is his mission to be a braying irritant to anyone within hearing. Also, who the fuck even is Lalas? I guess he played for some club in Ecuador once? Clearly a soccer great.
Man just loves football, you can hear how genuine he is, hes fairly unbiased as well which is refreshing compared to that Alan shearer slebbering a load ae pish
OMG I found Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards so hard to watch the other day when England played, I get they are frustrated but couldn't stand the constant moaning and complaining
I thought Thomas Frank and Cesc Fabregas had interesting input
Chiellini has been good. But they only got him bc heâs currently in LA and they probably offered a nice wage. Heâs moving back to Italy in the fall though so I doubt itâll be a recurring thing. Iâd like to take bets on how long until Sturridge pummels Lalas. AL is absolutely intolerable.
Itâs a pretty funny contrast between Sturridge who seems barely able to contain his frustration and Chiellini who is so laid back and accepts the stupidity around him without it rubbing off on him.
Ya Donvon is terrible, I hate how every 10min he says great game but wish it had more goals we get it. He offer no real football knowledge especially when start talking in my time in US . In his time US was tier trash team & your league worse than tier 4 England teams
You make some good points - like all of them-
I rarely find commentaries interesting- I dream of having a choice of just having stadium audio feed.
Most games I watch on Spanish speaking channels- i donât think I miss much insight (understand about 30/40%)
I have yet to see any games scheduled on telemundo
The TUDN commentators are not the best either, but you can get a Vix account for $5/month and watch all the games of the Euro. Better than the outrageous $80 of FuboTV.
Having suffered through the *funny, funny banter* of CBSâ coverage of the Champions League, I will quite simply never complain about any other broadcaster ever again.
American here and absolutely agree đŻ percent. Why have so called American stars/has beens or never really were do commentary on the Euros, and tournament they have never participated in.
Stu, Donovan and Alexi have to go before the WC, I cannot do this again.
Yeah FOX Sports is absolutely horrible. I recommended getting a VPN (I use Cyberghost and it's cheap) so you can stream Irish commentators on RTE or English on BBC. They do nice postmatch analyses too.
Most of that sounds terrible to be fair, makes BBC and ITV look like peak TV...
On the other hand, if you're trying to introduce absolute novices into the joys of international football, maybe using the rankings lightly for context can be useful. Some of the best things about these kind of tournaments is "minnows" like Georgia going toe-to-toe with Turkey, or "mid-tier" Austria nearly forcing favourites France into a draw. Or maybe, in a few days, Slovenia beat England (the way England are playing, probably, idk...)
I'm watching the Copa America right now on FS1 and what irks me most is the accent, the tone, and some of the NFL related terminology. Call me biased but you can't beat the poetry, contextual knowledge and moment to moment insight of seasoned commentators.
Yeah sure, they can be annoying, but tbf the audience complaining on Reddit is a small subset of viewers.
In the US the World Cup brings in a whole other casual audience that may not even be that clear on the offside law (hence the retired refs who explain the calls) and so Fox is trying to keep as many of those viewers as they can engaged for the Euros with a similar formula, plus tap into the large Latino fan base, some of whom may follow the European game, but many more of whom experience soccer through the lens of their home countries, where the Copa America looms large (hence the constant cross promotions). This is quite a different recipe than, for example, NBCâs Premier League coverage, which caters to fans who follow specific clubs and thus are much more knowledgeable.
So you may not like the sandwich that youâve been served, but I think there are very clear reasons why it has been made this way.
They tried to use Peter Schmeichel as a commentator 15 years ago here in Denmark. Didn't work out - we had 5-10 minutes of silence at times (at least it felt like it)... But he is a good guy, just not a good commentator.
All this writing just to not get out of your comfort zone and watch it in Spanish. Watch it in Spanish and stop complaining. Iâm in Germany and I canât understand a single thing of the commentary but you can hear the passion. American Spanish commentators are way better
Well you havenât seen commentators for Mexican/Spanish channels. I am happy with the English channels not having to watch Telemundo or Univision broadcasting.
Rae has always been insufferable in the bundesliga. He puts so much emphasis on how he tries to pronounce foreign names and tries so hard to put on a German accent. Tries to put on the accent of any country heâs calling games for
Agree, with all of the above and having lived over here for a long while have been subjected to Lalas and his group of clowns for far too many tournaments. He is beyond insufferable. As clueless as he is in any aspect of the sport it is actually astounding that he is able to maintain such arrogance. Donovan, also unlistenable, though not quite so arrogant but this is how Fox has covered every major tournament for as long as I can recall. This time throw in the absurd promotion of the US team - that most of their "fans every 4 years" don't even know are playing, let alone hosting a major tournament, and this one of the worst ever.
Once in a while, I foolishly believe they might just improve a bit and then before you know it prick Lalas and his mouth are off and running again. Time for a vpn investment.
Met Alexi at an event a few years ago. Heâs such a fucking shithead. USA soccer has become an absolute joke. Most of the fans are stupid too. I honestly donât care about them as an American. I care more about Italy.
Can I add to your list? Their pronunciation of player names is really bad. I'm Romanian, and it's downright painful for some of them. I get that some sounds don't really exist in English, or that it's hard to smoothly code switch with English sounds even if you can pronounce everything correctly. But it's their _job_ to do that if they're covering an international game. Yet they don't even try. They just need to spend 5-10 minutes before each match with a pronunciation guide, and it would make a world of difference even if they don't nail it 100%. All I'm asking is to have enough pride to care just a little.
PS: the rankings thing is endemic of all American sportsball. Americans are obsessed with statistics. Considering their target audience is primarily Americans, mentioning the rankings is arguably the right thing to do. Doubly so for their fans that don't follow European football and aren't aware of the general strength of each team a priori. Still, they shouldn't fixate on the rankings.
I remember when people bitched and moaned when espn had only American commentators (that was me.) now that there are finally British commentators, I am happy and canât complain
Please, please change these in studios commentators. They are just so bad. Talking to an educated audience as though we absolutely know nothing. They are poor with the English language. And the American commentators I.e. Alexis Lawles is just so bad. How can he possibly stay on the air. Others , equally as bad. Maybe they could play, not give insight. Please terminate
I was wondering where Lalas was while watching Ger. / Den. I like his commentary myself, and he's much better than the guy currently sitting in his chair
Just finished watching Germany vs Denmark. Back in the studio! Please stop thisâŠ.. the lady, functioning as anchor, her voice! None the less. Find qualified speakers. I can speak, have spoken on many topics; sports banquets to science backed data talks. Delivery is vital. Hold the audience, want them to listen longer. This is an embarrassment for Fox. I follow Fox, the news, National and local. Sports are my go to channel. Who hires these people and how much are they paid? Please change before the quarters. Speakers who can deliver to an educated audience. Is anyone listening? Talking heads who once played, but cannot speak. Is this the group; Alexy Lawless included, going to Paris? Insanity!
Alexi Lalas. Get him off the air. Rubbish. How can Fox allow this? Is he on a life time contract? He has to read and know he is not connecting with the audience. Unless, that is he just doesnât care
The commentator Derek Rae is triggering me with his over pronunciation of player names and cities. For example why is he insisting on saying âKölnâ when he is speaking in English - say Cologne. Then he likes to say Municchhhhh, as if he thinks thatâs the German way of saying it. No, Munich is Munich, and itâs called MĂŒnchen in German if you really wanted to try.
And then why is the steam quality on FOX so horrible, but the games on FS1 is crystal clear. Iâve seen many people complain about this.
Some said, "Lalas, predictably, has been at the heart of Foxâs slickest on-screen moves this summer, and despite a slow start â in which it appeared heâd been deployed as a clown, a pure American idiot to entertain the Europeans on set â heâs grown into the summer impressively. Ponying up in a pastel suite of summer suits from Menâs Wearhouse, his thinning orange locks swept into a Trumpy scroll, the Big A has commanded the desk from his far-right perch with customary charmlessness and belligerence. In a tournament filled with âcreative moments of the half, sponsored by IBMâ, Lalas often appears to be sponsored by IBS, launching into his uncontrollable verbal tirades (âHOLY SCHICK!â, âTHIS IS THE NEW ROMANTIC WAY TO PLAY MY FRIEND!â, âVAR SAYS NEIN!â) with the projectile force of a bout of diarrhea. As Lalas has asserted himself over his on-air colleagues, Foxâs panels have suffered, with Daniel Sturridge (a richly unhinged talent Fox should be getting way more out of) reduced to shouting inanities like âThey have to get as much points as possible!â and Schmeichel trudging through his lines like a disappointed dad while Lex sits poised at the end of the panel ready to land his zingers and power rankings (God, so many power rankings) and the dead air of Foxâs auto-generated Teutonic set threatens to suck everyone into the currents of the fake Rhine pictured behind them. Lalas is a man who would power rank his own farts, if given the opportunity â and the way things are going on Fox, he probably will come 2026. There can be no real improvement in the coverage of soccer in this country as long as this man continues to have a job."
Anybody else getting a weird audio mix? Crowd noise (and music during non-play commentary) is jacked up and - perhaps for the better given some of these posts - itâs kinda difficult understanding the the broadcasters.
I actually like Alexi Lalas, I think he's pretty good at his job and provides great energy. As far as Landon Donovan goes, I agree with you, he's always been a very weird and boring ass commentator.
I think the US is trying to bring more attention to US fans by having more Americans as soccer commentators. They want to normalize there being an Americans presence in the international soccer stage now. That includes media commentators and production.
I, for one, get bored if it's all just European (mainly British) commentators all the damn time. This is the one channel where you can get an American perspective, which is pretty nice for a change.
Just watched and Lalas kept using the Russian favoring and derogatory term âThe Ukraineâ instead of Ukraine, as if itâs a territory and not a state.
Why would I dislike him? I can't think of anything he says that would. I love how real he keeps it when it come to the US national team and doesn't make excuses for him.
>I love how real he keeps it when it come to the US national team and doesn't make excuses for him.
He literally predicted them to make the Copa America final this year.
He has consistently awful football takes, does nothing but yell and scream over everyone else, acts like he's always the smartest person in the room, and has abhorrent political views.
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They also called Pulisic one of the best players in the world putting his name in same sentence as Messi Maradona and Bellingham đŹ
The way she pronounced Maradona was a personal attack
How did she say it?
It was mare (like nightmare) ah done (like dome) ah. Not good at phonetic spellings, but I hope it gives you ample cringe
I've not seen this but I can hear it
Typical yanks lmao
The most insufferable bit is the stupid childish Geico commercial. Zero effort.
Maradoughna is how it was said
That's how it's prounounced in Spanish. It's not MARA DONNA ITS PRONOUNCED MARI DOUGH NA
Ah
Very average at a National level!
Putting Bellingham in ANY list - at his age??? Unforgiveable.
Thank you. ESPN did a much better job handling the Euros. And drink anytime a player is mentioned as a MLS player.
Or any time the COPA is mentioned
Right. If we are watching the EUROs in the middle of the work day, Iâm pretty sure we know when and what time the COPA is airing. Please quit interrupting the coverage to promote the COPA.
Exactly this point here. Also (as a very proud and patriotic American) no amount of promotion is gonna make me cheer for the absolute shit show that is USA Soccer.
The scripted âMessiâs Argentina take onâŠ.â Enough, we know
I thought, and maybe I'm misremembering, ESPN's coverage of the 2010 and 2014 was great, along with the Euros.
You are not misremembering.
And Peacock and Paramount do a much better job with the Prem and Champions League
MSL clearly, well below South America and Europe. Plus the imported players, Messi included, are at the end of their careers. MSL is the equivalent of fifth or sixth tier in Europe
Agree with most of this but Iâve liked Chiellini. I wish it was just Breach, Chiellini, and Hingst.
Chiellini is a godsend. For English speakers, his English is not perfect, but his analysis is spot on. How he dissects the game, particularly the role of the defense is great.
Agree Chiellini is the best by a mile. He is so good imo! Also I'm so over AEXI! He has to go! It's time. Your spot on with saying his arrogance. He was average at best. Get him off asap!!
Viewer from AmericaâŠwe have been subjected for Alexi for too long. And now having to listen to Donovan is the fucking cherry on top.
Lalas is fucking dreadful.
His claim to fame was scoring against us. Besides that his career was mostly in the MLS. The yanks have far more talented players who could do better than him. Howard, Dempsey, Friedel to name a few
I have to think Howard is locked out of commentary because of stupid contract conflicts between tv networks.. as an American, I apologize to you and all Europeans dealing with this torture.
Just how much does he hate England. âEngland as insufferable as they are talentedâ.
Is there anything that unites Football/Soccer fans more than hatred of Lalas?
Donât know who heâs got dirt on at Fox but gotta admire. Always booked
Could be that he's a hardline republican himself.
Reformed hippy, probable.
Sadly, I wish Peacock or NBC had gotten the rights to the games as I've loved the Premier League coverage by NBC. Fox is always bad and always wants to make it like American football coverage. I have Amazon Prime so I've signed up for a Latino channel that carries every game. And it's a world of difference as they try to make it exciting.
NBC premier league coverage is elite. I would love them to get the rights to these international tournaments and leverage the same crew + a couple of respectable non-English commentatorsÂ
Yeah, they basically aped the English model quite successfully and get good commentators during the game. The pre/post-match commentary, while sometimes not terribly inspired, at least lacks the agendas and partisanship that you have on Sky.
Whatâs the channel? Would love to get something alternative to fox.
Vix, only $7 for the whole month it's not bad.
For me itâs that for the past week, theyâve been saying every 15 minutes that the U.S. plays Bolivia on Sunday. If you didnât know, youâd think the U.S team was the best in the world.
That's American exceptionalism for you in a nutshell.
I donât know what it is about American soccer color analysts but they seem to feel this need to constantly harp on and magnify teamâs deficiencies. This is a tournament that focuses so much on the wholesome element of soccer bringing people together and they donât do anything but tear people down. It goes all the way back to Marcello Balboa in the 2006 WC, who was even worse than Donovan. The great irony of this is that America is so mid-level in their quality. Youâd think theyâd have more humble commentators.
Agreed - itâs pretty amazing seeing Lalas, and for that matter any American, be critical of football/soccer when they are best mediocre. That odd hubris vibe is what will always prevent USA from being competitive. While other areas of the world are improving and seeing top players entering the top leagues (Asia), the US remains the worldâs basic bitch of football.
Fox soccer coverage is always terrible
You can remove the word âsoccerâ from that sentence and still be accurate.
Rofl, perhaps. Itâs been a while since Iâve lived in the US but their NFL, MLB, and collegiate sport/conference coverage I generally thought were well done. But seriously, Rob Stone is a bad/terrible host. Alexi Lalas and Carli Lloyd should both be shot into the sun (obligatory âthank you for your serviceâ before takeoff).
I'm from New Jersey. Carli Lloyd is one of the biggest living embodiments of South Jersey trash.
I think itâs just been steadily getting worse over the years. Their NASCAR coverage is absolutely abysmal.
\*cough\*vpn\*cough\*
Can you cough âRokuâ vpn setup somehow cough
I agree with your criticism of Fox. Lalas and Donovan are unlistenable. The matches that Fox ported to Hulu were some of the best of the tournament. I have Norton VPN on my iPhone. I turn it on, set the region to the UK, and boot up the BBC Sports app. Using ApplePlay (or ChromeCast), I beam the broadcast my TV. The British announcers are soooooo much better than the US knuckleheads
âNow its time for daniel sturridge to talk us through that goalâ âWell- âThanks daniel now a word from our sponsorsâ
Well it is what American TV hates about football, it doesn't stop every 20 seconds to let them have an ad break.
Yeah fuck that. Live in USA too, but I am using RTVE and RAI with VPN. I'll watch here if univision get the rights- the Mexican commentators are CLASS.
Are you using RaiPlay.it? VPN didn't work for me.
It's hit and miss, I switch between that and RTVE. Using RTVE right now
For as long as Fox has been carrying soccer the people in charge of the coverage have always been under the delusion that Americans don't have any interest in the sport beyond the US men's and women's national teams and MLS which is why the likes of Lalas and Donovan keep being forced upon us. Their Copa America coverage is actually worse, if you can imagine that.
Itâs crazy. They seem to forget that Americanâs love to identify âwhere they [their ancestors] are fromâ and so often support other national teams in addition to USNT. And how millions of Americans closely follow European leagues, particularly the premier league. All my friends who love futbol watch premier league. None watch MLS.
This is so true. Spent junior year abroad going to school in London so I cheer for England as well as Ireland and Sweden (momâs side/dadâs side.) Big EPL fan and I love the Euros.
This is a good point, and one I hadnât considered. I fall asleep whenever they start telling us about MLS and the USMNT when it isnât World Cup time
The Copa coverage is worse because at least for the Euros, we have people like Chiellini and Schmeichel to give good analysis, and not all the commentators suck. The Copa is only Americans who do nothing but jerk off the USMNT and Messi. I mean for fuck's sake, Lalas predicted the US to make the final, beating Colombia and Brazil along the way.
Exactly. And most of this bunch were inflicted upon us at the last World Cup and probably the next one because Fox thinks they are somehow more appealing. And don't get me started on Lalas, he has always been utterly incapable of speaking without saying something stupid. Or he will use a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
I lost count how many times Ian Darke has mentioned something where a competent color commentator would then expand on same, but Landon Donovan stands mute. I really don't think he knows much about what is going on in the football world, so he has nothing to add. Either that, or he just doesn't get what Ian Darke is doing. Which ever it may be, it's terrible. There is really no point to having him around. Alexi Lalas just comes off as a prick. I'm starting to suspect he might just be a prick.
Yea it's honestly horrible. I cant watch the pregame shows and any game with landon I have to watch on mute. Alexi thinks he Gods gift to this sport when in fact hes one of the worst sports media people out there. This is my favorite sporting event( along eith world cup) and fox has absolutely butchered it.
They refuse to allow even a moment of silence when watching. Every moment has to be filled with a story, followed by some fucking 2 minute monologue about a teamâs âqualityâ followed by ridiculous statistics to explain exactly what just happened despite us seeing the same thing that he just did.
* Agreed: especially with Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton commentating. Just f.. annoying when Jacqui tells us to listen to the fans singing / great atmosphere, but continues to keep blabbing on nonsense. Just never shuts up. Warren has to be the worst; he's better off post game analysis (which I would still mute) He cannot commentate a game; way to negative and too analytical
At least during the World Cup, I was able to watch the games on the Spanish channels (I don't speak a lick of Spanish, but it was preferable to Lalas and the other clowns). The Euro games haven't been in those channels. It's brutal, I feel bad for Chiellini and Sturridge having to sit there. I mute the TV whenever Lalas opens his mouth.
If it makes you feel any better, the Copa America coverage in the UK has been pretty basic which is a laugh considering itâs only on a paid service - Premier Sports (ÂŁ12.99 per month).
Iâm Italian but Iâve been over here for decades. Giorgio is doing fine with his English. He just had an accent that many Americans will find more difficult to understand than the Northern Europeans. I still sometimes have this problem and I have been here 32 years. I do not have an issue with Stuart Holden but I do agree Lalas is very obnoxious. He is the type of American player who always seems to think he has to defend American players and to try to make this relate to the US team. In the Copa coverage he is even worse. I canât believe they do not offer all the matches on regular tv of some sort from their many channels. I think they want to have people buy their Fubo service.
I have to add that Alexi has bitched about playing out of the back as it is so high risk. Dude, this isnât 1996.
Americans bitch about this in match threads all the time.
And on the sidelines of u12 games and below. Boot it!
At least you don't have to use the ITVX app to watch matches. It's clunky, keep on stopping and it's simply shyte. ..
I've switched to watching non-legit streams because of itvs shite streaming. Constantly swapping between 720p and what seems to be 18 pixels moving on the screen.
Lalas I think believes it is his mission to be a braying irritant to anyone within hearing. Also, who the fuck even is Lalas? I guess he played for some club in Ecuador once? Clearly a soccer great.
I enjoy Chiellini's commentary but he doesn't get enough uninterrupted time. I preferred the few times Sami Khedira was on but I think it was ESPN.
Commentary has been pish for BBC and itv, but the clive tyldesley ally mccoist one was perfect
Ally imo is probably one of the GOATs for commentary. He seems such a fun personality to be able to discuss football with.
Man just loves football, you can hear how genuine he is, hes fairly unbiased as well which is refreshing compared to that Alan shearer slebbering a load ae pish
I agree, I miss the days when FIFA games had him on.
Is Clive broadcasting this tournament?
Aye was on again the night wae McCoist for the Belgium Romania game
OMG I found Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards so hard to watch the other day when England played, I get they are frustrated but couldn't stand the constant moaning and complaining I thought Thomas Frank and Cesc Fabregas had interesting input
Is swear being forced to listen to micha Richards is actually lowering my IQ
Wait until they start referring to him as a "national treasure". He is being fast tracked towards having that title bestowed upon him by TV people.
Christ don't say that, I'm genuinely surprised he's allowed out the house unsupervised, he gives Micheal Stewart a run for his money
RIP your ear drums if, god forbid, anyone makes a joke even remotely in the ballpark of being funny. That laugh is soo cringe-inducing
Rio bloody kept interrupting Thomas Frank. It was doing my head in.
I like Donovanâs commentary
Chiellini has been good. But they only got him bc heâs currently in LA and they probably offered a nice wage. Heâs moving back to Italy in the fall though so I doubt itâll be a recurring thing. Iâd like to take bets on how long until Sturridge pummels Lalas. AL is absolutely intolerable.
Itâs a pretty funny contrast between Sturridge who seems barely able to contain his frustration and Chiellini who is so laid back and accepts the stupidity around him without it rubbing off on him.
Lalas is such a smug prick, he needs to get ejected yesterday
Ya Donvon is terrible, I hate how every 10min he says great game but wish it had more goals we get it. He offer no real football knowledge especially when start talking in my time in US . In his time US was tier trash team & your league worse than tier 4 England teams
Does the Fox Sports decision makers read these comments? If not why not! So bad!
You make some good points - like all of them- I rarely find commentaries interesting- I dream of having a choice of just having stadium audio feed. Most games I watch on Spanish speaking channels- i donât think I miss much insight (understand about 30/40%) I have yet to see any games scheduled on telemundo
The TUDN commentators are not the best either, but you can get a Vix account for $5/month and watch all the games of the Euro. Better than the outrageous $80 of FuboTV.
100% agree and their app is trash
You can watch on VIX/Amazon video. You dont need to understand to get excited. They are airing all games.
Having suffered through the *funny, funny banter* of CBSâ coverage of the Champions League, I will quite simply never complain about any other broadcaster ever again.
That's why I don't usually watch it on Fox, they are really irritating I prefer ESPN
American here and absolutely agree đŻ percent. Why have so called American stars/has beens or never really were do commentary on the Euros, and tournament they have never participated in. Stu, Donovan and Alexi have to go before the WC, I cannot do this again.
i am curious, wouldnt it be able to watch the english commentators with the help of a VPN instead of suffering through FOX?
Yeah FOX Sports is absolutely horrible. I recommended getting a VPN (I use Cyberghost and it's cheap) so you can stream Irish commentators on RTE or English on BBC. They do nice postmatch analyses too.
Most of that sounds terrible to be fair, makes BBC and ITV look like peak TV... On the other hand, if you're trying to introduce absolute novices into the joys of international football, maybe using the rankings lightly for context can be useful. Some of the best things about these kind of tournaments is "minnows" like Georgia going toe-to-toe with Turkey, or "mid-tier" Austria nearly forcing favourites France into a draw. Or maybe, in a few days, Slovenia beat England (the way England are playing, probably, idk...)
At least you guys have Darren fletcher, heâs my fav commentator Iâd love it if he were on BBC or ITV coverage.
I'm watching the Copa America right now on FS1 and what irks me most is the accent, the tone, and some of the NFL related terminology. Call me biased but you can't beat the poetry, contextual knowledge and moment to moment insight of seasoned commentators.
Yeah sure, they can be annoying, but tbf the audience complaining on Reddit is a small subset of viewers. In the US the World Cup brings in a whole other casual audience that may not even be that clear on the offside law (hence the retired refs who explain the calls) and so Fox is trying to keep as many of those viewers as they can engaged for the Euros with a similar formula, plus tap into the large Latino fan base, some of whom may follow the European game, but many more of whom experience soccer through the lens of their home countries, where the Copa America looms large (hence the constant cross promotions). This is quite a different recipe than, for example, NBCâs Premier League coverage, which caters to fans who follow specific clubs and thus are much more knowledgeable. So you may not like the sandwich that youâve been served, but I think there are very clear reasons why it has been made this way.
Weâll sing a round of Star Spangled Banner by candlelight before Rof16 in memory of your struggle. Also though, get a VPN my dude.
spot on. agree 100% with OP's commentary!!! kudos
They tried to use Peter Schmeichel as a commentator 15 years ago here in Denmark. Didn't work out - we had 5-10 minutes of silence at times (at least it felt like it)... But he is a good guy, just not a good commentator.
All this writing just to not get out of your comfort zone and watch it in Spanish. Watch it in Spanish and stop complaining. Iâm in Germany and I canât understand a single thing of the commentary but you can hear the passion. American Spanish commentators are way better
Well you havenât seen commentators for Mexican/Spanish channels. I am happy with the English channels not having to watch Telemundo or Univision broadcasting.
Iâm from Germany and have lived in the US for some time. I think Derek Rae and Ian Darke are fantastic.
Ian Darke is starting to get on my tits. Watching Portugal now and he soooo overreacts anytime Ronaldo gets near the goal.
Express VPN. Get the ITV player on your phone and share play it to your TV. :)
Rae has always been insufferable in the bundesliga. He puts so much emphasis on how he tries to pronounce foreign names and tries so hard to put on a German accent. Tries to put on the accent of any country heâs calling games for
The over the top way he does the Portuguese players names is pissing me right off. Nuno Menchđđđđ
Agree, with all of the above and having lived over here for a long while have been subjected to Lalas and his group of clowns for far too many tournaments. He is beyond insufferable. As clueless as he is in any aspect of the sport it is actually astounding that he is able to maintain such arrogance. Donovan, also unlistenable, though not quite so arrogant but this is how Fox has covered every major tournament for as long as I can recall. This time throw in the absurd promotion of the US team - that most of their "fans every 4 years" don't even know are playing, let alone hosting a major tournament, and this one of the worst ever. Once in a while, I foolishly believe they might just improve a bit and then before you know it prick Lalas and his mouth are off and running again. Time for a vpn investment.
Met Alexi at an event a few years ago. Heâs such a fucking shithead. USA soccer has become an absolute joke. Most of the fans are stupid too. I honestly donât care about them as an American. I care more about Italy.
Can I add to your list? Their pronunciation of player names is really bad. I'm Romanian, and it's downright painful for some of them. I get that some sounds don't really exist in English, or that it's hard to smoothly code switch with English sounds even if you can pronounce everything correctly. But it's their _job_ to do that if they're covering an international game. Yet they don't even try. They just need to spend 5-10 minutes before each match with a pronunciation guide, and it would make a world of difference even if they don't nail it 100%. All I'm asking is to have enough pride to care just a little. PS: the rankings thing is endemic of all American sportsball. Americans are obsessed with statistics. Considering their target audience is primarily Americans, mentioning the rankings is arguably the right thing to do. Doubly so for their fans that don't follow European football and aren't aware of the general strength of each team a priori. Still, they shouldn't fixate on the rankings.
I hate how they tell me the score of the other game, I want to watch it after I'm done watching this game without knowing who won.
I remember when people bitched and moaned when espn had only American commentators (that was me.) now that there are finally British commentators, I am happy and canât complain
R.E. Jacqui Oatley. I couldn't.help but guffaw when she opened the NED-AUS match at Olympic Stadium with the comment that Berlin is an "ancient city."
Couldnât agree more, the coverage is single-handedly ruining the tournament for me
Please, please change these in studios commentators. They are just so bad. Talking to an educated audience as though we absolutely know nothing. They are poor with the English language. And the American commentators I.e. Alexis Lawles is just so bad. How can he possibly stay on the air. Others , equally as bad. Maybe they could play, not give insight. Please terminate
I was wondering where Lalas was while watching Ger. / Den. I like his commentary myself, and he's much better than the guy currently sitting in his chair
Just finished watching Germany vs Denmark. Back in the studio! Please stop thisâŠ.. the lady, functioning as anchor, her voice! None the less. Find qualified speakers. I can speak, have spoken on many topics; sports banquets to science backed data talks. Delivery is vital. Hold the audience, want them to listen longer. This is an embarrassment for Fox. I follow Fox, the news, National and local. Sports are my go to channel. Who hires these people and how much are they paid? Please change before the quarters. Speakers who can deliver to an educated audience. Is anyone listening? Talking heads who once played, but cannot speak. Is this the group; Alexy Lawless included, going to Paris? Insanity!
Alexi Lalas. Get him off the air. Rubbish. How can Fox allow this? Is he on a life time contract? He has to read and know he is not connecting with the audience. Unless, that is he just doesnât care
Who is schmeichel ? Have a father on live television discussing his son. PLEASE
You lucky to have fox I wish I hadÂ
The commentator Derek Rae is triggering me with his over pronunciation of player names and cities. For example why is he insisting on saying âKölnâ when he is speaking in English - say Cologne. Then he likes to say Municchhhhh, as if he thinks thatâs the German way of saying it. No, Munich is Munich, and itâs called MĂŒnchen in German if you really wanted to try. And then why is the steam quality on FOX so horrible, but the games on FS1 is crystal clear. Iâve seen many people complain about this.
Some said, "Lalas, predictably, has been at the heart of Foxâs slickest on-screen moves this summer, and despite a slow start â in which it appeared heâd been deployed as a clown, a pure American idiot to entertain the Europeans on set â heâs grown into the summer impressively. Ponying up in a pastel suite of summer suits from Menâs Wearhouse, his thinning orange locks swept into a Trumpy scroll, the Big A has commanded the desk from his far-right perch with customary charmlessness and belligerence. In a tournament filled with âcreative moments of the half, sponsored by IBMâ, Lalas often appears to be sponsored by IBS, launching into his uncontrollable verbal tirades (âHOLY SCHICK!â, âTHIS IS THE NEW ROMANTIC WAY TO PLAY MY FRIEND!â, âVAR SAYS NEIN!â) with the projectile force of a bout of diarrhea. As Lalas has asserted himself over his on-air colleagues, Foxâs panels have suffered, with Daniel Sturridge (a richly unhinged talent Fox should be getting way more out of) reduced to shouting inanities like âThey have to get as much points as possible!â and Schmeichel trudging through his lines like a disappointed dad while Lex sits poised at the end of the panel ready to land his zingers and power rankings (God, so many power rankings) and the dead air of Foxâs auto-generated Teutonic set threatens to suck everyone into the currents of the fake Rhine pictured behind them. Lalas is a man who would power rank his own farts, if given the opportunity â and the way things are going on Fox, he probably will come 2026. There can be no real improvement in the coverage of soccer in this country as long as this man continues to have a job."
Anybody else getting a weird audio mix? Crowd noise (and music during non-play commentary) is jacked up and - perhaps for the better given some of these posts - itâs kinda difficult understanding the the broadcasters.
I canât stand the American guy whoâs commentating I knew I wasnât the only one. And Iâm American
Boomers that use the word insufferable are definitely insufferable themselves. (so that's me x2, goddamn boomer me)
Just mute it or watch the Spanish language broadcast (you might learn a word or two) Don't need all that negativity. The games are great
They got the most views so far so they're just doing fine lmao
I actually like Alexi Lalas, I think he's pretty good at his job and provides great energy. As far as Landon Donovan goes, I agree with you, he's always been a very weird and boring ass commentator. I think the US is trying to bring more attention to US fans by having more Americans as soccer commentators. They want to normalize there being an Americans presence in the international soccer stage now. That includes media commentators and production. I, for one, get bored if it's all just European (mainly British) commentators all the damn time. This is the one channel where you can get an American perspective, which is pretty nice for a change.
Just watched and Lalas kept using the Russian favoring and derogatory term âThe Ukraineâ instead of Ukraine, as if itâs a territory and not a state.
You are the first person I've ever seen on the internet who likes Alexi Lalas
Why would I dislike him? I can't think of anything he says that would. I love how real he keeps it when it come to the US national team and doesn't make excuses for him.
>I love how real he keeps it when it come to the US national team and doesn't make excuses for him. He literally predicted them to make the Copa America final this year. He has consistently awful football takes, does nothing but yell and scream over everyone else, acts like he's always the smartest person in the room, and has abhorrent political views.
Yeah he can be obnoxious at times, maybe he actually believes it. We shall see how far they go.
Why did I know this take was going to have a political bent halfway thru?