The Germany vs Sweden match on Saturday was set up to be Fox’s best broadcast of the tournament.
The match came right after Mexico held on to beat South Korea, boosting interest in the game. The defending champion was on the brink of elimination against another recognizable European foe. And it was one of the few matches Fox actually had people in the stadium, with John Strong and Stu Holden calling the match from Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi.
But the end of the Germany vs Sweden match showed Fox is still struggling to put together a decent broadcast of the 2018 World Cup.
I don’t think it would be a stretch to say Saturday was the best day of the World Cup so far. Last Saturday was pretty amazing too and we really haven’t had any duds, but Belgium put on a show, Mexico showed it’s legit and Germany survived in what was probably the best match of the tournament. The only way it could have been better would have been if Zlatan Ibrahimovic had shown up and done something crazy.
And to be fair, Fox’s broadcast was pretty good throughout the match. Having Strong and Holden in house allowed the pair to point out things that would have been impossible calling the game from a studio in Los Angeles, as most Fox announcers are doing.
When Sebastian Rudy was bloodied in the first half, the announcers were able to point out Ilkay Gundogan warming up, suggesting a substitution was coming. And Holden described Rudy throwing his jersey away in frustration upon being told he would be subbed out, well before the global feed showed viewers the same thing.
There were other small moments on the sideline picked up by the announcers, such as pointing out incoming substitutes and how much stoppage would be put on the board.
The best moment for having broadcasters in the stadium came when Jerome Boateng received a second yellow. The global feed was caught napping and missed the referee pulling out his card, but the Fox announcers did not.
But the broadcast of the Germany vs Sweden game finished poorly for Fox.
When the referee blew the match dead after a thrilling 97 minutes, Strong pointed out pushing and shoving going on in the fourth official’s area between the staffs of both teams. Janne Andersson, the Sweden coach, was furious, according to Holden.
We didn’t see any of it and the topic was quickly dropped as Strong immediately sent the broadcast to the studio and viewers were left wondering what exactly happened.
For starters, the global feed Fox was using should have showed what was going on in the scuffle. Fox could have cut away from the global feed (there are other feeds available, such as the sky cam), but opted to return to the studio.
Worst of all, the Fox broadcast completely ignored the incident. Sure there was a dramatic finish to discuss, but you’d think a brouhaha would be worth mentioning.
Fox did say it would show the post-game clash during its World Cup Tonight show later in the day, but the quantity of people who watch that compared to a Saturday afternoon match is miniscule.
This was more proof of Fox’s disappointing summer of broadcasting, which thus far has included analysts being dumped, a lack of radio coverage, announcers who few people seem to like and countless moments where broadcasters were confused about what was happening because they weren’t on location.
Just as damning for Fox has been the studio shows’ inability to react. For example, after Iran won via a late own goal by Morocco on the second day of the tournament, the Fox studio didn’t even discuss the match, instead focusing on promoting a Spain-Portugal match that was still an hour away. It’s a shame Fox can’t provide quality analysis and instead often focuses on whatever Ronaldo and Neymar are up to, just assuming all American viewers are idiots who don’t care about soccer.
So what did happen after the Germany vs Sweden match? Video from SVT Sport shows two German staff members (neither major figures) walking over to applaud sarcastically at the Swedish bench. One Swedish staff member shoved one of the German offenders pretty hard before the fourth official restored some semblance of order.
So at least now you don’t have to watch any more Fox than you have to if you wanted to see what happened. Because the less Fox you watch, the better off you are.