Transcript of BBC chief football commentator Guy Mowbray’s call of the first goal of England’s 2-0 win over Germany, in the round of 16 at the delayed 2020 European Cup, at London’s Wembley Stadium, on Tuesday.
[Mowbray, midway through the second-half of a nervy, scoreless game, in conversation with co-commentator Jermaine Jenas about the impossibly tense Wembley atmosphere, the noise a constricted buzz of 45,000 people thinking “How and when are England going to fuck this up?”]
74:30: Yeah, the flame’s gone out here.
[Jack Grealish — on just moments before to sub into the left side of England’s front three and to move Raheem Sterling to right wing — receives a 15-yard through ball from center back Harry Maguire, slips on the turf, stretches to make an under-pressure pass back to midfielder Declan Rice, who turns, passes laterally to right fullback Kyle Walker, who rushes into empty space near the halfway line]
74:34: Walker.
[Walker strokes a 20-yard right-footed pass to Sterling who, yards ahead of the German defensive line and with no midfielders to harry him, turns; as two midfielders and left fullback Antoine Rudiger belatedly close, Sterling drives to his left, splitting them, to the center of the pitch]
74:38: Sterling. He’s still perky enough.
[Sterling passes to striker Harry Kane, back to goal two yards above the penalty arc, then continues his run toward the left post, apace with the retreating German back line]
74:40: Kane.
[Kane turns, chops a pass to Grealish, top left of the box]
74:42: [voice beginning to rise] Grealish.
[Grealish receives, bunny hops to draw in German right fullback Joshua Kimmich, pops a pass to English left fullback Luke Shaw, streaking from the left wing unmarked into the box]
74:44: [voice rising] Shaw.
[Kimmich, after halting Grealish’s advance, races back and slides, well short of Shaw’s rasping left-footed cross low along the goal face]
74:45: [voice rising higher] Across for Sterling!
[At the left post Sterling, a yard either side between him and the German center halves, one-times it off his inner right boot, past the desperate slide of center half Mats Hummels, away from the despairing dive of goalie Manuel Neuer, bulging the net back right. Sterling pulls up, trots left along the endline, trailing eager teammates, face turned to the wailing, disbelieving crowd, continuing his run up the touchline, wagging his right index finger to say We’re Number One or maybe No No No and the gesture morphs into an odd elbows-out arm-pumping that suggests prayer, suggests uncertainty, suggests flight, Sterling receiving the waves of amazed love as if to say, “See? All you people losing your minds? Including you who, if I went through this tournament goalless, would be calling me racist names? See where we are now?,” kisses his jersey's English crest and ends, near midfield, with a hop, fist-pump, and turn toward his onrushing center halves, Maguire and John Stones]
75:03: There’s your spark!
[Shots of crowd massedly bouncing in glee and disbelief]
75:06: Wembley ignites!
[Shot of team grabbing water in front of Coach Gareth Southgate, whose much-maligned, safety-first, seven-in-the-back scheme is in process of being justified, not least because of his 70th-minute addition of left wing Grealish, who developed this year into an almost impossibly stylish, dynamic, and effective player for club and, in limited chances, country; Southgate’s reticence to start Grealish has given English fans apoplexy, but somehow now, in the 76th minute, both sides have been proven right and anyway we’re up 1-0 over Germany and aren’t we all in this together?]
75:11: And the summer of Sterling continues!
[More crowd shots, including of the royal box where stand Prince William, Kate Middleton, and, between them, in a navy suit and striped tie well coordinated with his father’s, Prince George, 7 years old, and how many 7-year-olds would give all they possess to be sitting anywhere in this ground today, the day England will beat Germany in a game that matters for the first time in 55 years?]
75:24: Oh, we haven’t seen scenes like this in a football ground for a long, long time.
For those scoring at home, Mowbray spoke a dozen words to describe roughly 15 seconds of build-up and goal. He also spent 18 seconds in post-goal silence. It’s not exactly the 1-minute, 46-second silence of NBC's Vin Scully following Mookie Wilson’s little roller up along first that got by Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. But that game was over; England still had more than 15 minutes of work before it could see off Germany. Beyond being accurate and terse and using an effective extended metaphor, Mowbray’s call conveyed a sense of the moment: all one can ask of a first-rate commentator.
