SBS Coverage

SBS, the Soccer Broadcasting Service, will cover every game of WC06, and has the contract for 2010 and 2014. In Craig Foster, they have a canny analyst, someone who knows the game. Les Murray is enthusiastic and Simon Hill is a good commentator. But the hosts in the Sydney studios will drive the dedicated soccer follower crazy over the five weeks of the competition with their tiresome repetitiveness.

Take Andrew Orsatti (please take him!) during the Netherlands game. After every ad break, every return to the studio, every moment when he can't think of something to say, we are told who is playing, where they are playing, what the score is, who is broadcasting the game, who is in the studio with him, where Australia will play next, over and over and over again. Look, Andrew. Mate. It's 1 am in the morning, you've been on air for 2 1/2 hours, we know it's Australia versus The Netherlands and you're broadcasting the World Cup warm-up game on SBS. Stop frigging repeating it and get on with the presentation. Sheesh, thank goodness I'm going to Germany and not watching all 236 hours of football on SBS.