Laura Woods on covering Saudis shocking Messi at the World Cup and watching Keane and Souness go at it live on air as she reveals she will miss Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk after a freak holiday accident

From spear-heading ITV's coverage of the World Cup to heavyweight clashes in Saudi Arabia - Laura Woods has become one of the leading names in sports broadcasting in the last few years. 

The 36-year-old is best known for being the host of TNT Sports' Champions League, Premier League and boxing coverage after making the switch from talkSPORT last year where she starred as a breakfast show anchor.

However, Woods has missed televised duties recently and has been noticeably absent in the build-up to Tyson Fury's heavyweight unification bout set to take place in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Woods has explained her recent absence from television by revealing she is recovering from surgery after suffering serious face and arm injuries while on holiday, after a freak accident saw the presenter swing a pillow into a glass lampshade, which shattered and left her with cuts to her face and arm. 

Now, with Woods set to be absent from screens for Saturday night's undisputed heavyweight champion clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, Mail Sport looks back at the presenter's exclusive interview with DOMINIC KING during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING 

All it takes is one reference to Argentina and, in a flash, Laura Woods starts talking unbroken for five minutes. She is animated, so much so her answer begins with Lionel Messi, filters into the background of an on-screen row and ends with Roy Keane being likened to David Attenborough.

For context, we are revisiting the first game of Group C – that spectacular afternoon when Saudi Arabia recorded one of the most incredible, unexpected results in World Cup history by coming from behind at Lusail Stadium to beat Messi and Co 2-1. 

A day earlier, Woods had made her own World Cup debut, hosting ITV’s coverage of the Netherlands’ comfortable defeat of Senegal with Ian Wright and Gary Neville. If that was a thrill, the realisation of a childhood dream, it was nothing compared to what was in store.

The story was big enough but a spin-off from it was the television moment of the tournament when Roy Keane and Mail Sport columnist Graeme Souness went at each other, over Argentina’s contentious penalty, with the ferocity of two bison cracking skulls. It was compelling viewing.

‘We were told Argentina sold out their first two group games faster than any other nation,’ Woods says, nursing a coffee at her West Bay hotel. ‘So we knew it was going to be big but I didn’t expect it to be that big. I didn’t expect the noise to be like that.

‘I’ve never been at a football game when I’ve experienced anything like that before in my life. And the narrative, of course, is that it’s going to be Messi’s fifth and final World Cup, he could win it and all that romance. 

'Then, all of a sudden, the script gets completely ripped up. And you’re covering the script being ripped up with Roy sat to your right, Graeme and Joe Cole to your left. You’re looking around at these fans who are just on their feet, banging drums, singing, dancing the entire time and you’re like: “Wow! How did I get here?” It’s incredible.’

She is zigzagging now, between amazement and excitement. Keane was incredulous that a spot-kick had been awarded. Souness was adamant VAR had made the right decision. Voices raised, fingers jabbed. And, like all the best presenters, Woods stepped back and left them to it.

‘Then half-time comes along and there’s the disagreement between Roy and Graeme,’ Woods continues. ‘For a very long period, I sat there like a fan. I just watched and I couldn’t believe it, experiencing what everybody else at home is experiencing when they watch it.

‘You think: “What is happening? How amazing is this?” I looked at Joe at one point and we were in disbelief. So I said: “And what about you, Joe?” Joe’s always got an opinion but his voice is as quiet as I’ve ever heard him and he says sheepishly: “I thought it was a penalty...” It was just brilliant!

‘But there’s other moments as well, that people at home don’t see. This is where privilege comes in. I’d told Roy I’d never seen him play in real life. Roy said: “Just watch Messi for a minute… It looks like he’s not interested and he’s just walking around when everybody else is running. But he knows where everyone is. He knows where the ball is and he reads the game like no one else reads it”.’

‘As we were watching, the ball’s played through and Messi makes a run and scores. It was offside, the one where his shoulder was just slightly offside, but the kind of poetry of it, where Roy Keane is almost… it was almost like he was narrating like David Attenborough.’

As is Woods. She knows every time she steps in front of the camera she is subject to all manner of scrutiny, with any mis-step likely to be seized upon by social media. But years of experience and a commitment to intense preparation led to this chance of a lifetime.

It is not, she firmly acknowledges, a World Cup that will ever be forgotten for all manner of reasons but, through it all, she is determined to maintain the enthusiasm that transmits when she looks down the lens. How, Woods offers, could you not be enthusiastic with an opportunity such as this?

‘We want to come and do as good a job as we possibly can,’ she says. ‘We have excellent reporters on the ground and we showed a feature the other day that was eight minutes long. I’ve never seen a feature that length in any coverage I’ve ever done and it was specifically about LGBTQ+ rights.

‘I thought it was brilliant. It’s important you show it because in a way the opposite of sports-washing has happened in this World Cup, in that the eyes of the world are on the atrocities – and the eyes of the world are now on those human rights issues. If the football wasn’t here it wouldn’t be shown.’

The point is fair and she pauses to reflect. Soon, however, she is smiling again. On Sunday she was pitchside as England banished the ITV hoodoo with a knockout win over Senegal and she will present Spain’s date with Morocco on Tuesday.

‘Look, how can I not smile? Woods asks. ‘I’m in my element in this World Cup and I say that specifically to do with the football. I am going to games, I’m covering these magical moments in the company of some of the most legendary players of the game. What are the chances of being able to experience something like that?’