England will beat Slovenia - because it's on the BBC
Published 23:15 21/06/10 By Matt Blake
Don't worry folks, England should beat Slovenia on Wednesday... because it’s being shown on the BBC.
Our stats show England have won far more World Cup matches when televised on the Beeb than on rivals ITV.
The numbers will calm fans’ nerves ahead of the crunch game, which England must win in order to progress to the knock-out stages.
And the dismal displays so far against the USA and Algeria will come as no surprise given that both matches were shown solely on unlucky ITV.
Since World Cup finals games were split between Britain’s two main terrestrial channels for the first time in 1982, the Three Lions have won 62% of their games when aired on BBC – compared to just 30% on ITV.
England have also found the back of the net more on the BBC with a positive goal difference of 12, while ITV can boast just four.
Fans will now be hoping for a repeat of Mexico ‘86, when England lost and drew their first two group games before thrashing Poland 3-0... on the BBC.
And having only drawn against Ireland and the Netherlands in Italia ‘90, Bobby Robson’s men dramatically beat Egypt 1-0 to get into the knockout stage.
Other big BBC wins include a 3-1 triumph over France in 1982, 2-0 over Columbia in 1998 and David Beckham’s heart-stopping strike against Argentina to secure a 1-0 victory in 2002.
It may also come as a boost to know that England have only ever conceded TWO goals at World Cups when shown only on the BBC.
Hoe the channels compare:
SHOWN ON P W D L F A
BBC 13 8 3 2 14 2
ITV 10 3 5 2 12 8
BOTH 8 4 0 4 14 9
