The game was called the biggest matchup of the early season by ESPN's Adrian Healey in the pregame. While this may have been an overstatement, yesterday's match featured two teams that during the preseason many had as the best in their respective conferences. After 90 minutes, only one looked like an MLS Cup contender. Sporting […]

The one thing that the preseason friendlies have revealed to me thus far is the enormous drop off in talent between the commentary teams that we were spoilt with during the World Cup to the B-level of talent we witnessed during the Man United vs Celtic (Glenn Davis and Kyle Martino) and San Jose Earthquakes […]

It seems the planning, preparation and excitement for the World Cup is hitting it's full stride as of late as we enter into the last two weeks of the Premier League season. In addition to more exciting news from EPL Talk to come soon, ESPN just released it's World Cup guide on sale everywhere for $9.99, Jurgen Klinsmann has been added to […]

In a blow to the growth of US-born commentators in this country, ESPN revealed today the names of the four lead announcers for its TV coverage of the 2010 World Cup. All four of them are British born. The lead commentators are Martin Tyler (England), Derek Rae (Scotland), Ian Darke (England) and Adrian Healey (England). […]

ESPN today announced the lead commentators for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup. The lead commentators will be Martin Tyler, Ian Darke, Derek Rae and Adrian Healey. In all, ESPN will employ four teams to cover all 64 tournament games live from South Africa between June 11 and July 11, 2010. The inclusion of […]

Previously on EPL Talk, we identified some of the top footballers on MySpace and Facebook. Now it's the turn of Plaxo, the online address book used by more than 40 million people worldwide. Steve Sampson. It's pretty sad when someone spends practically his entire career in sport and what he's remembered most for is his […]

It's pretty sad when two soccer columnists who represent what is supposedly one of the nation's top newspapers are so incompetent and out-of-touch with reality. Last November, I called New York Times soccer columnist Jack Bell a wanker for writing an idiotic article criticizing Fox Soccer Channel for broadcasting the Premier League, the world's most […]

ESPN and ABC's dreams have come true. Sunday's Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain is a far better proposition for the Disney owned TV networks than Turkey against Russia would have been. With plenty of German Americans living in the United States as well as a massive hispanic population, TV ratings should be high. […]

Euro 2008 is finally here after the standard mega sports event buildup. And for ESPN, today is the beginning of their broadcast of the entire tournmanet for the first time. The network has been rolling the ads for weeks and made a big addition to its on-air talent with Andy Gray. Now, at last, the coverage itself is the focus. […]

Andy Gray, one of the top football co-commentators and pundits in the world, made his appearance this afternoon not on Sky Sports but instead on ESPN. What Gray gives ESPN is instant credibility, which the network desperately needs if it's to establish itself as an authority on soccer coverage both in the United States and […]