Match analyst/co-commentator Aly Wagner (USA) and play-by-play commentator John Paul “JP” Dellacamera (USA) prior to the Germany vs Sweden quarterfinal match of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 at Roazhon Park in Rennes on June 29, 2019. Video frame courtesy FIFA/FOX Sports (U.S.)
By Oliver Tse
Email: workingnow88@workingnow88.com
Twitter: @workingnow88
Published on June 30, 2019. Updated on July 17, 2019
RENNES, France – Knowing that FOX Sports (U.S.) Women’s World Cup play-by-play commentator John Paul “JP” Dellacamera and match analyst/co-commentator Aly Wagner had less than 24 hours of rest between the France vs USA FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 quarterfinal match in Paris on Friday June 28 and the Germany vs Sweden quarterfinal match in Rennes on June 29, I expected them to be “off their game” on Saturday.
Furthermore, the travel issues they may have encountered between Paris and Rennes due to “yellow vest” protests (which presumably caused FOX Sports U.S. to evacuate its studio set at Café du Trocadéro in Paris shortly after kickoff of Germany vs Sweden, as FOX Sports had to put together a make-shift Los Angeles-based post-match studio panel of host Mike Hill with pundits Christie Pearce Rampone and Maurice Edu) plus the extreme heatwave in France, didn’t help.
However, those are just excuses, especially for someone with a reputation as an overachiever such as Wagner, to be so careless. She and Dellacamera should know better than to repeat the same mistakes made by their colleagues Lisa Byington and Cat Whitehill, who called the previous 4 Women’s World Cup matches involving Germany “off tube” from the FOX Network Center in Los Angeles.
During the line-up introduction prior to the kickoff of the Germany vs Sweden match, Wagner could not have made a worst first impression to any viewer who was watching her perform for the first time, as she would mispronounce the surnames of 4 Germany players:
1. Defender Carolin Simon (correct pronunciation: SEE-mohn). Wagner would mispronounce Simon “SY-mon” as if the name were American or British instead of German. Anyone who has ever taken a German class would know how to pronounce Simon in German, as many instructors use the game Simon Sagt (translation: Simon Says) as a teaching tool.
From forvo.com:
2. Midfielder Sara Daebritz (German: Däbritz; correct pronunciation: DAY-britz). Wagner would mispronounce Daebritz “dah-BRITZ” as if the name were spelled “Dabritz” and as if the name were French instead of German.
From forvo.com:
3. Midfielder Lina Magull (correct pronunciation: MAH-gool). Wagner would mispronounce Magull “mah-GOOL” as if the name were French instead of German.
4. Forward Lea Schueller (German: Schüller; correct pronunciation: SHUE-lah with the “ue” sound similar to the English word “fuel”; the same sound applies to the German name “Juergen”). Wagner would mispronounce Schueller “SHOO-ler” as if the name were spelled “Schuller”.
From forvo.com: difference between vs
Dellacamera would then mispronounce the surname of Germany head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (correct pronounciation of Voss is FOS, as the letter “v” in German is pronounced like the letter “f” in English):
From forvo.com:
During the build-up to the only goal scored by Germany, Dellacamera would mispronounce Simon “see-MOHN” as if the name were French or Spanish instead of German, and he would mispronounce Magull and Schueller the same way Wagner mispronounced those names:
2 other English-language television play-by-play commentators were calling the match on site in Rennes.
British play-by-play commentator Jacqui Oatley, who returned to the “commentary box” for her first tournament in 9 years after she called play-by-play commentary of FIFA (Men’s) World Cup South Africa 2010 matches for BBC Radio 5 Live in the United Kingdom, called the match for Host Broadcast Services (HBS) a.k.a. “the world feed”. Oatley’s voice was routed straight through to viewers by media entities in smaller English-speaking countries including The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. Oatley pronounced every German name correctly as one would expect, as she majored in German as an undergraduate at the University of Leeds:
British play-by-play commentator Robyn Cowen, who (along with colleague Vicki Sparks) was recruited by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to commentate men’s and women’s “football” including the English Premier League and the Women’s Super League, also pronounced Magull correctly:
As for the 4 play-by-play commentators who called the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 matches involving Germany for German free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television networks Das Erste (a.k.a. ARD) and Zweites Deutsches Fernschen (ZDF), I have found highlight clips for those matches so that readers can listen to how commentators Bernd Schmelzer (Das Erste), Stephanie Baczyk (Das Erste), Norbert Galeske (ZDF) and Claudia Neumann (ZDF) pronounced the names of Germany players:
You’re only as good as your last broadcast
Just because Wagner and Dellacamera have earned their position on FOX Sports’ #1 commentary team for the Women’s World Cup based on their past performance, that does NOT mean they get a free pass from their real bosses who collectively pay their talent fees via subscription fees and products and goods purchased from sponsors, namely VIEWERS of FOX Sports (U.S.), when they make so many careless errors that are avoidable. The root of their errors can once again be summed up by one simple broadcasting mantra: fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Another simple broadcasting mantra, “you’re only as good as your last broadcast”, applies to Wagner and Dellacamera. They were NOT good on Saturday, and they have 2 days to regroup before the U.S. vs England semifinal match in Lyon on Tuesday July 2.
At least they won’t have to deal with names of Germany players or coaches for the rest of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
