The matches were the point

The World Cup was a logistical miracle and a broadcast habit. Fox had the games, the plazas, and a country that finally had to care on a Tuesday afternoon. The pictures from the stadiums were often superb. The talk around them was the usual anxiety that a 0-0 might be a personal insult.

What worked: the games, the crowd mics, sometimes not cutting away from a build-up. What did not: narrating emotion that was already on the field. Watch the matches. You can skip the debate about whether soccer is television.

Watch the matches. Mute the interstitial if you already know a midfielder from a mascot.