Fox’s main studio show for its World Cup coverage “would be better” with less of former soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović and analyst Alexi Lalas, who have an “awkward” dynamic on air, according to Andrew Marchand of THE ATHLETIC. Marchand wrote Fox “would really have something” if it gave fans “more of the delightful, poised and informative combo” of host Rebecca Lowe and analyst Thierry Henry. The issue for Ibrahimović is that he does “not appear to know anything too specific about many of the teams or their players.” Marchand: “What Fox needs to really do is elicit Zlatan’s goal-scoring insight.” He wrote as for Lalas, we will “borrow his usual tone for a moment: He is one of the most insufferable analysts in American TV sports history.” And while he “was one of the best all-time U.S. defenders, his credentials are paltry compared with those of Zlatan and Henry.” His broadcasting skills are also “third division next to Lowe’s” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/18).
BREWING TENSION: DEFECTOR’s Ray Ratto “despite the best efforts of the flawless” Lowe to “keep the show both convivial and moving,” Ibrahimović and Henry “look at and speak to Lalas as though he is a badly disguised undercover cop.” Ratto wrote it is “not just because of the massive discrepancy between their respective fútbol résumés, although there is that.” This “can be pretty well chalked up to Alexi Lalas being Alexi Lalas.” This is “Fox’s A-team,” and as such is going to be together on nearly every one of the 28 game days between now and the end of the tournament. Thus, the “chances that either Zlatan or Henry will snap grow with every new Lalas observation” (DEFECTOR, 6/17).
TEST OF SKILLS: THE ATHLETIC’s Adam Crafton writes Lalas and Ibrahimović, in particular, can “pose a challenge to a host, taking conversations off-kilter or to unexpected places.” It is a “different test of Lowe’s skills, exposing her to new studio guests compared to the long-term consistency at NBC” alongside former soccer players Robbie Mustoe, Robbie Earle and Tim Howard over the past decade. Lowe: “But I love that. I am learning each day” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/19).
RISING STAR: In London, Molly Hudson wrote that USWNT coach Emma Hayes’s analysis of the FIFA-mandated hydration breaks “was considered so clear and informative” that she is “already being hailed as the breakout star” of the World Cup TV coverage this summer. What makes ITV’s use of Hayes “seem particularly well-timed” is that her observations are “made just as the managers of the teams involved are using the hydration break to deliver their own tactical points to their players at the side of the pitch.” She was the “most tactically qualified” of ITV’s punditry team on Wednesday. To her already “lengthy list of achievements, she can now add: the woman who made hydration breaks fun” (London TIMES, 6/18).
GRUELING SCHEDULE: THE ATHLETIC’s Devon Henderson noted it is Fox’s lead soccer play-by-play commentator John Strong’s fifth World Cup behind the microphone, his third men’s tournament along with two women’s World Cups. The schedule “is relentless.” It “drains the voice, taxes the body, and tests his mental fortitude.” Henderson: “Strong serves as a shepherd for die-hards and casual, once-every-four-year viewers alike, guiding them through a sport he loves.” Though, his main prerogative is “making this World Cup special when calling U.S. games on home soil” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/18).
WILD ACCIDENT: In London, Jack Rathborn wrote Fox World Cup analyst Warren Barton “was left ‘dripping with blood’ after being hit by an apparent beer bottle” during his commentary duties in Colombia’s 3-1 win over Uzbekistan. Barton was at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City to team up with Jacqui Oatley during the Fox broadcast. The “wild atmosphere saw both commentators drenched with beer in the first half” after D Daniel Munoz broke the deadlock for Colombia. Later, Oatley posted an update on X, revealing that Barton was “OK” after the incident (London INDEPENDENT, 6/18).
