ITV apologises after fans miss England’s first goal for Hyundai ad

ITV has been forced to issue an “unreserved apology” after fans watching the England World Cup match on High Definition (HD) missed England’s first goal and were instead shown a Hyundai advert.

The match against United States during the Saturday World Cup match was interrupted by the advert when the game was still a scoreless draw.

Reports suggest that the blunder caused more than a million fans to miss the moment when Steven Gerrard put England ahead against the USA. When coverage resumed a few seconds later, viewers watching in high definition could see the players celebrating.

Adrian Chiles, the ITV football presenter, apologised on air for “some interruption” in the HD coverage.

The glitch was a repeat of last year when ITV viewers missed Everton’s winning goal against Liverpool during an FA Cup match. At the time, Michael Grade, the chairman of ITV, apologised for the “inexcusable glitch”.

Fans deluged football websites and Twitter with angry comments condemning the error and deriding ITV.

This story first appeared on Pitch

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