CURSE? WHAT CURSE? AS ITV ENJOY RARE WIN

ENGLAND were not required to face Senegal’s most dangerous player, with Bayern Munich striker Sadio Mane ruled out of the World Cup through injury. But if Gareth Southgate’s side were to reach the quarter-finals last night, in addition to the African champions they had to shrug off a more historic foe: The Curse of ITV. Since 1998, England have triumphed in just two of their 15 World Cup matches on the commercial channel; a 13-per-cent win rate. Compare that with 12 out of 16 wins on the BBC — 75 per cent — and it was little wonder Gary Lineker had a smug sign-off after England’s 3-0 win over Wales in Group B on Tuesday. Of this last-16 clash with Senegal, the Beeb’s main man said: ‘And that’s live on, well — uh — ITV. Oh well!’ ITV’s excellent host Mark Pougatch has tackled the unwanted statistic head-on in the past but perhaps wisely ignored it on this occasion. Instead, the channel put their focus on an opening VT with Jill Scott (right), the Euro 2022 winner with England’s Lionesses who is fresh from her latest victory in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity. Her pre-match message to the men’s team was: ‘It’s time to be brilliant’. Could Southgate’s lads follow in the footsteps of the more successful women’s national team or would Senegal get England’s footballing celebrities out of here over in Qatar? After the pre-match debate over Southgate’s formation and tactics, and the obligatory clip of England winning the World Cup in 1966, on came the main event. ‘It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. England want their World Cup journey to last two more weeks but it could equally end in the next two hours,’ intoned Sam Matterface, whose rise above Clive Tyldesley to become ITV’s lead commentator is a mystery to rival the identity of Jack the Ripper and the fate of DB Cooper. Sadly for the English viewing public, the initial footballing fare was a trial; as appetising as the fish eye tacos and blended mealworms on offer to Queen Jill and her fellow jungle celebrities. However, the Three Lions burst into life when Jordan Henderson scored a 38th-minute opener. ‘England fans can sit a little more comfortably now,’ was Matterface’s underwhelming, pre-rehearsed line, before Harry Kane eliminated all remaining nerves with a second in first-half stoppage time. ‘Two bits of brilliance. Game over. It’s all about concentration now,’ said the normally hard-to-please pundit Roy Keane at half-time. The Irishman was spot on and a further goal from Bukayo Saka amid a virtuoso performance from 19-year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham meant England had comfortably survived their latest brush with the Curse of ITV. Whether or not they can make it through an encounter with the world’s best player, Kylian Mbappe, in the quarter-finals is another story altogether. That rendezvous with the French is live on ITV on Saturday back at Al Bayt Stadium as England aim to show the curse has truly been reversed.