World Cup....frustration

So the world cup has got up & running & so far has been reasonable to watch on normal television. However there are some really nagging gripes for me, in this new hyper-digital age - why oh why is it so very difficult to stream video for those of us not lucky enough to have the whole month off?

The BBC has their own micro-website dedicated to the World Cup which is pretty reliable, with links to televised games, or where some [ok most] games have been poached/cherry-picked by ITV to BBC Radio Five Live. This is where I really do have a problem. ITV has their own dedicated micro-website for the World Cup...which has been the causes of much frustration of the past couple of days.

Now maybe this is just me using the BBC website too much, but I really like not having advertisements in my video streaming - you don't get it on the iplayer, you don't get it with any videos on the news site, or the sports site - just straight into what you are wanting to watch. 

However, when trying to watch the opening game - South Africa vs Mexico, then again when I was away at the weekend the Serbia vs Ghana match - the frustration of adverts was pretty high, I don't want to see at least 3 adverts (taking 1-2 minutes) before I can see live sports - that's not really on guys! However, this was nothing when looking at the quality of the video was a serious issue - it was a perpetual spot-the-ball competition, to say nothing of trying to establish which player was which. Then a final frustration - there was also a running (& particularly distracting) chat going on on the right of the screen - a twitter-styled messageboard which there was no way to get rid of - so much fail for such a plausibly simple task - show me football - is that too much to ask?!

Frustration aside, I really want these group stages to hurry along because the last 16 & onwards is looking highly interesting. My thoughts on the ones to watch - Brazil ,Spain, Portugal & the Netherlands (although we haven't watched them perform yet), Germany look really strong and Argentina have the strength up front for some serious destruction! England need to prove themselves to their country - no pressure guys, but improvements need to be made after that American game - I'm looking at you Emile Heskey & Bobby Green! I think that the dark horses are looking like South Korea and South Africa, but I think you should include Argentina/Portugal as well - wel shall see & we continue