You鈥檙e all doing terribly well
- 27 Jun 06, 08:52 PM
MUNICH: An astonishing 8.8m people watched the penalty shoot-out climax of on Monday night.
It鈥檚 difficult to calculate how many of those were waiting for the News but, if they were, it was good of them to stay tuned and thereby swell our viewing figures.
Like the story my Grandfather used to tell of the Durham miner he knew who wore boots two sizes too small because taking them off gave him pleasure at the end of the working day, so we probably needed an old-fashioned stinker to remind us all of how great a tournament this has been, and will continue to be.
The first half was OK, if cagey, but that gave us room at half-time to amuse ourselves with a sequence of on-and off-pitch kissing that our ever-vigilant VT boys had spotted.
And Leonardo entered the spirit with a very footballerish double-entendre based on the word 鈥淏razilian.鈥 It was live television, so beyond our control, but it amused some very tired production and technical staff behind the scenes here in Germany. With any luck, it was sufficiently cryptic not to be understood by anyone at home who might have been offended.
We also ran a stylish reprise of the England and Portugal games from the night before and an interview with Steve McClaren.
The game shut down completely in the second half, and extra-time meant we had to drop the car advert Britain v Germany pastiche I mentioned yesterday. That piece isn鈥檛 time-specific, and will run in a future show, whereas a fantastic edit of David Coleman presenting and commentating on the 1962 鈥淏attle of Santiago鈥 was prompted by the dismal events in the Portugal v Holland match, and really needed to run yesterday.
Fortunately, the highlights programme took it along with a Switzerland v Ukraine closing cut to the Smiths鈥 鈥淗eaven Knows I鈥檓 Miserable Now.鈥 Amusing though it was, I thought viewers who鈥檇 sat through the whole live game, as well as those waiting patiently for the News might not have appreciated the humour at the end of the live game! Somewhere post-midnight on the highlights, though, I think it worked OK.
For the first time in the tournament, I鈥檝e travelled from the studio base in Berlin to our International Broadcast Centre in Munich where the bulk of our videotape editing is being done. I鈥檝e likened myself to young Mr Grace in 鈥淎re You Being Served?鈥 tottering onto the shop floor to tell the staff that they鈥檙e 鈥渁ll doing terribly well.鈥 In fact, it鈥檚 been useful in practical terms; with a two-day gap after the highlights tonight before the 鈥 Italy v Ukraine on Friday night - it鈥檚 been very helpful to discuss pre-made items face-to-face.
The opening, in broad terms, will be Italy, with their history and pedigree, versus recently-independent Ukraine making their first appearance, with Shevchenko as star man. The VT librarians are chasing pictures of the 鈥淥range Revolution鈥, our International Unit are investigating the possibility of beaming in pictures from the big screen in Kiev鈥檚 Independence Square and one of the producers has started compiling a shortlist of Cannavaro and Nesta moments for Alan Hansen to peruse in due course.
We may be on the eve of a first rest day after 19 solid days of football, but 麻豆官网首页入口 Sport will still be ticking over. And some of our colleagues are apparently working on some somewhere.
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Oh, god, that match was dull.
Please don't assign Mick McCarthy to anymore boring fixtures.
He's so miserable, so pained - I fear he may be on the verge of killing himself.
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Yes, it's true. The 麻豆官网首页入口 have put Mick McCarthy on suicide watch and have confiscated his shoelaces, lest he hang himself.
ps. Leonardo's "brazilian" commment was hardly cryptic.
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I truly hate those penalty shoot outs--it's like watching two different games: first football, then penalties. Here's a suggestion that I hope would get teams back to an offensive game:
Have the penalty shoot out at the start of every game. That way the fate is sealed for games ending in a tie--and players know it. It might force them to get off their duffs and play football for 90 minutes!
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I think the penalties had so many viewers because everybody had fallen asleep in front of the tv.
The only thing we talked about in work today was Leonardos comment. Made me crease. Wasn't sure whether he'd realised the double-entendre or not.
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What did Leonardo say I missed it because I stopped watching due to the dullness of the match.
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There were three disgraces in this World Cup.
1. Italy defeating Australia.
2. Ukraine wining on penalties.
3. France defeating Spain.
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4. The England team.
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The on-off pitch kissing was so incredibly funny. Leo's comment was just the icing on the cake. He was the one that made the match worth watching.
Mick McCarthy was so poor, he made my ears bleed.
Btw, having O'Neill on the panel was a stroke of genius. Next time tell him thats its alright to go 'technical' , after all thats what I'm paying isn't it? (Techincal analysis)
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For the first time that I can remember (40 years of watching football) ITV have a better commentry team than 麻豆官网首页入口. They have even occaisionally managed to get the half time stuff right. A group of well informed blokes have a good natured argument about it in the pub. Of course, that cannot include Terry Venables who takes himself far, far too seriously.
David Coloeman introduced the strangled monotone style of commentary (who ITV have dropped, thank heavens). The 麻豆官网首页入口 have no gone further with this bloke who does the frenzied strangled montone. The man sounds like a castrated parrot.
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Please don't subject us to the commentry of "Motty" for the next England game!!! I sometimes wonder if he's watching the same game as everone else!
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There have been other games as unspectacular as the Switzerland v Ukraine game. The problem for McCarthy and the other pundits was that aside Shevchenko there were no 'household names' and especially ones who plied their trade in the 'Precious Premiership'. The ones who had played there in the past were be-littled for their lack of apparent success.
The prevailing attitude being that if I don't know them - they must be bad. The reality is that both teams played to their strengths cancelling out each other鈥檚 effectiveness in attack. Switzerland鈥檚 strength is obviously in defence - they did not concede any goals during normal time in four games. Please give credit where it is due. I think it is a gross insult to the players of both teams to suggest that neither team deserves to win and it its also indicative of the shallowness of the commentator who uttered the suggestion.
At the group stage Switzerland managed a goal difference of four whereas England had the poorest of all the Group winners of only three.
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Who won, what happened who said what?
I ended up muting the match and reading a book while the rain pattered down onto the conservatory roof.
I managed to glance up in time to see three of the worst penalties ive ever seen in my life. That could be the result of being a neutral country, don't want to hurt the net or something?
Incidently Hugh M's comment about having the penalty shoot out first is a fantastic idea!
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well i think the dark horse for the world cup now is italy what do you think if that
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i think the penalty shoot-out at the start of the match is a good idea, but if a team is a goal down with two minutes left, they have nothing to play for, and so won't try to grab the goal at the death to send the match to penalties.
also, there have been some memorable penalty shoot-outs in the past (admittedly, we want to forget most of them), and to take the most blood-pumping, adrenaline-soaked finale out of the game would be a shame.
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From a sultry Munich, tired of the terse German TV coverage and missing Motty, Hansen, Desailly and co..... We are eagerly awaiting the next few games...but what exactly did Leonardo say?
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I thought the game picked up in the last 20 minuted and in extra time. Apart from that, the game was dire.
One thing please and I hope it was a one off: I noticed that the commentator was reminding us that the red button was available. This is the most irritating thing ITV do during their commentaries. 麻豆官网首页入口, please don't start.
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Penalty shoot out is like gambling. The performance of a player can not be reflected in the penalty shoot out process. It is like tossing with a coin- whether it is head or tell. Switzerland should not be depressed as the coin played against them. It is clearly seen that a player like Shevchenko also missed to score in the penalty shoot out. Portugal v Holland match was a real nightmare for the fans who love to watch playing with football not with hands and legs.
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What did Leonardo say?
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Just after watching the finale of the kissing montage of two kissing Swedish girls. Leonardo said "Now all they need is a Brazilian"
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The 3 disgraces?
1. Australia lose, and people feel sorry for them? No. Australia losing is good, trust me.
2. Ukraine winning? How about the Swiss missing 3 penalties. Actually that was a highlight.
3. Spain lose. Serves them right for having racist in charge.
Great blog btw, nice to find other people hate the strangled commentary style.
Sounds like a casrated parrot faking an orgasm.
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Hugh Ms' idea is genius! Alternatively in extra time each team should have to withdraw a player every 5 minutes. It wouldn't take long, a bit quicker than a substitution perhaps? This would really call on managers to use their tactical knowledge.
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