ITV commentator Tyldesley has to go it alone after Beglin falls ill

ITV's troubled World Cup coverage suffered another setback when Clive Tyldesley had to commentate on the Holland versus Uruguay semi-final on his own.

Former Liverpool player Jim Beglin was due to be the expert summariser but couldn't attend the match because of an ear infection.

ITV said it had no standby because its team is based in Johannesburg but Tuesday's game was in Cape Town.

The channel's head of sport, Niall Sloane, said: "It happened just so late in the day that we couldn't arrange a replacement."

ITV has a back-up plan if Beglin is not well enough to work on Sunday's final.

This was the broadcaster's third major World Cup howler after ITV HD viewers missed Steven Gerrard's goal in England's game against the USA because of an unscheduled advert break.

And the channel sacked pundit Robbie Earle for breaking ticket regulations.