Fox "plans to go all-American with its top broadcast crew for next year's World Cup," pairing play-by-play man John Strong in the booth with former USMNT F Landon Donovan and FS1 analyst Stuart Holden, according to Ronald Blum of the AP. Holden said, "Soccer in our country is at a point now where I think we're ready to do that, and we have announcers and talent that are capable of bringing educated options." The crew will broadcast tonight's World Cup qualifier between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver. Strong and Holden will call Sunday's qualifier at Mexico and will be the "primary announce team for the Confederations Cup in Russia starting June 17." Donovan will "skip the Confederations Cup while awaiting the birth of a child." FS1 Exec Producer David Neal said, "They're American voices, diverse American voices." ESPN broadcast the World Cup in the U.S. from '94-'14, and at the last two tournaments it "relied heavily on British play-by-play men." Fox' other two broadcast teams for the Confederations Cup will "call matches from the network's studio" in L.A.: JP Dellacamera and Brad Friedel, and Jorge Perez-Navarro and Cobi Jones. Kate Abdo "hosts studio coverage from Russia, where Fox will be based in St. Petersburg, and analysts include Lothar Matthaeus, Guus Hiddink and Eric Wynalda." Rob Stone anchors the L.A. studio, "where Alexi Lalas, Arne Friedrich, Fernando Fiore, Aly Wagner and Mariano Trujillo are the analysts" (AP, 6/7).
