ESPN continues to hype the World Cup and with the games beginning Friday morning US time, I’ll post these last press releases so you can get ready for South Africa vs. Mexico at 9:25 a.m. East. First, we have the analysts who will work the World Cup for the Alleged Worldwide Leader giving their predictions.
ESPN Analyst Predictions for the 2010 FIFA World CupESPN’s 2010 FIFA World Cup analysts – many of whom are former national team players who have competed in the World Cup themselves – offer their predictions for South Africa on the eve of the tournament.ESPN match analysts:Efan Ekoku (Nigeria 1994 National Team player)Final: Spain defeats Netherlands. “Spain will beat the Netherlands because the Spanish team have a greater belief in themselves, particularly because of their European Championship success. They are a better balanced side all round. The Netherlands will have to play to their maximum ability to beat Brazil if they meet in the Quarter Finals.”John Harkes (USA 1990, 94)Final: Brazil defeats Spain. “Brazil have an impressive number of players (depth of talent) that can be on the field at any time. The mental approach and ‘swagger’ that they have in their approach to every game will bring them the victory in the final. Spain — if healthy — have the quality and confidence carried forth from their European title in 2008. Two entertaining teams that play the beautiful style of soccer with flair, creativity, and conviction will be on display.”Ally McCoist (Scotland 1990)Final: Brazil defeats Spain. “No European team has won a World Cup in the southern hemisphere, and I don’t think that will change. Brazil is the strongest of the other teams and has the most skill. Of the European teams, the strongest challenge will come from Spain, the European champions, but Brazil will win.”Final: Spain defeats Brazil. “Brazil has nice balance between talented flair players and tough defensive players. They have real quality in most positions, plus the experience of winning this tournament many times, but Spain will win because they have the best and deepest squad in the competition – two of the best goal scorers in the world in Villa and Torres, an incredible midfield with Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Xabi Alonso, and a sound defense with Iker Casillas behind them. Winning the Euros (2008) will give them the confidence and belief that they can beat anyone.”ESPN studio analysts:Shaun Bartlett (South Africa 1998)Final: Spain defeats Argentina. “With the squad Spain assembled and the quality they have, they will make it to the final. Argentina’s chance of getting to the final coincides with the form of the attacking force with the likes of Messi, Tevez, Higuain and Milito can provide the goals they need to regain the World Cup since ‘86.”Ruud Gullit (Netherlands 1990)Final: Netherlands defeats Brazil. “The Netherlands is a good team. They play very good football, the most attractive football of all the teams. It doesn’t always happen, but one would wish that the team that plays the most effective, most attractive football would win.”Alexi Lalas (USA 1994, 98)
Final: Netherlands defeats Spain. “In the irony of all ironies, the team that is supposed to finally realize their potential doesn’t, and the team that has suffered for so long with such incredible talent finally reaches the promise land.”Final: Spain defeats Brazil. “The way Spain are playing and the way the groups are lined up, with Spain avoiding Brazil and England on the way to the Final, paves the path for Spain to win the World Cup. The Spanish team’s style of play is so different from the other teams and that is going to help them to the Final.”Steve McManaman (England 1998)Final: Spain defeats Brazil. “Spain has the best players, they’re the strongest squad and, as we know, they’re the current European champions.”ESPN Radio match analysts:Tommy SmythFinal: Germany defeats England. “They have received a lot of injuries along the way, but I picked Germany after the last World Cup – they were fantastic. I don’t think Brazil is as good as it usually is. If Spain clicks and has enough heart – but the thing that’s killed them over the years is that they don’t have enough heart. If it becomes physical, they have all kinds of problems.”Kyle MartinoFinal: Spain defeats Brazil: “This will feel like a scene from ‘Groundhog Day,’ but I see Spain beating Brazil in the Final. That is, if the two don’t see each other in the round of 16 – boy, would that shake things up. Spain is, without a doubt, the best team in the world. If Cesc Fabregas can’t start for them, then teams all over the Cup should wake up in a cold sweat when thinking about their midfield. Brazil has plenty of talent as always — the list is longer than the line outside a SoHo theater for ‘Sex in the City 2’ — but this is the best team Spain has fielded since I have been alive.”ESPN International / ESPN Deportes studio analysts:Shaka Hislop (Trinidad & Tobago 2006)Final: Brazil defeats Spain. “The Brazilian squad’s style of play is the most adaptable of all the teams in this tournament. They are also the most experienced group on the big stage and this makes them able to cope with the expectations better than Spain. Brazil is also, for the first time, not coming into a World Cup with a marquee striker, but I expect Luis Fabiano to establish himself as just that in the next month.”Mario Kempes (Argentina 1974, 78-Champions and 82)Final: Argentina defeats England. “Argentina arrives at the World Cup not as a favorite to win the tournament. This squad has stellar players and a coach who has numerous World Cups as a player and who has learned from previous defeats. Argentina – since it doesn’t have the pressure that other teams have – will play in a manner that will help them get to the Final. Of course, they will have to overcome many obstacles since they’ll face tough competition.”
Two more press releases are after the jump.
Now to highlights of a conference call involving studio host Bob Ley and studio analyst Alexi Lalas.
ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup Conference Call Replay with Bob Ley, Alexi Lalas and Vice President of Programming Scott GuglielminoOn Wednesday, June 9, ESPN conducted a media conference call to preview its month long coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa (June 11 – July 11) with studio host Bob Ley, studio analyst Alexi Lalas, and vice president of programming and acquisitions Scott Guglielmino. Select comments:On the anticipation and impact of the World Cup in South Africa…Ley: “The people, the culture, the readiness of the country for the World Cup, you heard it constantly, people said ‘we would be ready for an African World Cup.’ From everything we can see it has been delivered. Some of the paint’s going to be drying, some of the blacktop might be cooling on Friday, but the facilities from all reports that we can see are marvelous. There is a palpable energy around the city of Johannesburg…This is my fourth World Cup working for ESPN. And having been with the network for 31 years this is the most complex, ambitious and the most dedicated production I’ve ever seen, this entire project.”On ESPN’s excitement to cover the World Cup…Ley: “It is launch control and being put together with a spirit that makes you so proud to work here. I don’t know how we’re keeping it together. There is a complexity here that is mind boggling, but it’s working and there is a great spirit among the people…We have a lot of local folks working for us and there is a joy and spirit and pride in this event. It’s palpable, it really is.”On the World Cup’s impact on the popularity of soccer in the United States…Lalas: “Soccer in the U.S. is not underground and it’s not niche. It’s well above ground and there’s a whole army. There’s a whole lot more support than we understand. We certainly found that four years ago…and obviously you can point to 1994…I think sometimes we kick ourselves for what we haven’t done, but if you really look at it, we kind of have to pat ourselves on the back because what has happened with soccer on and off the field in the last 20 years, and the development of soccer certainly in the last 16 years is pretty phenomenal when you put it up against any other sport and the development of soccer in any other country.”Guglielmino: “The reality of it is, it is absolutely a major sport in the U.S. As the demographics of the country continue to shift, we continue to see growth in our ratings and our audience levels for soccer across the board. Whether that’s MLS or U.S. Soccer all the way through the Premier League and La Liga, and now certainly with the World Cup, and even Euro 2008 as well. It’s exciting to get behind the sport in the way that we have.“World Cup has been one of the company priorities this p
ast year and really helps us as a company to focus on a few things and move the meter. World Cup has certainly benefited from that designation internally…From my personal vantage point, it’s helped us as a company specifically in the U.S. business, really get our arms around the sport and really get our arms around the event itself and the absolute marquee global event that the World Cup is.”On the U.S.-England match Saturday…Lalas: “The U.S. team has an incredible opportunity here to actually beat England, and I don’t just say that waving a flag. They will never get a better opportunity and haven’t had one than right now to beat a team of the quality of England in a World Cup. I think they are ripe. It doesn’t mean the U.S. can’t lose to them, but I think that England, when you look at them, they think they’re much better than they are and U.S. is a lot better than people think they are. Without a doubt, they have to play nearly a perfect game, but they also have to implement the mentality that Bob Bradley has brought to that team. They are structured, they understand their roles, they play good defense and they get big games from big players. They use the last four years — whether it’s the experience at the Confederations Cup, in terms of wins and losses in that time, or a qualifying process that they went through. These are all lessons that are learned…I think the core of this team really has to step up and do to a certain extent what they’ve been doing. If they do that then they have the opportunity not just to get a point but to beat England.”On the U.S. team’s biggest weakness against England…Lalas: “Lack of depth. I think when you talk about their attacking abilities, while we talk in glowing terms about Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, and certainly they can be called upon, but they need some people up top. I don’t think Jozy Altidore is at the top of his game. Out of necessity, we’ve had to find some other people…Throughout years the U.S. has always been looked at as a team that could defend. And they’re going to have to defend it at certain points but not go into a show. I hope that the mentality of this U.S. team right off the bat against England is not to concede too much physically or mentally to England.”On whether the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is the most dramatic backdrop for the World Cup in our lifetime…Ley: “I can’t think of another international sporting event…I think the dramatic turnaround, when you consider that the guy who heads the organizing committee, Danny Jordaan, couldn’t vote until he was in his forties. You walk through the apartheid museum and you see the signs…You still see the issues portrayed. So, I’d say, yes. When you see Nelson Mandela – he’ll be at the match. When you consider the backdrop of the movie Invictus, when you consider what this nation was viewed like geopolitically 20 or 25 years ago…out of FIFA, out of the IOC, how close it came to civil war even in the early 90s after Mandela was released. Then you realize here they are hosting the one event that unites the world, you could argue, better than any other. There is something here to raise goose bumps.”
Finally, ESPN announces three actors have voiced openings for the first game of the World Cup on Friday.
Sheen, Honsou and Stamp voice ESPN’s World Cup CoverageESPN’s unprecedented coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will feature voiceovers by some familiar Hollywood stars when the network’s comprehensive presentation of the world’s biggest sports event kicks off Friday, June 11 at 9:30 a.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN3.com with the South Africa vs. Mexico match. Emmy Award-winning actor Martin Sheen (The Departed, West Wing), Academy Award nominee Djimon Honsou (Push, Blood Diamond) along with English actor Terence Stamp (Smallville, Valkyrie) lend their voices to two key segments.
Specifically, Honsou voiced the signature Show Open for ESPN’s first telecast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Sheen and Stamp team up for a piece that gives a nod to each team’s bragging rights entering the highly anticipated England vs. U.S.A match (Saturday, June 12 at 1:30 p.m. on ABC).
ESPN Inc.’s 2010 FIFA World Cup Coverage in the United StatesSouth Africa 2010 will be ESPN’s seventh FIFA World Cup and coverage of the event promises to be the most comprehensive in company history. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will air all 64 matches live and in high definition. ESPN3.com, ESPN’s signature broadband network available in more than 50 million homes, will feature live English-language simulcasts of matches on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN Mobile TV will show all matches. ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language all sports network, will air more than 50 matches in Portuguese live in the U.S., and ESPN Radio will broadcast all 64 matches.Additionally, ESPN will present 2010 FIFA World Cup television studio programming from site in South Africa, offering U.S. sports fans the most comprehensive news and information coverage throughout the month-long soccer showcase. Studio coverage of the quadrennial global event will include SportsCenter segments, a nightly World Cup Live program, and prematch, halftime and postmatch shows, with additional studio programming and World Cup-branded segments, totaling more than 90 hours of coverage, originating from two sets in and around Johannesburg.
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