Your 2010 FIFA World Cup Announcer Assignments

Here's another step as we inch closer to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The announcer pairings for the first 11 days of games has been released. Now ESPN is going to make this very hard on me and are not having constant pairings, but instead, will be shuffling them around like crazy. I guess with the World Cup being 1 month, ESPN is not revealing announcers too far in advance, but will do this in various chunks. So here ya go.


June 11
Group A: South Africa vs. Mexico 10:00 AM (Johannesburg SC) (ESPN - Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku)
Group A: Uruguay v. France 2:30 (Cape Town) (ESPN - Ian Darke and Ally McCoist)

June 12
Group B: South Korea vs. Greece 7:30 AM (Port Elizabeth) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group B: Argentina vs. Nigeria 10:00 AM (Johannesburg EPS) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku)
Group C: United States vs. England 2:30 (Rustenburg) (ABC - Martin Tyler and John Harkes)

June 13
Group C: Algeria vs. Slovenia 7:30 AM (Polokwane) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group D: Serbia vs. Ghana 10:00 AM (Pretoria) (ESPN - Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku)
Group D: Germany vs. Australia 2:30 (Durban) (ABC - Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist)

June 14
Group E: Netherlands vs. Denmark 7:30 AM (Johannesburg SC) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group E: Japan vs. Cameroon 10:00 AM (Bloemfontein) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group F: Italy vs. Paraguay 2:30 (Cape Town) (ESPN - Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku)

June 15
Group F: New Zealand vs. Slovakia 7:30 AM (Rustenburg) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group G: Ivory Coast vs. Portugal 10:00 AM (Port Elizabeth) (ESPN - Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku)
Group G: Brazil vs. North Korea 2:30 (Johannesburg EPS) (ESPN - Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist)

June 16
Group H: Honduras vs. Chile 7:30 AM (Nelspruit) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group H: Spain vs. Switzerland 10:00 AM (Durban) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group A: South Africa vs. Uruguay 2:30 (Pretoria) (ESPN - Martin Tyler and McCoist)

June 17
Group B: Argentina vs. South Korea 7:30 AM (Johannesburg SC) (ESPN - Ian Darke and John Harkes)
Group B: Greece vs. Nigeria 10:00 AM (Bloemfontein) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group A: France vs. Mexico 2:30 (Polokwane) (ESPN2 - Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku)

June 18
Group D: Germany vs. Serbia 7:30 AM (Port Elizabeth) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group C: Slovenia vs. United States 10:00 AM (Johannesburg EPS) (ESPN - Ian Darke and John Harkes)
Group C: England vs. Algeria 2:30 (Cape Town) (ESPN2 - Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist)

June 19
Group E: Netherlands vs. Japan 7:30 AM (Durban) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group D: Ghana vs. Australia 10:00 AM (Rustenburg) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group E: Cameroon vs. Denmark 2:30 (Pretoria) (ABC - Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku)

June 20
Group F: Slovakia vs. Paraguay 7:30 AM (Bloemfontein) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group F: Italy vs. New Zealand 10:00 AM (Nelspruit) (ESPN - Ian Darke and Ally McCoist)
Group G: Brazil vs. Ivory Coast 2:30 (Johannesburg SC) (ABC - Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku)

June 21
Group G: Portugal vs. North Korea 7:30 AM (Cape Town) (ESPN - Adrian Healey and John Harkes)
Group H: Chile vs. Switzerland 10:00 AM (Port Elizabeth) (ESPN - Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe)
Group H: Spain vs. Honduras 2:30 (Johannesburg EPS) (ESPN - Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist)

All in all this is a very good line up of announcers. When your biggest complaint is John Harkes, you know that ESPN has assembled a good roster. Some people would prefer JP Dellacamera to do the U.S. games, and while he probably knows the U.S. team better than most any other soccer PbP announcer alive, I'd prefer a more neutral voice. I have no problem with Martin Tyler and Ian Darke doing our games. Don't get me wrong, I like JP, but in the end, he has nothing on the guys ESPN is bringing in. He will be working the U.S. games on radio though, so don't feel too sorry for him.