RTE announced their World cup coverage of 56 live matches on RTE2 (all 64 games are live on www.rte.ie) from June 11th until July 11th today. Former Argentinean 1978 World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles and former German 2002 World Cup finalist Dietmar Hamann will join the regular panel of Graeme Souness, John Giles and Eamon Dunphy as well as genial anchor-man Bill O’Herlihy for the duration of the tournament.

Ardiles’ insight into the Argentinean performances should be both interesting and intriguing from a former international player and manager who is never afraid to criticise current manager Diego Maradonna. Hamann’s knowledge of the German international setup will also add a new angle on RTE’s regular coverage. Watch out also for the likes of Graeme Souness, Ronnie Whelan and newcomer (and good outside bet for pundit of the competition) Richie Sadlier as well as former Manchester United stalwart Denis Irwin for expert analysis.

RTE prides itself on its non-nonsense punditry and rightly so. The usual banal (or should that be anal) offerings from the BBC and ITV such as ‘the lad’s done well there’, ‘England will have to up it in the second half’ or ‘I think Brazil will win it’ are in stark contrast to the in-depth analysis and sometimes scathing criticism provided by the RTE panellists.

Expect sparks to fly with the returning Liam Brady and regular fellow panellists Giles and Dunphy set to argue the merits of ‘playing with conviction’. Brady’s return should provide some tasty moments as you can be sure Bill’O will be anxious to get the former Republic of Ireland backroom staff member’s opinions on Trapattoni and recent Irish performances.

As ever, Dunphy vs. Brady or just Dunphy vs. anyone else should make for RTE’s highest ratings during what promises to be a cracking summer of soccer. RTE possess another trump card in the evergreen commentator Jimmy Magee whose seemingly bottomless pit of footballing memories always adds a touch of nostalgia whenever his dulcet tones emanate from the TV.

The annual World Cup tournament ‘Brit bashing’ is unlikely to surface as obviously this time around with most RTE pundits already on record for their admiration of Italian Coach Fabio Capello and how well he has handled the most high-profile international managerial position in world football thus far. Should England slip up however you can be certain that the knives or rather the electronic pen will be out complete with John Giles scrawls across your TV screen explaining where Capello and England went wrong.

As if that wasn’t enough the addition of the always excellent Après Match will provide a light-hearted contrast to the serious punditry. The thought of a comedy sketch involving Souness, Ardiles, Hamann or Dunphy is almost as exciting as the launch of the actual tournament itself.

Ger McCarthy is author of the book entitled ‘Off Centre Circle’, available on Amazon, which chronicles the curious life of an amateur Irish football player.