My Team USA: Coming of Age WC highlights dvd arrived today. Can't wait to get home and check it out. I am encouraged by the following info from the back cover: Narrated by Paul Dempsey Official Commentators: Jon Champion and Jim Proudfoot. I was afraid I'd be stuck with "Mine eyes have seen the glory," immoratalized on dvd. I'll post a review when I'm done watching the whole thing. A side note, this is the fastest turnaround I've ever had on an order from the BigSoccer Store.
Decent stuff: the picture quality is fantastic, especially compared to the transmission ESPN2 foisted on us during the WC. Each match has a brief intro section, with a few player interviews, and some footage of fans getting ready for the upcoming match. The matches themselves are presented in the same style that the EPL show on Fox used to use (fortunately, Lionel Bienvenue is nowhere to be seen or heard on the dvd). You get maybe 15 minutes or so of play from each match. The full buildup to each goal is shown, which is nice. The announcers are English, and each match is called by only one announcer - no color (or colour) guy. I believe they just used the English TV commentary, but I could be wrong. The Poland match aside (I skipped that one, because it never happened), the announcers were quite complementary of the U.S. Overall, I give it the thumbs up.
Great to get, just for the picture and sound quality but it wasn't exactly what I was expected. I thought it'd be more fan and player talk and ... I personally wasn't a fan of the commentary. O'Brien, from the Dutch Power Ajax with the goal. What a save from Friedel, who tools his trade at Blackburn Rovers. And he may have played his way on Bayer Leverkusen's squad now .... Not one mention of any Major League soccer roots. I'm sorry but I didn't buy a TEAM USA coming of Age dvd to hear Euro snobbery.
IMO the commentary was better then listening to Jack and Ty. The picture was just fantastic. I'm getting a copy.