England supporters were left seething over the poor picture quality during ITV’s broadcast of England’s pre-World Cup friendly against New Zealand.
Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions faced the Kiwis at Raymond James Stadium in Florida on Saturday evening, in their penultimate warm-up fixture ahead of the tournament. However, fans watching from back home in Blighty were far from impressed with either the camerawork or the overall picture quality on display.
One furious fan took to X to blast ITV: “Is this a rerun from 1982 or 1978 world cup? Atrocious quality #itv #England” Another wrote: “@ITV what is happening with your pictures of the #England match. Looks like a 1980s tv.” A third added: “Why does the game on ITV look like poor quality picture, like it’s a 1960s replay or something ? #eng #england #fa #itv”
A fourth supporter fumed: “@ITV Why is the picture so s***?? Sort it out!!” while a fifth grumbled: “American host image + ITV = absolute s*** picture quality. World Cup will look crap on ITV, at least BBC will be having a 4k feed.”
A sixth viewer simply remarked: “ITV picture quality on this England game is garbage. Like watching Mexico 86”
Nevertheless, some supporters leapt to ITV’s defence, with one pointing out: “It is the same on the BBC for the Scotland game.” Another offered an explanation, stating: “It’s the American footage.”
Elsewhere, a number of viewers were equally concerned about the standard of commentary from Sam Matterface and Lee Dixon. One fan said: “Dear ITV, please don’t let Lee Dixon and his negative views anywhere near an England World Cup match for the whole month! Yours sincerely, the entire nation.”
Another posted: “Is Lee Dixon honestly the best available pundit ITV can wheel out for England games? Tragic!”
And a third said: “Matterface doesn’t offer even 5% of what Tyldesley did when it comes to commentating on England games in ITV. Whatever were @itvfootball doing?”
On the pitch, Tuchel named a strong starting line-up consisting of Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Jarrell Quansah, Djed Spence, Jordan Henderson, Kobbie Mainoo, Morgan Rogers, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Harry Kane.
The opening period was largely uneventful for nearly 45 minutes, but with just a minute remaining in the first half, Kane handed England the lead in Tampa.
Spence was afforded plenty of room down the left flank before the full-back cut inside onto his right foot and whipped in a cross. Kane shook off his marker and directed a header into the far corner to put England 1-0 up.