It has been absolutely wonderful as a soccer fan to be able to see all the games live and most in HD. Thank you ESPN and hopefully this is the start of better coverage of the "Beautiful game".

I agree with you completely. The coverage has been great. I have watched many games live and recorded all of them. Thank goodness for DVR! I have to say that I prefer the "non-American announcers." There is no comparison between the Euro Cup coverage and the World Cup coverage from 2 years ago. The Euro cup announcers have been spot on, despite viewing the game from the studio (which I am honestly amazed at how they do that). The American announcers should take a lesson or two from the British guys. Their calling of the game is fantastic and their knowledge of the games and the players is superb. I get a much better feel for the game from those guys. And I love their accents!! Hopefully ABC/ESPN will get the message and use them for the 2010 World Cup.

Great that its being broadcast, but I won't be able to handle another major tournament without onsite broadcasting. It just seems to lose its feel. I want he broadacasters to be able to report the feel of the stadium, the crowd, the weather, the status of the pitch etc.

You cant capture that from a room in Connecticut. Go Germany!

... this practice of having announcers sit in a studio and give play-by-play of a game being broadcast by satellite from another site is quite common in futbol ... er, soccer. It happens all the time. Why? Cost is obviously one reason. But an even bigger reason is that so many people watch the major international futbol matches around the world that the stadium press boxes could not handle all the announcers who might want to be present to broadcast live. They simply do not have enough announcing booths. So one company handles broadcast production on-site and feeds pool video with background audio to anyone who wants to buy in and capture the signal. Then the buyer adds commentary to the feed as it is transmitted via its network. It's a simple enough solution to a logistical nightmare, Scott. Surely someone of your vast knowledge of broadcast production would know such a thing, eh?

What is really the difference?

sitting in studio talking, or sitting in a box talking.

Yes, the coverage was great.

The fourth poster is also correct. When I lived in China during 2006, I would watch slightly condensed soccer rebroadcasts every night. The Chinese announcers were clearly guys sitting there in the studio, sticking their commentary feed over an already recorded match. There's nothing wrong with that; I, for one, care more about watching the game than what the announcers have to say.

My only gripe is that the studio talk during the blackout periods of that game was inane and absolutely awful. I wish we had 3 people from the United Kingdom at the desk rather than the two obviously clueless Americans.