World Cup 2002: Telly wars: Beeb's lone Dane Peter left in lurch by

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jun 16, 2002 | by with BRIAN McNALLY

THE phoney World Cup showdown ended at noon yesterday as BBC and ITV went head-to-head in the ratings battle.

The Beeb, buoyed by an impressive first week of slick, professional presentation went into the contest as strong favourites, even though ITV feel their 14 million audience for the opener against Sweden is an indication they will come out on top.

As a contest it was no way as one-sided as England's crushing demolition of Denmark. But first blood went to the boys from the BBC, even if they fielded what was undoubtedly an under-strength line-up.

Star men Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen and the obligatory Dane Peter Schmeichel made up for the surprise absence of Martin O'Neill and the shock inclusion of the juvenile Ian Wright.

The commercial channel's pre-match advertising blitz, amazingly, tried to hype up the lamentable Paul Gascoigne.

"Choose the man who shed a tear," spouted their Lynam-led propaganda that played on the nostalgia of 12 years ago. "He is one of you."

Gazza's first touch failed him miserably. He stumbled to remember the name of Denmark's star striker Jon Dahl Tomasson and was rescued only by the prompting of former mentors Terry Venables and Bobby Robson.

After the final whistle things went from bad to worse for tongue- tied Gazza as he tried to explain skipper David Beckham's role. Yet again he completely dried up and Venables could be plainly heard whispering instructions to him.

Over on the Beeb Schmeichel was disappointed that he didn't have an ally in fellow pundit Hansen.

"You sound like you support England," barked Schmeichel. "You are a Scotsman with a Danish name."

Within five minutes Gary Neville and Gazza were punching the air in the ITV studio as England took the lead. "We don't need a Russian linesman here," yelled Ron Atkinson as Sunderland's Thomas Sorensen fumbled the ball over the line. Back on the Beeb, Motson naively inquired: "Does that take the pressure off or put more on?" His sidekick Trevor Brooking could be relied upon to offer his standard statement of the obvious. "It takes it off," he declared authoritatively.

Michael Owen's vital second goal brought very different responses. "The door to the quarter-final is now ajar," screamed Motson.

"We could all be in the big Yo," enthused Atkinson - a reference to World Cup Final venue Yokohama, we were later told.

The 3-0 half-time scoreline produced more playground theatrics from Wright, the one glaring weakness in the BBC's team.

"This is marvellous stuff, baby," he declared before urging the England strikers to keep putting the "hot water bottle" in the goal.

And even Motty wasn't up to his usual standards. "I didn't actually research England's biggest winning margin," admitted the slightly embarrassed commentator. It was a minor blemish on an otherwise commanding commentary.

On the day the Beeb edged it despite a sterling performance from Newcastle knight Bobby Robson.

But who will win the ratings war when the figures are released this week? My money is firmly on the Beeb even if the Denmark presentation was far from their best of the tournament.