Some add pairings TBH, I would have liked them to stick with the Murray/Green pairing as it was so good on Saturday.

ABB gets further into a tournament than before albeit the last pick of the games but he is going solo

This was hosted by Mark Pougatch in the Rio de Janeiro studio, with Kevin Kilbane as well. Ian Dennis also popped up next to Alistair at one point.

It was also mentioned during the game that Pat Nevin wants to 'desperately beat' Tim Henman in the recently launched Wimbledon / World Cup cross over 'Copa uppy'.

Thanks Shaun for posting the 5Live quarter final details-- the commentary teams seem fine to me-- I think if they are going to use 2 person commentary teams (I've made my views clear on this out-dated nonsense before) its fair enough to mix people up a bit. I'm glad ABB is getting a quarter-final-- I don't rate him as highly as the other 5Live commentators, but from what I've heard, he's had a good world cup so deserves this.

Heard Mike Bovill on TS Extra Time this morning talking about him being with a 'team' currently in Sao Paulo with the other team doing two games. So it sounded like all games bar the 3rd/4th play off will be on site for Talksport.

what with Andy Murray's rather lame demise from Wimbledon yesterday, I'd expect 5Live to prioritise the football over the tennis from 5 PM tomorrow. 5Live have previously prioritised tennis over the World cup quarter finals,, in 1998 and 2010 as in both cases, a Brit was busy being thrashed in a Wimbledon semi-final at the time. I believe in 1998, it was the Netherlands v Argentina with only the second half being covered after Henman got beat. in 2010, Murray was playing Nadal and, as others have said, Brazil v the Netherlands was on 5LSX.

From what I remember that was a Saturday afternoon - having looked at wiki it was France v Italy which was played on the Friday.

On your general point I suspect you will be right.

I presume the Beeb will have the football on BBC1 and leave the tennis to BBC 2?

That's right, talkSPORT's commentary plans for the quarter-finals have now been confirmed on Twitter and in Adrian Durham's latest blog (which I've really enjoyed reading incidentally, great insight into the talkSPORT coverage).

Mike Bovill has been producing all of Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore's commentaries throughout the World Cup and will be with them in Fortaleza tonight for Brazil v Colombia and then in Salvador tomorrow for Netherlands v Costa Rica. Meanwhile, Jon Norman has been assigned to produce the Andrew McKenna and Stuart Pearce/Ray Parlour pairings and he will be producing Macca and Ray at the Maracana today (with Durham presenting on-site) for France v Germany and will then be travelling with them to Brasilia for Argentina v Belgium on Saturday. Durham will host coverage of both the McKenna and Parlour commentaries before travelling home, with Saggers hosting the two games Proudfoot and Collymore are doing.

Looking ahead to next week and going by the talkSPORT.com schedule combined with what we know about JP doing 15 games (he's done 10 so far), Mark Saggers, Ray Parlour, Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore will be covering both semi-finals - I presume Collymore will be on co-commentary duty for both matches with Parlour doing punditry. It'll almost certainly be the same again for the final.

Friday 4th July - talkSPORT

World Cup Live presented by Adrian Durham from Estadio do Maracana (4-7/8pm) and Mark Saggers from Rio de Janeiro (7/8pm-midnight)

FIFA World Cup Quarter-Finals
France v Germany - Andrew McKenna and Ray Parlour (5pm commentary), with Ian Abrahams reporting and Jon Norman and George Cummins producing
Brazil v Colombia - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (9pm commentary), with Mike Bovill producing

Tennis: Wimbledon 2014
All-England Club - Katy Murrells

Yesterday, McKenna and Abrahams reported from the Maracana on France's open training session there. During the World Cup rest days, Wimbledon updates came from Kate Partridge (Wednesday) and Katy Murrells (Thursday).

Mark Saggers took the World Cup Live reigns at 8pm and he's actually presenting from Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza rather than their Rio studio. I imagine his producer Dennie Morris has also joined the team in the stadium.

Just to confirm that the tennis did indeed move to 5LSX for the whole of the second semi final with 5Live having an extended news update before Jonathan Overend took over to present coverage of Germany v France with Chris Waddle alongside him. Chris stayed on as Mark Pougatch took over live from the stadium for coverage of Brazil v Colombia.

Saturday 5th July - talkSPORT

World Cup Live presented by Adrian Durham from Rio de Janeiro (2-7/8pm) and Mark Saggers from Arena Fonte Nova (7/8pm-12.30am)

FIFA World Cup Quarter-Finals
Argentina v Belgium - Andrew McKenna and Ray Parlour (5pm commentary), with Jon Norman producing
Netherlands v Costa Rica - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (9pm commentary), with Mike Bovill and Dennie Morris producing

Cycling: Tour de France 2014
Stage 1 (Leeds to Harrogate) - Lisa O'Sullivan

Formula 1: British Grand Prix Qualifying
Silverstone Circuit - Graham Courtney

Tennis: Wimbledon Ladies Singles Final 2014
Eugenie Bouchard v Petra Kvitova - Katy Murrells

Adrian was joined in talkSPORT's Rio studio by journalists Paddy Barclay (London Evening Standard) and Raphael Honigstein (The Guardian and Suddeutsche Zeitung) between 2-4pm. Ian Abrahams continues to do his fans vox pops from Copacabana beach.

Ian Abrahams has had the biggest holiday out of anyone. Few voxpops a day!

In fairness, he also read the morning news bulletins on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast - from 2am local time - during the weeks when Alan was out in Brazil earlier in the tournament, has conducted interviews from the mixed zone at all of the matches taking place at the Maracana and has reported from French and Dutch opening training sessions in Rio. He also seems to have had fewer days off than even Mark Saggers and Adrian Durham (who have been presenting live coverage virtually every matchday of the tournament so far as well as their normal shows on rest days) have had. Say what you like about his role, but talkSPORT do like to get their money's worth out of the people they send to big sporting events.

As for tonight's coverage, Mark Saggers took the reigns from Salvador at 7pm and stayed on-air until midnight (rather than 12.30am as scheduled). Adrian Durham and producer Jon Norman have confirmed they will be flying home tomorrow, I imagine Andrew McKenna and Durham's producer George Cummins will be heading back too although neither have indicated this on social media yet.

Phil Wye has Tweeted the semi final details for 5Live

Brazil vs Germany - Mike Ingham, Ian Dennis & Danny Mills
Holland vs Argentina - Alan Green, John Murray & Chris Waddle

I like the fact that they have a different team for each match though I would have used Conor McNamara instead of Ian Dennis. I'm surprised they've kept Green and Ingham apart right through the knockout stages.

Not always totally reliable but the 5 Live schedule shows a normal lineup on Saturday night ie no 3rd/4th play off commentary, which they have certainly done in previous World Cups.

I asked Phil Wye and he said he wasn't sure if they were doing it and I guess they aren't based on the schedule. I can see why & sadly it's just another sign of the times with BBC budget cuts. I hope this is the only WC where we don't get commentary on every game.

Jim Proudfoot has confirmed on Twitter he'll be covering both semi-finals and the final for talkSPORT:


I'm guessing he means the competitive games here, as we know Gary Taphouse will be commentating on the Third/Fourth Place Play-Off. At this point I'd like to be able to mention who he'll be co-commentating alongside, but the talkSPORT.com schedule is showing the dummy copy detailing a typical weekend schedule during the club football season for Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July, with it not updated to include World Cup Live as I type this.

I had been wondering if Andrew McKenna might be getting a semi-final as going by his Twitter it appears as if he's still out there despite his producer Jon Norman, Adrian Durham and his producer George Cummins now having flown back to the UK. I suppose he might be staying out for a while as a reporter (as he did after the quarter-finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup), although Ian Abrahams has tweeted that he'll be staying out in Brazil for the duration of the tournament so they have that base covered.

I'm not sure whether Stan Collymore will be doing co-commentary on both semi-finals. Ray Parlour is still out there and both he and Stan Collymore are listed as being at both semi-finals along with Mark Saggers on the talkSPORT.com schedule. Four years ago, Ray co-commentated on one World Cup semi-final with Ian Danter and also co-commentated on the Third Place Game with Jim Proudfoot, so it's a possibility. I imagine Jim and Stan will be in the commentary box for one semi-final and the final, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility for Ray to be given the chance to co-commentate on the other semi-final.

One other thing - Jim Proudfoot has been tweeting about a particularly scary flight from Salvador to Rio that he and the rest of the talkSPORT team at the Netherlands v Costa Rica game (Mark Saggers, Stan Collymore and producers Mike Bovill and Dennie Morris) were on. Digital Spy forum member Mr Williams has detailed it further on the Football Commentators Thread in the Broadcasting section:


Thank God the plane landed safely and everyone was alright. Hopefully nobody else will experience anything similar!

If it is true and 5Live don’t cover the 3rd place play-off then I’m sorry, it is just poor. Given that during this tournament they’ve shown themselves willing to do off tube commentaries from London, there is no reason why Ian Brown or whoever couldn’t have done commentary from the UK, even if it only went out on 5LSX. I know budgets are tighter now at 5Live than they have ever been, but how much would it have cost for an off-tube job.

Thank goodness TS are covering the match.

Not just radio - the BBC aren't showing the 3rd place game on TV either (at least, there's no highlights show that I can find on Saturday night but it could be buried away at 3am on the red button!).

I wonder if 5Live don't have the rights just like TV?

5 Live have the rights to broadcast all of the matches live, they have obviously decided that this match is meaningless and not worth covering.

Yes, with commentary rites to the other 63 games, they would clearly have had the rites to this 64th. with regards to TV, it is just treated like all the other games except the final, on one channel or another, hence why ITV will be showing it. Maybe like 5Live, the BBC felt it was meaningless so not worth doing highlights. Maybe they'll show the goals at the start of the final coverage?

I suppose we've been spoilt over the last 4 or 5 world cups with excellent radio coverage with 5Live covering every match with live commentary. I guess the downside of doing this is that it becomes expected so when they fall short like they have this year, moaners like me criticise them on internet forums! As I said before, credit to TS for providing commentary.

Tuesday 8th July - talkSPORT

Mark Saggers presenting World Cup Live from the Estadio Mineirao alongside Stan Collymore, with Ray Parlour in Rio de Janeiro

FIFA World Cup Semi-Final
Brazil v Germany - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (9pm commentary), with Mike Bovill and Dennie Morris producing

Ian Abrahams is doing his usual fans vox pops from the Rio fan park. On Sunday he reported on the Netherlands opening training session and press conference. Back home, Lisa O'Sullivan has been reporting on the Tour de France, while Warren Haughton did his own vox pops with the fans at roadside near Buckingham Palace during Monday's Cambridge to London stage of the tour. Fresh from producing Andrew McKenna's commentaries in Brazil, Jon Norman will be reporting on the First Test Match between England and India at Trent Bridge from tomorrow.

Outstanding commentary by Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore tonight. I listened to talkSPORT while watching the game with the TV sound turned down and they did justice to a jaw-dropping night of football, really conveying the atmosphere of a stunned Mineirao. Mark Saggers too was very good during the build-up and fall-out to the match (World Cup Live ran from 7pm to midnight), he was surprisingly calm given what he'd just seen!

I've only caught a handful of his commentaries at this World Cup but from what I've heard of him on the big games, I'd be amazed if Jim Proudfoot isn't given top billing in the talkSPORT commentary pecking order whenever he is available next season. If Sam Matterface continues to do the lion's share of talkSPORT's Premier League and other major domestic commentaries upon his return to the airwaves, then he must have a watertight retainer with the station. After the success Proudfoot has made of his return to talkSPORT at the World Cup, it will be very difficult to view Matterface as being their number one over him, and I write this as someone who rates Sam's work.

A discussion about the BBC and ITV's back-up plans in the event of the line to their commentators in the stadiums in Brazil going down on the Football Commentators Thread in the Broadcasting section got me thinking. Seeing as he is one of the few talkSPORT people to remain in Rio having not travelled with their lead commentary team, I suspect Andrew McKenna may well have produced Ray Parlour's end of the programme tonight (Ray did pre-match, half-time and full-time punditry from Rio, but had no input into the commentary). Had the line to the stadium failed for any prolonged point, Macca and Parlour would have been in position to pick up the reigns to do an off-tube commentary while the line was being re-established, as opposed to someone having to do one from London. I guess it would have been different up until now given that there was usually at least one off-tube commentary team at talkSPORT Towers per World Cup matchday, who could have taken over in such circumstances, but this may be why McKenna is still out in Brazil despite him not having an obvious on-air role.

The BBC Radio Four "Today" programme reported on the Brazil/Germany match this morning.

They ran two very long pieces on the match in the 7am hour.

TWO ! And both major pieces, plus a short report in the sport round-up.

Attn BBC: Lots of people are not interested in football and while we can accept one item, two big items in the same hour in simply unacceptable.