Sure I heard them say the other day that he is staying reporting from the England camp until they go out the tournament. Makes sense if he's not doing any commentaries other than England games.

That means they have two England reporters!

Wednesday 15th June - talkSPORT

Ian Danter presenting World Cup Matchday Live from the Johannesburg studio with Alvin Martin at Ellis Park

FIFA 2010 World Cup Group G
Brazil v North Korea - Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin (commentary)

I was out and about commuting for much of today, so listened to most of this afternoon's commentaries on talkSPORT and enjoyed what I heard of both games.

I know he has some critics on here, but in particular I want hand out some well-deserved praise to Bobby Gould.

I can well imagine him being out his depth covering games like Greece v South Korea, where he doesn't know the first thing about either team, however there are three matches I really want to hear him cover - the three involving New Zealand.

Bobby has coached and scouted out in NZ and his son Jonathan is coaching there as we speak, so Bob clearly knew a great deal about their squad, having watched and trained his fair share of their players. You can't deny that he brings a lot to the table here as he possess a genuine insight.

And this was reflected in the commentary, he was very informative and did a strong job of detailing what each of the New Zealanders offered. At the same time, he was fair to Slovakia and made a point of crediting them on their merits. So much so that I'll forgive him for his excited reaction to the NZ equaliser!

Credit too for John Rawling. I know he has his critics as well and personally I had my reservations about him being chosen to commentate ahead of others at the station, but having listened to him at length today I felt he did as good a job as anybody.

He spoke strongly and was very well researched, with entertaining anecdotes about both teams. I was very impressed.

Portugal v Ivory Coast wasn't a classic but nevertheless I enjoyed the job Nigel Pearson and Ray Parlour did of covering it.

Nige seems to get on so well with whichever co-commentator you throw at him, I don't believe he'd ever commentated with Parlour before today yet you wouldn't know it as they quickly build up a nice rapport.

And you can't help but like Ray - his sunny personality and upbeat style always shines through.

Enjoying the phone-in with Dants and Alvin at the moment - all in all, it's been a good day coverage-wise on talkSPORT.

........probably built up in the pub the night before.

Seems so. I just looked back at the 5 Live "Press Pack" on the BBC website and it states

I guess at the age of 60 Mike Ingham is at the winding down phase of his career and so it suits him just to repport from the England camp and commentate on thier games.

Wednesday 16th June: talkSPORT

Mark Saggers presenting World Cup Matchday Live.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Group H
Chile v Honduras - Graham Beecroft and Micky Quinn (commentary)
Spain vs Switzerland - Nigel Pearson and Ray Parlour (commentary)

Chile vs Honduras
Arlo White, Nigel Adderly and Pat Nevin

Spain vs Switzerland
Darren Fletcher, David Oates and Chris Waddle

South Africa vs Uruguay
Connor McNamara, Mike Sewell and David Moyes

Currently listening to this. The commentators sound very loud. I've thought this about previous matches. Also, do you think the commentators sound clearer than when they do domestic/European matches?

They are probably louder due to the vuvu's. I wouldn't say they sound clearer but I'm always on DAB pretty much,

I've been listening to 5Live alot but it's not my favourite commentary team so have stuck with TV

Wednesday 16th June: talkSPORT

Adrian Durham presenting World Cup Matchday Live.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Group A
South Africa v Uruguay - Ian Danter and Stan Collymore (commentary)

Caught Baddiel and Skinner's first live show from South Africa on Absolute earlier. It was a really fun listen.

I think having Frank doing a weekly show in this mould (with or without David) on Saturdays as a lead-in to their live Premier League commentaries next season would be an excellent move by Absolute.


I take it, from Tuesday (the day after the final 12.30pm kick-off takes place), the same will apply to Townsend & Parry during the week.

I've been listening to a lot of 5Live this week and I have to praise their coverage. Pougatch and Chapman have been excellent. They've also conveyed the cultural element of this tournament well.

The commentaries have generally been of a high quality (other than Oatley), I'm not a huge fan of Mike Sewell but after that I enjoy them.

Robbie Savage is a great addition, I'm no fan of Pleat either but can cope. David Moyes is OK too.

They are also doing well with guests from other countries, Guillem Ballague, South African journalists, Brazillian journalists etc. Not as England centric as other outputs either.

I haven't listened to TS so none of this is a dig at them, it's more compared to TV coverage.

I only wish BBC red button was in HD. Right now I have to use a pause able DAB to get it in sync. Sad I know!

In the regular season thread I like a "person turning up on Five Live and talkSPORT in the same day" spot, so here's a World Cup one of these.

Guillem Balague was a guest on the Sports Breakfast with Ian Danter and Ronnie Irani on talkSPORT this morning, and when I flicked on Five Live's coverage of Spain v Switzerland this afternoon he was doing punditry alongside Mark Pougatch for them during the build-up, at half-time and at full-time. I guess we'll hear a fair bit of Guillem on both stations during Spain's run in the tournament.

On this subject, talkSPORT have taken a similar approach to Five Live in that they've invited a number of global football journalists onto their coverage.

Right now Raphael Honigstein is a guest on their World Cup phone-in, and we've heard lots from Guillem, Tim Vickery and other journos from both the UK and further afield. The weekend before the tournament started, talkSPORT made a point of airing two afternoon shows specifically focusing on the other 31 teams in the competition aside from England which made for good listening.

So I'm with you on this one Col, it's nice that both our national radio stations are making an effort to get a more rounded view of the tournament, in contrast to the Anglo-centricity of the TV broadcasters.

5Live have an England round up at midday, at HT of the 3pm KO and then beofre the 7:30KO (give or take those times).

These updates barely last 5 minutes, there then maybe some quick discussion (which will intensify tomorrow, Friday and Saturday) but it's no where near the ITV levels, probably on a par with BBC TV or maybe less.

Involving people from other countries is good, while we don't expect someone from all countries I would expect someone with knowledge of each continent (Asia, S. America, N.America, Africa) to be available. Europe is slightly different as many of the players will be known to many people so there may be less need for an "expert", the pundits should have the knowledge already.

Well thats what I've been doing for a few years. Hard work with all them air horns, if you miss the start of the match.

Sports Editor Phil Blacker is in South Africa for LBC, and is also likely to appear on other Global Radio outlets.

He's appearing on Dave Berry's Breakfast Show on XFM each morning too with his sports bulletin.

For the first time in living memory the intl feed pictures & comm of the matches are in synch (to within half a sec) with the live radio 5 commentaries which I access online "using my company's UK IP address".

It's a real bonus for me, yesterday for example the N Korea vs Brazil game was b/cast on SkyPerfectv with the alternative lang option only being Portuguese.....

Argentina vs South Korea
Alistair Bruce-Ball, Connor McNamra and Robbie Savage

Thursday 17th June: talkSPORT

Danny Kelly presenting World Cup Matchday Live.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Group B
Argentina v South Korea - Graham Beecroft and Ray Parlour (commentary)
Greece v Nigeria - John Rawling and Bobby Gould (commentary)

Revelation at the 2-1 point:

Moyes tried to sign him twice, do we believe him?