England fans furious after ITV show ad over Gerrard opener

ITV have apologised after thousands of England fans missed Steven Gerrard’s opening goal for England during their 1-1 draw with the United States.

An advertisement for car marker Hyundai was shown three minutes into the Group C clash before coverage resumed with pictures of Steven Gerrard celebrating his country’s first World Cup goal.

The glitch only affected HD transmissions with ITV1′s standard coverage unaffected.

An ITV spokesman said: “A transmission problem temporarily affected ITV1′s HD service during the England/USA match. ITV standard definition service continued uninterrupted.

“We apologise for the interruption in transmission.”

Nevertheless England fans watching the match when the interruption occurred were furious.

“I was watching it on the ITV website and it’s atrocious. Their servers cannot cope. It’s why football belongs on the BBC!” said Ol_Smith on Twitter.

“I couldn’t believe it when they cut back to the game and we’d scored,” added Turigon.

ITV received over 1,000 complaints in 2009 after viewers missed the winning goal in an FA Cup clash between Liverpool and Everton, again after the broadcaster accidentally cut to an advertising break.