ESPN announces commentators for Euro 2016 quarterfinals

Anticipation is building for the Euro 2016 quarterfinals, which will be televised live Thursday through Sunday (see TV listings below).

Now that the Euro 2016 Round of 16 games are complete, the list of match commentators has been condensed. That means that Steve McManaman, Derek Rae, Alejandro Moreno, Kate Markgraf and Max Bretos will sit out, while heavy hitters Jon Champion, Stewart Robson, Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman will call the games.

Here’s the schedule of ESPN’s match commentators for Euro 2016 quarterfinals:

Poland vs. Portugal, Thursday, ESPN2, 3pm ET — Jon Champion and Stewart Robson

Wales vs. Belgium, Friday, ESPN2, 3pm ET — Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman

Germany vs. Italy, Saturday, ESPN2, 3pm ET — Jon Champion and Stewart Robson

France vs. Iceland, Sunday, ESPN, 3pm ET — Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman

In the studio, Santiago Solari will return after taking some time off to coach the Real Madrid U19 team, while ESPN studio analyst Vincent Kompany will leave at some point during the next week to prepare for preseason training with Manchester City.

In his final day with ESPN, Host Mike Tirico will be hosting coverage of the Poland-Portugal quarterfinal (Thursday, 2:30pm ET) and post-match UEFA EURO 2016 Tonight studio show (5pm ET) from Paris before saying goodbye to his Euro 2016 coverage and 25 years at ESPN. Tirico will be joining NBC Sports, where it’s quite possible he may make some cameo appearances on NBCSN’s Premier League coverage if/when Rebecca Lowe isn’t available during the season.

In other news, ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Amy Rosenfeld, who is responsible for all soccer events on ESPN’s TV and digital networks, hopes that the weather in Paris will improve this weekend so that the talent can use the outdoor tactical analysis screens more than they’ve been used thus far. June has been a wet month in Paris so far, which has kept the talent and camera crews mostly indoors.