Joey N’Do won’t grace our screens during this World Cup, which is a shame. Given Cameroon’s shock elimination in the qualifying stages, which paved the way for Roberto Lopes and Cape Verde to make their debut at the tournament, RTE probably felt that there was no need to call in the Shelbourne legend.
When the last tournament was going on in Qatar, N’do – who these days is a player-coach at Achill Rovers – proved to be just as entertaining in a Donnybrook studio as he was on the pitch at Tolka Park and the Showgrounds, even doing a dance to celebrate one of Cameron’s goals in their dramatic 3-3 draw with Serbia.
Chill factor: Former Shelbourne star Joey N’do was a big hit as a pundit at the last World Cup
But as was revealed last week, there is no N’do as part of RTE’s extensive punditry team. Instead, it’s James McClean who was the big catch when Montrose unveiled their line-up – and while there may be some Derry City supporters out there who would prefer him analysing the action from North America than sitting at the base of their midfield, it still seems a little odd that he was drafted in when the league is only taking a two-week hiatus for the greatest show on earth.
Even with N’do’s absence, they have assembled a decent crew with the likes of Dietmar Hamann, Kenny Cunningham, Niamh Fahey, Shay Given, Keith Treacy and Richie Sadlier, whose clear-minded dissection of why the home fixture against Israel on October 4th can’t go ahead has seen his punditry star rise in recent days.
All the same, it’s been difficult to catch some World Cup fever, which perhaps explains RTE’s low-key launch. The club season just concluded a few days ago with Gabriel skying that penalty. Whisper it light, but it’s possible there is just too much football these days. That’s even without getting into Donald Trump being front and centre of the tournament and Gianni Infantino continuing to debase himself and FIFA at the knee of the American President. And then, the pain of Prague still lingers.
Low key: The crew of presenters and expert pundits from the Inside Sport programme launching RTÉ’s World Cup coverage across TV, radio and digital platforms
However, I watched my ten-year-old son start collecting Panini stickers last week and it brought me back to a more innocent time when there seemed to be magic in those tiny cards. It helped that the first sticker out of the first packet he tore open happened to be Pico Lopes, which gave both father and son a bit of a thrill.
Maybe, I should try to consume the tournament through his eyes. I was a couple of years younger when I got my first Panini sticker album. The first World Cup you remember is always the best. Mexico 86 had games going on late into the night too. I remember having to go to bed for Denmark’s last 16 clash with Spain, confident that Jesper Olsen and Michael Laudrup would sail past them, getting ready for school the next morning to be told that Emilo Butragheno had somehow scored four goals against them – and having to wait until the highlights show on BBC that night to see what happened (growing up on the border, I had six channels as opposed to two).
There is none of that now, of course. There will be 104 games in this bloated edition of the World Cup and RTE are covering every single one. And should you not feel the inclination to stay up for Fabio Cannavaro’s Uzbekistan against Colombia in the wee hours of Thursday week, have no fear, you can stream it when you wake – or highlights will be readily available by simply scrolling on your phone.
Old school: Boxes of FIFA World Cup 2026 stickers arrive for sale in Miami, Florida
It’s a massive undertaking to screen every tackle and shot in such an unwieldy tournament – and one wonders about the wisdom of it all, Who but insomniacs or people who might have had a late Monday night will sit up for Jordan against Algeria in the home of the 49ers, which is live at 4.0am on Tuesday June 23rd.
Other countries have gone even crazier with their coverage. If you are holidaying in France over next six weeks, and have access to a telly or tablet, you will be able to watch wall-to-wall World Cup coverage 24 hours a day as beIN, who have the rights there, will launch a dedicated channel this week. They do have the most talented squad in the whole thing, even if judging by the defeat to Ivory Coast on Thursday, Didier Deschamps is still struggling to get the most out of them.
In an age of streaming and when any significant moment tends to be clipped and shared on social media instantly, television companies are just looking for a way to remain relevant even for the World Cup, which is the ultimate telly event. After all, live sport remains one of the few mass shared experiences we have left in this world. But how much do we share it anymore?
Our way of consuming football has changed, even since Qatar. Once upon a time, our takeaways of a Premier League weekend would come from Match of the Day and whatever live game was on Super Sunday. Now, it’s generally through the tsunami of podcasts that are digested by Monday afternoon. And broadcasting companies have latched onto that.
Popular: The Rest is Football gang of (l-r) Micah Richards, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer
Netflix will be showing no games for the tournament, but they have brought Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer together in a Times Square studio for a The Rest is Football chat show during the World Cup. And there’s every chance that they will pull in more viewers than the actual matches.
And no matter what Roy Keane, Gary Neville or Ian Wright say on ITV’s coverage of England’s opener against Croatia, it’s unlikely to have as much impact as what one of them says on their own Stick to Football World Cup show – and they are recording 12 of those. There used to be battles between television channels for attention during a World Cup, but this one is the first to have a podcast war.
For many though, television remains the medium for a World Cup. Both English stations have a decent team of pundits – interestingly, Thomas Frank is on the Beeb while Ange Postecoglou is on ITV duty. RTE should have gone all out and tried to recruit Igor Tudor as a late substitute to make up the trio. Oliver Giroud will be a fascinating addition on BBC too if France do go deep in the World Cup, as long as he’s not just there to look good.
Big guns: David O’Leary was recently a massive hit on Roy Keane’s Stick to Football podcast
It’s just a pity that World Cup fever hasn’t hit yet. At some stage, we have to trust that the football will make us forget about Trump, Infantino, ICE agents and the absurdity of Iran having to base themselves outside of the US, where they play all their group games, because Trump and Israel waged war on their country.
Maybe, it will be when Czechia take the field against South Korea in the early hours of next Friday, but that will be more a case of it-should-have-been-us. Or the Scots’ first game in the early hours of next Sunday morning in Foxborough against Haiti.
The second Saturday of the tournament, June 20th, feels like the first proper World Cup day with Netherlands against Sweden followed by Germany v Ivory Coast. Will we have to wait that long for the fever to hit? Hopefully not.
I still have vivid memories of Mexico 86 40 years on, Lineker celebrating with his arm in a cast, Josimar’s goal against Northern Ireland, France v Brazil and Maradona, of course. Just hope my son has the same memories from this one. Not sure about that though, unless he manages to fill that sticker album.
