Telemundo’s coverage of Mexico’s final match against Costa Rica in World Cup Qualifying Tuesday night figures to score big with futbol fans.
Mexico currently sits in fourth place in the CONCACAF qualifying where the top-three finishers are ensured of a place in FIFA’s 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil next June/July. The fourth-place club will have to engage in a home-and-away set of matches against New Zealand in November to gain passage to soccer’s ultimate quadrennial tournament.
Telemundo will begin its pre-match coverage at 8 p.m. (ET), followed by kickoff at 9:30 p.m. and a post-game show. Andres Cantor will call the action from Costa Rica’s National Stadium with analyst.Sammy Sadovni. The entire event will be streamed live on DeportesTelemundo.com’s desktop and mobile sites, as well as on the Deportes Telemundo app, including the new control room and studio vantage cams during the commercial breaks.
NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language broadcast network has scored big with its coverage of the World Cup qualifiers: Mexico-Jamaica on June 4 averaged almost 2.9 million viewers, including 1.7 million persons 18 to 49, while El Tri’s match against Panama on June 7 scored with just under 2.6 million total viewers and 1.5 million in the demo.
With group tiebreakers governed by goal differential in all contests, followed by total goals in all games and various head-to-head variables, multiple scenarios are in play as Mexico (11 points) prepares to play second-place Costa Rico, which along with the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup.
Should third-place Honduras, which has 14 points, beat or tie last-place Jamaica, Los Catrachos will automatically advance to Brazil.
If Honduras loses by a goal (it has scored 11, allowed 10) and Mexico (six for, seven yielded) wins by a pair, El Tri would vault into third and the FIFA finals.
Should Mexico draw – or for that matter the first-place U.S. ties or beats fifth-place Panama – El Tri would be assured of fourth place. If Mexico were to lose, though, and Panama (eight for, 11 against) wins big, El Equipo Canalero could wind up playing New Zealand.
Univision holds the Spanish-language U.S. rights to the 2014 World Cup, so a loss by Mexico could prove detrimental to its ratings during its final run with the famed FIFA tourney. Telemundo, outbidding its rival, has secured Spanish-language U.S. rights to FIFA tourneys from 2015-22.
