The 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup is well underway and into the second round of group stage games.  The United States team has played fairly well so far beating North Korea 2-0 and looking on their way to a victory over Colombia, up 3-0 in the second half.  The best tally thus far in the tournament was from today’s game, a striking long-range goal scored by USA midfielder Heather O’Reilly early in the first half.  Thankfully, we have the great Ian Darke on the call to describe such a world class shot…

Some may not be too excited about the Women’s World Cup, but these are the best women’s soccer players in the world and very few men could pull off that strike.  It was slightly reminiscent of Gio Van Bronckhorst’s goal for The Netherlands in their semifinal win over Uruguay last year (also called by Darke).  This event doesn’t have the substance or excitement of the World Cup we saw in South Africa, but any event is made better by Ian Darke, who continues to show his value to ESPN.  His announcing vocabulary is simply the best (tracer bullet, firecracker, etc).  Who would have thought one of America’s best play by play man would be an old Brit?