As of Tuesday, all 32 teams have played at least one game in the 2018 World Cup, with results that have already altered this year’s seemingly preordained narratives — from Mexico counterattacking Germany to death, to Iceland’s victorious draw over Argentina and late England heroics by Harry Kane. But the teams aren’t the only ones looking to make an impression: We’ve also seen the debut of Fox’s World Cup coverage, the first of three World Cups the network will cover after winning broadcast rights in a $425 million deal. Like most of this tournament’s presumptive front-runners, the results have been a mixed bag — the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia was as derided for its on-field play as for Fox’s questionable presentation. However, since those opening-night stumbles, Fox has righted the ship, at least to a degree. These are your winners and losers from Fox’s World Cup coverage thus far. Losers: Studio Analysts There is perhaps no subset of soccer punditry that faces more scrutiny than studio analysts. At their worst, they provide an amalgam of sporting clichés — take a shot every time someone describes a team getting “punched in the mouth,” or considers European teams “technical” while noting South American “flair” — and scorched-earth hot takes, which in Russia have been emanating from Alexi Lalas’s fittingly redheaded dome. A good studio panel will complement those hot takes with more tactical analysis — ESPN’s coverage of the 2014 World Cup was boosted by current Belgium coach Roberto Martínez’s savvy input. The Fox Soccer team’s biggest problem so far is their inability to articulate the nuances of the game. Guus Hiddink has a lengthy managerial résumé but hasn’t filled Martinez’s role capably. Case in point: Hiddink asked Clarence Seedorf in Tuesday’s lead-up to Senegal-Poland to “describe the African flavor” rather than to compare the technical styles of the Polish and Senegalese teams. Without the necessary balance between ruminative breakdowns of the players’ performances and headline-grabbing hot takes, Fox Soccer’s studio coverage is best left on mute in the hour that precedes kickoff. Winners: Aly Wagner and Derek Rae Though Wagner and Rae weren’t sent to Russia to cover any of the games in person — only John Strong, Stu Holden, JP Dellacamera, and Tony Meola are there for on-site coverage — the Wagner-Rae duo has provided the tournament’s best commentary. Wagner made history by becoming the first woman to call a World Cup game on an American broadcast, and has developed an easy rapport with Rae. (A great moment during their call of England-Tunisia came after Harry Kane scored a sitter for England’s first, when Wagner joked that it was Kane’s easiest finish since the one for Spurs that was originally — rightfully? — credited to Christian Eriksen during the Premier League season.) Rae is a capable play-by-play guy, and if I’m being honest, I probably have some preconceived bias to favor someone calling a game in a Scottish accent. “There is drama for you!” just sounds better that way. Wagner and Rae’s next scheduled broadcast is Thursday’s 11 a.m. ET clash between France and Peru — if you haven’t listened to them call a match already, make time for this one. Loser: Dr. Joe Machnik Joe Machnik — sorry, Doctor Joe Machnik — is the World Cup’s equivalent to Steve Javie during the NBA Finals or Mike Pereira during NFL games, brought in to offer insight on certain decisions made by the referees. And with Video Assistant Referee being introduced for the first time in a World Cup, there have been myriad opportunities for Fox’s commentators to throw to Machnik for his perspective on a key refereeing decision. Machnik, with decades of experience as a coach, referee, and broadcaster, is a sensible choice for this designation. Unfortunately, like Javie’s contributions to ABC, what Machnik has offered is derivative at best — rather than break down the legitimacy of, say, a penalty being rightly awarded or not, he continually explains the VAR process. The one exception was the match between Brazil and Switzerland, when Machnik concluded that the refs weren’t in control of the game after the Swiss players repeatedly tackled Neymar to the ground without any deterrence. If Dr. Joe can provide more substantive opinions like the one about Switzerland’s Hack-a-Neymar going unchecked, we’d all be the better for it. Winners: Jorge Perez-Navarro and Mariano Trujillo Wagner and Rae aren’t the only commentators commanding the spotlight — that’s what Jorge Perez-Navarro and Mariano Trujillo are doing best. What they’ve lacked in traditional analysis they make up for in purely jubilant and entertaining calls. If you’re not smiling when Navarro shouts “I-I-I-I-I-IT’S SOCCER TIME!” when the game kicks off, or “READY. SET. FIRE!” when someone takes a free kick, you’re dead inside. Granted, sometimes they get a little too eager — Navarro kept adding “-san” to the end of every Japanese player’s name when the team faced Colombia on Monday, and there is a fair bit of homerism for the Latin teams. But with so many games and commentating duos for the World Cup’s group stage, Trujillo and Navarro are a dynamic, refreshing change of pace. You don’t quite know what to expect from them, or whether Navarro will rupture your eardrum after a golazo. Loser: Fox Highlight Reels With the time difference in Russia, this year’s games are falling squarely in the middle of regular work hours stateside — or possibly before you wake up if you live on the West Coast. Unless covering soccer is part of your job — or you have elite multitasking skills, or can just nod off for an entire day without consequences — it’s almost impossible to check out every minute of every game. Unfortunately, Fox Soccer’s highlight packages are aggravatingly short. They are pegged as “90 in 90” — 90 minutes of soccer in 90 seconds of highlights. I’m inclined to think most soccer fans who miss out on the action will need more to satiate their hunger for highlights; a minute and a half is barely enough time to grasp the context of the game.<doc-sep>The World Cup is officially upon us as the 32 teams that qualified along with the host Nation Russia will be competing for that little golden trophy and become the World Champions of the International Soccer World. For the very first time Fox Sports is Broadcasting the World Cup that will be hosted by Russia and they believe they have a big advantage of not only broadcasting from the country but of course they will have some talent back States side in their facility in Los Angeles. Heading over inside their studios will be Studio Anchors Rob Stone, Fernando Fiore Kate Abdo and Ian Joy while they will have former US International Defender Alexi Lalas and former German International Lothar Matthaus, Ian Wright & Guus Hiddink during pre-game, halftime and post game in each and every World Cup broadcasting day. Your broadcast teams who will be in Russia are John Strong & analyst Stu Holden while US veteran Broadcaster J.P. Della-Camera and former US International Goalkeeper Tony Meola will also be in Russia. For the first time on a men’s world cup broadcast former US Women’s National Team player Aly Wagner will be apart of this group and she will be joined by Derek Rae who many know and respect as the Scottish broadcaster has done work with ESPN and a former MetroStars announcer as well. Staying State side are veteran broadcaster Glenn Davis who hosts his own Soccer Talk Radio show on ESPN 97.5FM in Houston and the TV play-by-play voice of the Houston Dynamo. Also joining Glenn Davis will be the TV play-by-play voice of FC Dallas & the Dallas Mavericks Mark Followill who has called several games involving the Copa America Centenario as well as some CONCACAF Gold Cup matches last summer. There will be some culture on this World Cup Broadcast as Fox Sports hired National Geographic reporter Sergey Gordeev as he will take you to the most interesting places within the country and show what the locals do without the usage of politics. This wonderful time to send these talented people to Russia was located in New York City’s famous Russian Tea Room along W. 57th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues and for this local kid from the Bronx, it was a fun evening to hob nob and mingle with the best in the business. The swanky décor on the first floor and the third floor ballroom where the get togethers were was absolutely amazing and for myself personally, this was the very first time I have ever been inside this magical place as I use to drive up and down the street passing that famous red awning as a kid in the car with my parents. Executive Producer Dave Neal assembled these great people who he has worked with during their coverage of MLS matches, US Men’s National Team World Cup Qualifiers, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and of course their successful Women’s World Cup coverage in Canada back in 2015. While there has been some criticism of Fox Sports sending half their crew to Russia and the other half remaining in the States, with the US Men’s National Team not qualifying for the World Cup I think you need to see what this group can do with some of the pressure coming off their shoulders. But overall it was a fun evening back on Wednesday, May 30th and I wish Fox Sports to have a lot of success and the final questions I asked most of the talent that was there was who did they think was going to win the World Cup and who could be the dark horse. Most of them felt Germany would win the World Cup again and their Dark Horse pick was Belgium. But if you ask Fernando Fiore, he wants to see Lionel Messi and Argentina win the World Cup and on a personal level, I would like to see Messi add a World Cup to his historical career.<doc-sep>Nick Schwartz USA TODAY Sports When Fox landed the rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the network initially envisioned Gus Johnson as the lead announcer for the tournament. Johnson brought his signature energy to a few high-profile matches on Fox as he prepared for an eventual World Cup debut, but he proved to be a polarizing voice for many soccer fans. Johnson eventually stepped down from the role in 2014, but worry not, soccer fans, because Jorge Perez-Navarro is here to give you the high-octane commentary style you need. Perez-Navarro called his first match of the 2018 World Cup Saturday alongside Mariano Trujillo, and viewers were astounded. After Yussuf Yuray Poulsen gave Denmark the lead in the 59th minute, Perez-Navarro dropped a " boom goes the dynamite" reference. MORE: Fox World Cup commentator Jorge Perez-Navarro makes Gus Johnson sound calm Watch Messi miss a potential game-winning penalty kick A look inside Tiger Woods' sick $20 million yacht he's living in during the U.S. Open NXT TakeOver: Chicago match card and start time 53-year-old fighter loses it when opponent misses weight by 28 pounds<doc-sep>By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Jun 22, 2018) US Soccer Players – With over a week of action now in the books, the 2018 World Cup is approaching its halfway point in terms of matches played. It’s not a bad time to take stock of the way broadcasters show the event on television in the United States. Most viewers’ reactions to coverage of a big occasion like this tend to revolve around the on-camera personalities. If you’re interacting with fellow World Cup fans in any sense, whether in-person or online, you’ve seen plenty of these reactions and may have a few strong ones of your own. For me that’s low-hanging fruit, and I’m less interested in adding to that din of opinion in this space. I’m most intrigued by the task – in this case, the job falls to Fox – of delivering this massive tournament to the general US audience in a way that works for everyone. Or, at the very least, hopefully, a majority. With each passing day of this World Cup, I’m adjusting my expectations downward, even as my respect for the magnitude of Fox’s assignment grows. Broadcasts of Russia 2018 are available to many millions of viewers in both English (on Fox and its cable sports channel FS1) and Spanish (on Telemundo). That’s an interesting choice, and thus opportunity, for soccer watchers, and something of a challenge for the TV networks, particularly Fox. Some people simply cannot get used to watching sports in a language they don’t speak. After decades of hunting for live soccer on any channel or medium they can get their hands on, that applies to fewer fans here than ever. Even if your Spanish is nonexistent, Univision and Telemundo offer a wealth of compelling options, from Liga MX to the Portuguese and English leagues to select MLS games and now, with wall-to-wall World Cup coverage on Telemundo. This year marks Fox’s first airing of the men’s World Cup. They also hold the rights to the next two editions of the tournament, an overall eight-year package that reportedly cost them nearly $900 million. NBC-owned Telemundo spent even more, supposedly north of a cool billion. Of note: Even those striking numbers are a bargain of sorts. FIFA offered the 2026 rights to only them, via a closed auction meant as an olive branch for the decision to move Qatar 2022 to the busier fall period. That kept ESPN and others from driving prices up with competing bids. That said, those are enormous investments, and Fox is hardly a newcomer to this sport. It operated arguably the first prominent 24/7 soccer-first cable option to US audiences with the Fox Soccer Channel, which eventually became FS1, the home to nearly half of their Russia 2018 programming. The outlet’s particular weak spots long ago became infamous to hard-core viewers, though, leading to fretting about their World Cup presentation practically from the moment they won the rights in 2010. Occasionally odd play-by-play calls, over-the-top graphics, a fondness for scorching “hot takes” from pundits, a recurring tendency to dumb things down for non-soccer-savvy audiences – a general sense of valuing flash more than substance. There was rarely any doubt that Fox was trying hard. The issue was more one of a lack of feel for what audiences wanted, in presentation terms, at that particular point. Many of those doubters probably feel they’re already right about this summer’s World Cup. There’s plenty of pivotal action left, and thus ample opportunities to win over viewers. Yet, the broadcasts have for many been strangely inconsistent, caught in the no-man’s-land as the network labors to be all things to all people. Reportedly eager to have American voices lead the way, Fox put familiar names and faces like Alexi Lalas, Stu Holden, and Aly Wagner in the spotlight alongside big regional and global names like Fernando Fiore, Clarence Seedorf, and Guus Hiddink. They’ve worked hard to seduce casual fans who might’ve drifted away from this event without their home team to support, leaning on tentpole attractions like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi perhaps to a fault. Simultaneously they’ve tried to connect with the more knowledgeable “soccer first” demographic, as well as the younger, more elusive, “extremely online” generations with social-media-centric offerings. The network went big with their Red Square headquarters in Moscow. They packed its studio shows with familiar names and added new personalities in mid-stream as Lothar Matthaus was, strangely, replaced with Martin O’Neill earlier this week. Then there’s the announce teams. Only a third of their game commentators are actually at the matches they are covering in Russia. Holden, his partner John Strong and the team of JP Dellacamera and Tony Meola. The rest are calling the games off monitors in a Southern California studio. They’re all pros and have generally made the best of that challenge. Wagner and her partner Derek Rae are earning particular praise for their work. Still, it remains hard to understand why Fox decided that those costs, of all the many they’ve taken on for their World Cup ventures, were worth cutting. There’s a subtle but unmistakable difference when a broadcaster is on site, and anyone who tunes in to Telemundo can feel it. Despite paying FIFA even more for the rights than Fox did, the Spanish network has committed to a fully immersive experience. Every single World Cup game is on their mothership network, available free over the air to much of the United States. Their shoulder programming is sunny, compelling, and has even roped in non-sports properties like their morning and news shows. The overall tone, the feel, is beguilingly vibrant. I’ve made a point to watch both the Fox and Telemundo broadcasts, both the games themselves and the shoulder programming. Even with my kindergarten-level Spanish skills preventing me from absorbing the full nuances of the latter, I’ve found the differences to be striking, and tend to gravitate in Telemundo’s direction. I’m not alone. Early numbers show Telemundo raking in bigger audience numbers than Fox despite a smaller overall reach in terms of carriage.<doc-sep>
When Fox landed the rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the network initially envisioned Gus Johnson as the lead announcer for the tournament. Johnson brought his signature energy to a few high-profile matches on Fox as he prepared for an eventual World Cup debut, but he proved to be a polarizing voice for many soccer fans. Johnson eventually stepped down from the role in 2014, but worry not, soccer fans, because Jorge Perez-Navarro is here to give you the high-octane commentary style you need. Perez-Navarro called his first match of the 2018 World Cup Saturday alongside Mariano Trujillo, and viewers were astounded. Cueva's penalty was … not close. pic.twitter.com/djigVYt9EE — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 16, 2018 After Yussuf Yuray Poulsen gave Denmark the lead in the 59th minute, Perez-Navarro dropped a “boom goes the dynamite” reference. Denmark go in front thanks to Poulsen! Peru will be kicking themselves for not taking advantage of their opportunities. pic.twitter.com/jjQYBDcDEm — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 16, 2018 The commentator for the Peru v Denmark game is fired up for every pass and cross, and I cannot wait for the first goal — Peter Bowling (@greekbowler44) June 16, 2018 . @jpereznavarro ‘s call of “Ready, set, FIRE!” on a free kick is already the best call of La Copa Mundial. — Peter Pietrangelo (@ppietrangelo) June 16, 2018 THIS DUDE IS QUOTING COOL RUNNINGS — Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) June 16, 2018 Jorge Perez-Navarro and Mariano Trujillo are the best football commentators I have heard on @FOXSoccer coverage of The World Cup. Everyone else has been extremely sub par. They are enthusiastic and have great conversation! — Ben 'Benson' Bowe (@Benson_EU) June 16, 2018 These announcers are all over the place with what they’re talking about. Just were singing Aerosmith during play, haha #PERDEN — Bros Talking Soccer (@BTSoccerPod) June 16, 2018 the commentators for peru denmark are my favorites ever assign them to all the games and also to my saturday chores — jean luc go hard (@wpbeyer) June 16, 2018 The commentator for this Peru game is next level. “From FAAAAAAAAAAARR” — Kade Nordfors (@kadenordfors) June 16, 2018 The commentator for the Peru game is just amazing — Golden (@PJforPres2040) June 16, 2018 Jorge Perez-Navarro’s commentary… I hate it so much #WorldCup — Фокстрот (@DynamicFoxtrot) June 16, 2018