Laura Woods is a key component of ITV’s Euro 2024 team (Picture: Getty)
If England are to progress to the latter stages of Euro 2024, the chances are you’ll likely be seeing as much of Laura Woods on your TV as any of the Three Lions stars hoping to make history in Germany over the course of the next month.
An almost omnipresent figure on our airwaves and screens over the last few years, Woods, like Harry Kane for Gareth Southgate, would have been one of the first names on ITV’s team sheet when assembling the squad that will cover close to 50 games this summer. Not that she sees it like that.
‘I’ve never considered myself to be that, so maybe I need to adjust that in my own head,’ BetMGM ambassador Woods said, speaking to Metro.co.uk ahead of Friday night’s opening fixture between the hosts and Scotland. ‘I always get a buzz always get that feeling no matter how long you work in it as a presenter or a reporter you always get that football tournament sense as a fan.’
Mercifully, the build-up to this European Championship has centred, largely, on the football and the finer merits, or otherwise of the 24 competing nations. Woods was filmed prior to Scotland’s mauling at the hands of Germany ingratiating herself with the expectant Tartan Army.
The narratives ahead of the two most recent World Cups lasted in on the controversial decisions to select Russia and Qatar as hosts, while Euro 2020 was delayed and subsequently heavily disrupted by the global pandemic.
‘I think so,’ admitted Woods when asked if the absence of weighty Geo-political issues dominating the agenda had made for a more enjoyable build-up. ‘The fact it’s Germany and not the Middle East or somewhere hard to get to. We can focus on the football makes me a bit more excited about it.’
Woods was, unwittingly, at the centre of one of the TV highlights of Qatar 2022 when Graeme Souness and Roy Keane, displaying all the combative personality traits that marked them out as generational greats during their playing careers, aired their forthright and polar opposite views on the merits of FIFA’s decision to award the Gulf State a World Cup.
Fair to say @laura_woodsy is enjoying herself in Munich with the Tartan Army ðð´ó §ó ¢ó ³ó £ó ´ó ¿ pic.twitter.com/YlLvBKkPib
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 14, 2024
Keane and Souness have already landed their first telling blows of Euro 2024, admonishing Scotland for a miserable display in Munich, with the former Manchester United skipper taking a particularly dim view of Andy Robertson’s post-match interview.
‘You just have to let them speak, that was one of my favourite moments of the whole World Cup,’ said Woods, when asked how hard it is to keep your composure when two firebrands are going at it hammer and tongs. ‘It was just funny. That’s what you want out of pundits.
‘That’s what you want them to do. You want strong opinions and if they …read more
Source:: Metro
