ESPN Announces Commentator Assignments for 2010 World Cup Coverage

ESPN has revealed the commentator assignments for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup.

The big one, the match that everyone is talking about featuring England against the United States of America, will include Martin Tyler as the lead commentator and John Harkes as the co-commentator (June 12, 2:30pm ET, ABC).

In the match that kicks off the tournament between South Africa and Mexico, the commentating team will be Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku.

Here is the complete schedule of commentator assignments for the first 10 days of the tournament:

Friday, June 11:

• South Africa v Mexico, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku
• Uruguay v France, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Ally McCoist

Saturday, June 12:

• Korea Republic v Greece, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Argentina v Nigeria, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku
• England v USA, 2pm ET, ABC: Martin Tyler and John Harkes

Sunday, June 13:

• Algeria v Slovenia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Serbia v Ghana, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku
• Germany v Australia, 2pm ET, ABC: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Monday, June 14:

• Holland v Denmark, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Japan v Cameroon, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Italy v Paraguay, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku

Tuesday, June 15:

• New Zealand v Slovakia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Ivory Coast v Portugal, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku
• Brazil v Korea DPR, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Wednesday, June 16:

• Honduras v Chile, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Spain v Switzerland, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• South Africa v Uruguay, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Thursday, June 17:

• Argentina v Korea Rep., 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and John Harkes
• Greece v Nigeria, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• France v Mexico, 2pm, ESPN2/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku

Friday, June 18:

• Germany v Serbia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Slovenia v USA, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and John Harkes
• England v Algeria, 2pm ET, ESPN2/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Saturday, June 19:

• Holland v Japan, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Ghana v Australia, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Cameroon v Denmark, 2pm ET, ABC: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku

Sunday, June 20:

• Slovakia v Paraguay, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Italy v New Zealand, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Ally McCoist
• Brazil v Ivory Coast, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku

Monday, June 21:

• Portugal v Korea DPR, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Chile v Switzerland, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Spain v Honduras, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com,  Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

The commentators for June 23 through July 11 will be announced at a later date.

Some observations about the choice of commentators for each game:

• John Harkes will serve as co-commentator on all U.S. team matches, which is good news for those of you (myself included) who feel it absolutely necessary to include an American voice in ESPN’s TV commentary,
• On ESPN Radio, the lead broadcast team of JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth will call the South Africa versus Mexico opener, as well as all U.S. team matches including the England match on June 12,
• ESPN’s radio commentator team also includes Glenn Davis, Kyle Martino, Ross Dyer and Shep Messing,
• Most of us already knew that most of the ESPN TV commentators were going to have British accents, but after reviewing the above schedule, you get a good glimpse of how few American accents you’ll hear commentating games on TV during the first 10 days of the tournament.