World Cup USA – Thank You Spanish Language TV

If there’s something many expats and US soccer fans have come to agree on over the last few days – it’s how appalling the commentary for the World Cup matches has been on US TV.

In a country where kids grow up playing soccer, it’s surprising to hear the commentators still offering so much explanation about the sport. Also, the commentary doesn’t follow the action – maybe they are borrowing a style form American Football – it’s more background information (we were told throughout the Iran vs. Mexico match that this day wasn’t about politics – and plenty of talk about Iran’s president).

The commentary during England vs. Paraguay game also offered an interesting observation about US vs European sportsmanship:

• In the US it’s ok to get a yellow card with a professional foul as a last resort
• It’s a little odd, that one team gives the ball back to the other, if a player of the latter gets injured.

Which is why we are writing this with the Australia vs Japan on in the background in Spanish (oof – didn’t that Japanese striker just foul the keeper?).

Thank you Spanish language TV! You will save our world cup. David Ord on HT agrees. He says

I might not understand 90 percent of it, but I still get it. Most of the words during the Spanish-language soccer telecasts zoom past me like a Roberto Carlos free kick. But listening between the lines lifts me higher than a Kasey Keller punt up the field… By abstaining from the ABC/ ESPN telecasts, I’ll have to live without being talked down to as if I don’t know a banana kick from a bicycle kick. I’ll not have the chance to hear insipid comments from a touchline reporter who has less experience than a third-string goalkeeper.

We may not understand a word of it, but the commentary is full of passion, understanding, reflects what’s going on, correctly pronounced countries/players – and we get ‘GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL’.