James Corden, England's World Cup winner

Despite the bitter disappointment of the England vs Germany game, there is one Englishman who might consider himself a World Cup winner. Step forward James Corden. Not so long ago, he was public enemy number one, charged with the heinous crime of creating bad sketch-based comedy. So heavily was he panned for Horne and Corden, the BBC3 show he wrote and performed with comedy partner Matthew Horne, he would probably have faced less bile had he managed England and failed to get them through the World Cup qualifiers. The giddy success of Gavin and Stacey was forgotten, and it looked as if the 32-year-old’s career was on ice.

There was a sense of trepidation, then, when it was announced that Corden had secured his own show to follow ITV’s nightly World Cup coverage. However, along with his chart-topping musical collaboration with Dizee Rascal, James Corden’s World Cup Live has seen the funnyman’s stock rise again.

While not exactly ground-breaking, the show’s TFI Friday-style interaction between host and studio audience captures the kind of mass energy that is the essence of World Cup fever. The involvement of the studio audience is formalised with a human group table, where representatives of each country, kitted out with national football shirts, assess their teams’ performances. It's a deft touch and underlines the involvement of Joe Public in making the tournament what it is—with or without vuvuzela accompaniment.

As with the beautiful game itself, space is everything, and Corden gets to roam around his studio and avoid being static in his chair. It’s a freedom that shows like TFI, Saturday Live and Friday Night Live on Channel 4 were particularly successful in using, and one that others have tried to ape with varying results.

One other ingredient which has made Corden’s show watchable and enjoyable is the series of interviews he conducted with the England team. Whatever you may have thought of them pre-Germany, and whatever you may think of them now, Corden’s cheeky-but-chummy approach was at least a contrast to the static interviews given at press conferences and the plastic or melodramatic one-to-ones offered elsewhere.

A dab hand at getting the best out of guest comedians of all generations, and joshing with footballers and popstars alike, the experiment of putting Corden up front has seen the ball in the back of the net. Expect to see him fill some presenting boots again – whether you like it or not.