Martin Tyler will return to ESPN for the next World Cup where he'll be commentating World Cup 2014, says the Associated Press. It's quite an incredible achievement to secure Martin Tyler for two World Cup tournaments in a row. The man is hands down the best soccer commentator in the world. And by having Tyler […]

Four years ago, which seems like a lifetime in Internet years, the 2006 World Cup experience was very different than it is today. There were only a handful of soccer podcasts worldwide. Soccer blogs were a relatively new thing. And the TV coverage was decent. All games were televised but national anthems were skipped and […]

If anyone doubted if soccer is a mainstream sport in the United States, they only have to look at the eyepopping numbers of people who watched the World Cup this weekend to see how ABC and Univision both had record TV ratings for soccer. Saturday's broadcast of the United States against Ghana game on ABC […]

ESPN's coverage of the 2010 World Cup has been spectacular. But if I must be honest, some of the commentators are beginning to get on my nerves. It's normal, I guess – especially after you consider how many hours we've spent listening to these commentators since the tournament began on June 11. Based on what […]

A couple months before the World Cup, ESPN released a series of 4 TV ads in their "One Game Changes Everything" campaign. If you don't remember the ads, there was "Robben Island", "United", "Power of 10" and "Passion", and they came out in that order separated by about two weeks. The ads really added to the hype […]

Looking at the ESPN's team of commentators for the 2010 World Cup TV coverage, we knew ahead of time that Adrian Healey and John Harkes were the weakest links in a team that features some of the best commentators in the world. Both men are qualified professionals. However, they're not nearly as good as Martin […]

The 2010 World Cup has exploded on US television with record ratings. During the first weekend, the audience numbers for the first five games for the 2010 World Cup on ESPN were twice as high as those from four years ago during the 2006 World Cup. And now, during the second weekend, Univision is reporting […]

ESPN's proclaimed "footy fanatic", Josh Elliot has called out all World Cup fans. Sportscenter wants to know who you think is the best player in the 2010 World Cup so far. The ESPN anchor picks Gonzalo Higuain, the convenient choice after today's hat trick against South Korea. However, I think the EPL Talk readers are […]

Next week on ESPN, the sports TV network, will debut its brand new documentary entitled "The Two Escobars," the story of Andres Escobar, the talented Colombian soccer player who was tragically murdered after he scored an own goal in the 1994 World Cup. The film investigates the surprising relationship between the murders of Escobar and […]

Sunday we reported that ESPN's viewing numbers for the first five games of the tournament were double the number from four years ago. And now there's more good news as the TV ratings and updated audience numbers for Saturday and Sunday's matches add more ammunition to the argument that the 2010 World Cup is taking […]

There has been a lot to be thankful to ESPN for during their 2010 World Cup coverage this summer, but the most significant contribution – by far – has been the rise of Roberto Martinez in the role of ESPN studio commentator. The Wigan Athletic manager is no stranger to soccer punditry. The Spaniard is […]

The 2010 World Cup clash between USA and England drew the fifth-best rating ever for a World Cup game. In addition to ranking behind the 1994 Romania-U.S. game (9.2), it trails only the 1994 Brazil-Italy final (12.8), the 1994 Brazil-U.S. game (10.4). The 2006 Italy-France final received an 8.6 rating. UPDATED: To put these numbers in […]

FIFA, what are you doing? With a global population that is so used to the quality of the Premier League coverage on television, it's ridiculous that FIFA's TV replays are so poor. How many times in this tournament have we already been frustrated with the lack of TV replays after crucial incidents? Even though the […]

The first few days of the 2010 FIFA World Cup have come and gone like Robert Green's stint as England's #1 and ESPN (so far) have impressed with their fantastic coverage here in the States. It seems like ITV is the Robert Green of the tournament thus far while ESPN's solid coverage, analysis and team of experts […]

Finally. It. Is. Here. The 2010 World Cup kicks off today with the first match up between South Africa and Mexico. I'm picking South Africa and Mexico to draw in this one. Mexico should win, but buoyed by the incredible support of the South African nation, I think the South Africans will rise to the […]