Wednesday 11 June 2014

Your Ultimate 2014 FIFA World Cup Coverage Guide (SABC 1)

SABC 1 left it to the eleventh hour to to announce its world cup broadcast plans for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, announcing details on a very lighthearted edition of its Sport@10 chat show, hosted by Thomas Mlambo.

Below is a list of their announced magazine shows:

Good Morning Brazil
When: Every Day at 6am (1 hour)
Hosted from a purpose built set at the SABC's Auckland Park studios, this show will give the early risers a recap of the prior night's action as well as previewing that days action. The show, with the name of a Brazillian breakfast show even though it is hosted by South Africans, from South Africa, to South Africans, is obviously modeled around SABC1's 2010 World Cup show Good Morning Mzansi, which was hosted by the then Carol Manana (now Tshabalala) and comedian Trevor Noah.

It is to be hosted by the winner of SABC Sport's Presenter search, Xoli Zondo, self proclaimed football lover Lerato Kganyago (Presenter of entertainment and Lifestyle show The Link on SABC 1), along with Andile Ncube, who is apparently supposed to keep things football focused, even though his own background is in shows like Live Amp. When Lerato says she loves football very much, she means she loves many things about it: Neymar, Messi, Spain, Germany Argentina Brazil, along with having "faith" in Nigeria. Xoli stated in their interview with Mlambo that she will be waking up at 2am every day, and by every day she means 32 days straight as she is planning on being on the show each and every day. Thomas also stated he will wake up to hashtag along with them at #GoodmorningBrazil

Lets Talk Brazil
When: Every Evening When there is Now World Cup Action(1 Hour) 
This talk show co-hosted by Thomas Mlambo and Minnie Dlamini will be broadcast every day when there is no matches scheduled. The two say they will analyse the ins and outs of soccer, with Mini stating that this will be a “Real” talk show analysing what is going down, what is fact and what is not. The show is said to not at all be a lifestyle shows, like the others areThey also spoke about Minnie's now one year tenure of being part of SABC Sport and what it was like.
They emphasised that Minnie will be an 'equal' co host with Thomas sitting right beside him, and not in the smaller role she plays on Soccer Zone.

 Kasi to Favelas
When: off days as well
Hosted by Maps Moponyane and Pearl Modiade, this lifestyle show will get viewers behind the action: the culture, the food and the atmosphere of Brazil straight from the Favelas of Brazil to the townships of eKasi. It will showcase things like superfans, though it is meant more for casual viewers, as Pearl herself confirmed that she is not a great fan of soccer but will hopefully grow. Thomas then asked her to identify a player onscreen, Dzeko, and she cound not identify him, instead thinking it is Shinji Kagawa, a Japanese footballer. The next person in the little game was Kagawa but Pearl yet again got this wrong, so the guys helped her get it right, making it seem as if she was 'mixing up her research.' Lets blame this on the lack of foreign football leagues on the state broadcaster because having a host that herself confessed to not beeing a big fan of the show is really something.

Build-Up, Half time and Post Match
The SABC Sport Studio was slightly expanded for the world cup to include a seperate area with a couch and soft seating, though the expansion is rather disappointing.

The star or their coverage will be current, yet already axed, Bafana Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund, which is not bad but is a considerable downgrade from Pele last time around. They failed to reveal any other analysts as part of the special reveal episode of Sport@10.

Their main coverage will be anchored by Tshepo Mabona, Thomas Mlambo and Lebo Motsoeli, who was heavily hyped on the show this evening as being the first ever female anchor of a world cup in South African history, which I wanted to say was incorrect as Carol Tshabalala must have anchored before, but unfortunately she did not ever anchor a World Cup game, despite being billed as "South Africa's First Lady of Sport). Considering both these women are playing a relatively large role in their respective broadcasters' plans, SABC Sport and Supersport, respectively, it could actually turn out to a race to see exactly who gets the honour of being the first woman in South African history to anchor a World Cup Match.

Overall, though the SABC's coverage plans seem disappointing, considering the effort Supersport is putting i.

Side note: Sport@10 takes a hiatus for the full duration of the World Cup.

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