BBC Make Apology Over World Cup Coverage During Scotland 1-1 Haiti

Hal picked up his MA in Sports Journalism and NCTJ qualification from St Mary's University Twickenham, Hal has since been part of Valnet since late 2021.

He started as a freelance football writer for This Is Futbol and carried that on over to FootballFanCast before becoming their social media editor. He now works as an editor for GiveMeSport, predominantly focusing on Premier League, Champions League, and English football.

He also helps GiveMeSport cover other major sports such as MMA, boxing, darts, tennis, and golf. Key events like the summer and winter Olympics are also highlights when they appear on the sporting calendar.

Hal is an Arsenal and Three Lions fan, but keeps an eye on the All Blacks, his favourite rugby team, having grown up in New Zealand. Sign in to your GiveMeSport account This summer at the 2026 World Cup, two British teams will compete. England are hoping to win their first major trophy since 1966, while Scotland are back in the tournament once more, after a 28-year absence.

Thomas Tuchel's men are yet to play, but the Scots got off to the perfect start as they beat Haiti 1-0 in their game of Group C. In the end, John McGin's strike in the 28th minute was enough to hand the Tartan Army only their fifth win in all World Cup history.

Steve Clarke’s team were not at their best, as they picked up all three points in a somewhat unconvincing manner, but there were positive signs amid the nerves. Crucially, the win leaves Scotland top of their group, with tougher games against Morocco and Brazil (who played out a 1-1 draw) to come.

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As Scottish fans gathered to watch their team compete at their first World Cup since 1998, there would have been one huge moment of frustration among the supporters, which didn't relate to anything happening on the pitch. Indeed, at one point, the BBC were forced to apologise for a loss of picture during the game against Haiti.

Midway through the first-half, viewers lost coverage of the match, which was being played in Boston, the United States. For a short period, a patchy screen with a harsh buzzing sound appeared on screen.

However, this was not due to any direct issues with the BBC, but rather a problem with the world feed, which saw a testcard shown along with the words 'ESF UHD C' appearing, as the whole thing lasted around five seconds.

Fortunately, no major incidents were missed in the game, but the BBC reacted with an immediate statement, which was given by commentator Liam McLeod. As per the Mirror, he explained live on air:

"Apologies again if there's a loss of picture, it's a World Feed problem so everyone suffered it. But you're back with us now."

At the same time, a message at the top of the screen read: "Sorry for the loss of picture."

This isn't the only technical error at the tournament so far either. During BBC coverage of Brazil's draw 1-1 with Morocco, a bizarre conversation, likely from the BBC production team, could be heard over the commentators. An unexpected voice said: “Guest feed is good if you’re happy with that, thank you,” before counting up to 10 quickly and shouting “GOAL, GOAL, GOAL!” despite not goal happening in the match at that point.

After the win, Scotland manager Clarke spoke to the press and chose to focus on the positives, insisting that the pressure has now been eased on his squad. He explained:

"I am absolutely delighted with my players. Resilience, character had to be on the pitch tonight. There is no relief. Everyone told us it was a must-win game and we won. When you win a must-win game, you have to be happy with yourselves.”

Looking toward the games against Morocco and then Brazil, he went on to add:

“We go into them with less pressure than everybody put on to us going into this game. If we defend as well as we did here, hopefully play a little bit better with the ball and create more, we will be OK. It’s not about raising the performance, it is about a different approach against a different opponent.

“Towards the end, you know you are 1-0 up and have something to hang on to so that is what you do. The players deserve a lot of credit. I thought Haiti were terrific at denying us time and space, which made it difficult. So the other characteristics that get you three points come out. That is why we are sitting here with three points and Haiti are empty handed.”