Ian Darke: The Best Thing to Happen to American Soccer Coverage

You may not know who British play-by-play announcer Ian Darke is, but he has elevated American soccer coverage.

Since ESPN hired him to call the 2010 Fifa Men's World Cup,  he has brought enthusiasm to the game of soccer that had been missing in the United States.  

He continues to do this with his coverage of the 2011 Fifa Women's World Cup.

Darke's not pretending to be interested in soccer like some other play-by-men, he's genuinely excited about great soccer plays and it shows.

Nothing exhibits this more than Darke's call of Holland's Giovanni Van Bronchorst goal against Uruguay as "An Absolute Firecracker" in last year's World Cup (the video at the top of this post).

He's soccer's equivalent of  Gus Johnson, the energetic football and basketball play-by-play who's a fan favorite.

They both strike the perfect balance between embracing a fan's excitement, but not going over the top.

American soccer has been fortunate to have two of its greatest moments enhanced by Darke's dramatic calls.

Landon Donovan's goal to beat Algeria and send the U.S. to the second round of the 2010 Men's World Cup and Abby Wambach's miracle 122 minute goal to tie Brazil in the quarterfinals of this year's Women's World Cup were both called by him.

They're great plays on their own, but Darke really captures the elation of these moments.

With Darke signed to ESPN through the 2014 Fifa World Cup, I look forward to more exciting soccer coverage from him.

Where to Watch 2010 Fifa World Cup Online

One of the greatest sporting events in the world, the 2010 Fifa World Cup starts today.  It's been four long years, but it's finally back.

If you're not already excited, then maybe the Simpsons soccer clip above can get you pumped for it.

Of course the only problem is that most of the matches take place during work hours.  Don't worry though, you can still keep track of the games by watching them online.

The best option for viewing games is ESPN3.com as they will have almost every World Cup streaming match streaming.  Although if you're like me and your stupid cable company doesn't allow you taccess ESPN 3 then there's another option.

Univision is streaming every single World Cup match for free at UnivisionFutbol.com.  Sure it's only in Spanish, but listening to Spanish announcers might be a better experience because they make everything more exciting.

Holds it, Holds it, Holds it!!! Here's a good example.  My life would be a lot more exciting if a Spanish announcer was doing play by play.

Even the mundane stuff like brushing my teeth would seem cool, and then I could celebrate after everything I did.

Here's some more ways to follow the World Cup online from Mashable.