Bad Boys go to Goalywood

Or to give it the proper name 'Τα κακά παιδιά πάνε Goalywood'.

This show is on NET once the football finishes, and is an hour long chat show about the football that has happened during the day. It is presented by these two chaps, and I think, is a quite light-hearted review of the day's events. I say I think, because obviously I don't understand a word, but they seem like they are having a laugh.

Mind you, if nothing else, they may be laughing at this guy's trademark glasses, which look like they have escaped from Mark Curry's wardrobe.

Or they could be laughing at the set - they all sit around a table that is a giant version of the World Cup logo, and sit in chairs shapped like the Offical World Cup ball.

A bit like the UK's Fantasy Football show, the audience is all made up of fans of the teams who have been playing that day, all dressed in their replica kit. The presenters usually pick the prettiest girl in the audience and interview her, often in quite hesitating Greek - pictured is Miss Argentina from Saturday's show.

The reason I end up watching it, even though I don't understand it, is threefold. Firstly it comes on after the last match of the night has finished, so I'm usually sitting alone nursing the last of my beer, checking the news on my phone, and typing up my notes from the day for this blog.

Secondly, it is the only place you seem to get to see any highlights. In the UK during the group stages you generally get the three matches live, plus highlights packages of the matches the other side have been showing at half-time, plus probably a highlights round-up show from either BBC or ITV or both. Over here, nothing. As I mentioned, half-time usually contains about 30 seconds of highlights spliced in between 14'30" of adverts, and that is it. I've only seen England's "goal" the times it was replayed during the match. At least Bad Boys go to Goalywood runs some highlights VT over which the punters chat.

Thirdly, I'm missing the banter that a World Cup brings. With the English language press being expensive to buy and a day behind over here (except the Daily Mail which prints an edition in Greece), no internet at home, and no English language World Cup programming on TV, I'm really missing out on the social aspects of the World Cup. Yeah, I know, the beach is five minutes down the road and I can't have everything can I...

Respect is due to the Guardian's foray into downloadable radio - the World Cup Show. It features James Richardson from Football Italia fame as presenter, and has just the right mix of serious articles about countries other then England, and silly jokes and irreverant banter. I'm getting to download it each morning onto either the laptop or my USB key in town, and then listen to it before the afternoon's games start. It is an absolute godsend.