Some comments on the World Cup broadcasts

The staging of the World Cup is impeccable. If only it were always like this. There are no replays while the match is in progress. They take advantage of stoppages to replay goals, good chances, spectacular plays, or controversial actions. Football matches well broadcast with a singularity: the almost sacred appearance of Gianni Infantino. In a good handful of matches, at the tenth minute of each half, the FIFA president appears in the box, in a centered shot and slight low-angle. Like a Roman emperor observing his feast. The instruction for the directors is very clear. Neither Leni Riefenstahl was so explicit nor had such obvious orders when it came to highlighting who holds power.

The commentary is the differentiating factor. On DAZN, the important matches are covered by Miguel Ángel Román with a good voice and a sober yet colloquial style. He is often accompanied by the platform's commentator Alberto Edjogo, undoubtedly the quintessential analyst of the World Cup in both his ability to communicate and explain football. The rest of the platform's commentators, seasoned in the profession, demonstrate great knowledge of the countries' player cards and the footballing temperament of each selection. It is logical that a pay channel has the best experts.

The most important matches and those from Spain also offered by Televisió Espanyola fall to Juan Carlos Rivero on La1. A classic of the network, where even his confusions are already part of the brand. He would like to be José Ángel de la Casa, but his slips already seem like extra entertainment for the audience, an added game to discover the blunder of the day. Rivero, it must be said, has chosen to laugh at himself, but there are errors that freeze a smile. In the Spain-Portugal match this Monday, he changed the name of the Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa and christened him Diogo Jota, the Liverpool footballer who died last year in a traffic accident. Alongside Rivero, everything flows better when Chapi Ferrer is there. The ex-Barcelona player doesn't have great oratory skills, but he knows how to put himself in the shoes of the player, the coach, and the fan. On the other hand, neither Mario Suárez nor Vero Boquete go beyond the clichés and obvious statements that any football fan could make.

2Cat is not quite finding its rhythm in this World Cup. The commitment to Catalan broadcasts is good and reasonable, but it seems they want to take an unusual approach to justify it. Joan Carles Garcia and Albert Font are correct as narrators, as are Marc Brau's contributions. But sometimes the care for Catalan is unpolished and some weak pronouns are missed. The history of football in Catalan has set a very high bar for expectations. Lluís Carreras is one of the best commentators of the World Cup, choosing phrases and reading the matches. It's also very much worth listening to the contributions of former player Olga García. The problem is that the model falters.

Some days they are the announcer and analyst, and on other days Sergi Mas and Edu Mutante join them. They want to do, proportionally speaking, what Alfons Arús did years ago with Barça, but they don't succeed. They lose the tone, they function in fits and starts, and the broadcast is irregular. Mutante's shoehorned-in imitations have no place here. He imitates Valdano, Salinas, or Guardiola well, but in the middle, they grate. And the younger ones no longer know who José María García is. The broadcast hasn't decided what it wants to be. It's neither funny enough for those who want to laugh nor does it expel those who seek rigor. The problem isn't with Mutante, but with whoever decided that, to differentiate itself from Spanish, this should be the model in Catalan.