England is in the European Cup final once again, and longtime British soccer broadcaster Ian Darke cemented his spot in history alongside Ollie Watkins with a tremendous call of the striker’s go-ahead goal in the 90th minute in Wednesday’s semifinal against the Dutch.
On the Fox call for the Three Lions’ matchup with the Netherlands in the BVB Stadion Dortmund, Darke snapped to attention from the match’s second-half slumber to send the Brits into Sunday’s final against Spain.
As Watkins made a break into the box to receive a pass from Cole Palmer with the score tied at 1 goal apiece, the reserve forward tried a desperation strike into the opposite corner of the goal. The ball sailed into the net as the final minutes ticked away, delivering England a win.
“Oh, how about that? How about that? Ollie Watkins wins it for England. Surely!” Darke exclaimed.
The 70-year-old Darke called British football for BBC Radio starting in the early 1980s before moving to Sky Sports as the No. 2 voice for the newly formed FA Premier League. Darke joined ESPN in 2010 and was loaned to Fox for World the 2022 FIFA World Cup and this year’s UEFA European Cup.
While his most iconic call may be for the goal by his now-broadcast partner Landon Donovan that delivered the Americans their group in the 2010 World Cup, getting to bring a historic goal by the English to life on Fox this week must be special for him personally.
Darke and Donovan will call the final between England and Spain on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET for Fox.
[Fox]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.