2018 FIFA World Cup Russia

Am I seeing things or are Après Match really presenting RTÉ's actual coverage of the third-place match?

Yep ...

Isn't that a bit of a tradition?

Well obviously, but if it was seen as a big deal they might have had him do both. Glenn Hoddle is apparently doing both games.

So as much as we tried to dismiss "the curse of ITV" as a myth earlier in the tournament worth noting that England won their three matches on the BBC and failed to win any of their four matches on ITV (a penalty shoot out win is technically considered a draw).

All of the ITV games were the most competitive. The only competitive match on BBC was Sweden, and they turned out to be terrible.

Despite all the hype, when England faced some of the better teams, they turned out to be not that great. Yes we can turnover Panama & Tunisia, but we didn’t fare well against the stronger sides.

Is it?

Sounds like massaging the figures, not that they matter in any case.

Yes it does count as a draw, because a penalty shootout is separate to an actual game of football.

For some time now.

Yes. Firstly in terms of settling the final table ranking all 32 teams, (England finished with a 3-1-3 record) and also secondly to betting companies, a 1-1 after 120 minutes is considered a draw and no bets are paid out on teams winning on penalties unless you also bet on the team to "qualify."

Nobody is talking about betting.

In terms of TV coverage I bet ITV are glad they had that draw then. A draw that will be remembered for years to come and was probably the biggest moment of the whole England campaign.

Yes, no doubt England wise ITV had the perfect picks throughout.

Ratings did collapse yesterday though with an average of just 5m. On Wed night I thought it would do double that but by yesterday that clearly wouldn't be the case.