Ted Lasso was never going to last long as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur.
The fictional American football coach took up a job in the Premier League in a hilarious spoof video, which NBC Sports created to promote its coverage of England’s Premier League.
Lasso, played by Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis, showed how difficult it can be for an American with no knowledge of soccer to transfer his coaching skills and philosophy to the world’s game. He stumbled through his steep learning curve, failing to grasp the basic rules, structures and language of English soccer.
Starting August 17, NBC Sports will broadcast live Premier League games in the United for the next three seasons. It won the right to air up to 380 games after paying the Premier League a U.S.-record $250 million last October. Videos, such as “An American coach in London,” are part of the television network’s push to gain new fans Stateside.
As for Lasso, it was only a matter of time before his ill-fated tenure came to an end. Now, Tottenham’s real-life manager, Andre Villas-Boas, can get on with the job of preparing his team for the upcoming season.
See Lasso’s Tottenham tenure in the video below.
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