Simmbob,
Don't know about world cup, but when I spent a lot of time in Italy at the end of the 1990s most of the decent sports bars had live 6 Nations championship (or was it 5 Nations still back then). The problem is to pursuade the locals not to have the footy on or similar - does the rugby final clash with Ferrari qualifying at Brazil GP? Just keep buying lots of red wine to keep the bar owner happy. The Italian commentry takes some getting used to tho.... although it was less biased than Eddie Butler.