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Football

16th Jun 2018

ITV’s commentator lost it for a few seconds during Argentina Iceland

Simon Lloyd

Be honest, you’ve probably been in this position before…

You’re watching a football match – a World Cup football match – and suddenly an unfamiliar player limbers up from the substitutes’ bench, ready to take to the action. You instantly find yourself wondering all the obvious questions: Which club do they play for? What position do they usually play? How do they compare in height to one half of Mel and Sue?

Err, wait. What?

Obviously, nobody has asked that last question. Ever. Yet despite this, with 15 minutes remaining of Argentina’s 1-1 draw with Iceland at the 2018 World Cup on Saturday, ITV Sport’s Sam Matterface inexplicably decided to compare the height of Cristian Pavon to Mel Giedroyc (and Kirsten Dunst, for what it’s worth).

The 22-year-old Boca Juniors player – all 5’5″ of him – replaced Paris Saint-Germain’s Angel Di Maria for the final quarter of an hour. As he took the field, Matterface said: “He’s only five foot, five inches tall, which is the same height as Kirsten Dunst and Mel from Mel and Sue.”

Here, have a listen. It was fantastically Partridge…

The game itself saw Argentina take a lead in the first half through Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, only for Iceland to equalise minutes later through AlfredFinnbogason – their first ever World Cup goal.

The game’s only other major talking point was the second half penalty Lionel Messi failed to convert. The Barcelona star saw his spot kick saved easily by Hannes Halldorsson in the Iceland. “The Hand of Cod,” Matterface described it – much better than what followed.