The 2014 World Cup is down to the final match. If, for whatever reason, you won’t be able to park yourself in front of a TV to watch these matches, you should keep reading. We’ll show you how to watch and keep up with all of today’s games right from your computer. Just stick with this guide, and you won’t miss a second of World Cup 2014 action.
Related: Best world cup apps for Brazil 2014, TuneIn and ESPN team up to stream every world cup match from any device.
First, here is a primer on today’s match.
For players like Miroslav Klose, who is 36 years of age, this may very much be a “now or never” game. Lionel Messi, on the other hand, who is 27 years old, has at least one, possibly two more World Cups in him, barring injury. Nevertheless, these stars will no doubt want to get the victory now, as opposed to having to wait another four years just for another chance to get back to this point.
For a quick breakdown of all the knockout stage matches visit FIFA’s interactive match calender.
ABC Online: Though ESPN is championing the bulk of World Cup coverage, its sister station ABC plans to stream games during the weekends. The Watch ABC site isn’t available everywhere, but it takes just a few seconds to check your availability through the site. If offered, you’ll have access to the same video feed, announcers, and matchups airing on ABC on Saturdays and Sundays.
WatchESPN: ESPN, ESPN 2, and ABC will stream all 64 matches of the World Cup for unprecedented coverage. Cable subscribers have access to all 64 of the matches through ESPN’s streaming service Watch ESPN. ESPN’s streaming content is accessible via smartphones, tablets, Xbox Live (with an Xbox Live Gold membership), Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast. To top it all off, the legendary Ian Darke is ESPN’s head game-caller for the entire tournament.
Univision Live Stream: While ABC/ESPN have the English-language broadcast rights in the United States, Univision owns the Spanish-language broadcast rights for all the World Cup games. It’s showing 56 live matches, and has 24-hour content rolling out to viewers the day the tournament starts. Though the content streams in Spanish, Univision is delivering more content out of Brazil than any other domestic network except for ESPN and ABC. Fans have unlimited access to Univision’s content until the final rounds when you’ll need a paid subscription to continue viewing.
In order to open a Univision World Cup game stream, click on the link labeled “Univision Live Stream” above, and today’s schedule of games will be displayed on the right, with “Ver Partido en Vivo” next to each game. Click on that text next to whichever game you want to watch, and that will open up a free live stream which will start broadcasting a few minutes before that game kicks off.
BBC Sport and ITV Player: Both ITV and BBC are European based services though each site offers a wealth of World Cup content. BBC Sport features a wide variety of videos and coverage, though to no surprise it’s mainly themed around England’s national team. In addition to the planned 31 streamed games, BBC also offers a slew of live coverage and highlights. ITV Player is like Hulu for the UK though it does require a proper UK zip code to watch. It plans on streaming 34 total World Cup matches including 20 group stage games and 14 knockout stage matches.
There exist a wide variety of online streaming sites which grant access to many live sporting events. Even though these sites provide largely unrestricted streaming, keep in mind that most come packed with spam and pop-up windows. This can be frustrating for most users but with some patience you’d have access to every World Cup game. We don’t recommend heavy use of these bootleg streaming sites because even the slightest miscalculated click can infect your computer with a nasty virus.
Once you find these streaming sites on the Web, you’ll notice the deep selection of games available to you, but they’re often low quality. Sites like First Row Sports, Justin.tv, or VIPBox Sports are some of the most popular when it comes to streaming sporting events online. While these might be of use, the hassle of avoiding spam and dealing with low quality playback often make these services more of an inconvenience than a help.
Note: As a rule of thumb never click on any link which asks you to download any HD Players, update your streaming software, or to install any “required” media players. These are often just spam links which could infect your computer with viruses.
FIFA’s Website: For anything and everything Brazil 2014, look no further than FIFA’s official website. It’s an excellent source for match times — it even syncs up with your local time — and information on every team in the tournament. Clicking on a matchup shows the results of the two team’s head-to-head matches played, goals scored in those matchups, and shows the “Man of the Match” once the World Cup game has concluded. A perfect resource for keeping up to date on all the happenings in Brazil.
FourFourTwo World Cup guide: Created using the Shorthand program, the FourFourTwo World Cup guide is a beautifully constructed online information manual. The site features in-depth analysis of each team, its key players to watch, the top players in the tournament, and information for each venue. Even with the large amount of information, navigating the site is a load of fun.
Reddit’s soccer page: Like everything else on the smorgasbord-style site Reddit, an abundance of interesting content exists for soccer fans. While it’s all user-generated, the site relies on a number of moderators to assure the information shared is relevant, newsworthy, and fitting. Users may post links to various streaming sites, keep the page updated with current scores, and might even post pictures of the World Cup games themselves. It’s a worthwhile resource for all things soccer.
ESPN Radio: Sometimes listening to game action via a radio creates excitement far beyond a video feed. Listening to the announcer’s voice fluctuate with what’s happening on the pitch as it crescendos to an incredibly long “goooooooooooooooooal” is priceless. ESPN’s radio site plans to broadcast all 64 matches of the World Cup and the best part is it’s free.
DT writer Rick Stella also contributed to this report.
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