Ian Darke had zero idea that his American stock was about to skyrocket when he uttered the words "Go, go, USA!" following Landon Donovan's stoppage-time winner against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup.
How could he have known the goal — and his succinctly placed goal call — would within seconds become an Internet sensation and forever live in the hearts and memories of American soccer fans?
Fast forward four years from that moment, and somehow Darke is even more popular in the States now than he was then, thanks to ESPN locking him up for the US national team's entire four-year World Cup cycle. To fans, Darke has become such a part of the USMNT that ESPN decided to give him his own World Cup promotional ad, entitled, "Ian Darke calls a date."
It's everything you could ever hope for and imagine. It's a bumbling schlub, a way-out-of-his-league lady and Ian Darke sat alongside at the restaurant table, headset on and ESPN microphone in hand.
"Go, go, Jim. Call him the comeback king. Oh, it's incredible. Who is writing this stuff?"
