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Steve Wilson

Back where it all started


Vienna

I have crossed the border to Austria for the first time in this tournament. It was great to be greeted by glorious sunshine after two weeks of drizzle in Switzerland. Watching it rain in Basel (again!) for the Germany v Portugal match made the meal we had just enjoyed on the banks of the Danube all the more satisfying.

So it's Croatia against Turkey on Friday night for the right to play the Germans in the last four. This should be lively - and noisy. There are huge numbers of Croatians in Vienna, but, from my experience, Turkey's fans make it a point of principle to out-shout anyone, even if they seem hopelessly outnumbered.

Turkey fans give good backing to their team

Being in Vienna brings me back to the scene of my first ever foreign trip as a commentator. It was 1991 and I had just started working for Capital Radio in London, my first broadcasting job.

Arsenal had put six goals past Austria Vienna at Highbury in a European Cup match and my boss decided I should get a bit of experience by doing the second leg. My boss, by the way, was Jonathan Pearce!

I was a wide-eyed kid in a candy shop. Imagine being paid to go abroad and watch football! Not only that, but I had never even flown before. I couldn't believe my luck.

Plenty of the older hacks on the trip were clearly bored by the prospect of going to a city they had probably visited many times before, especially as it was the second leg of a tie which Arsenal had effectively already won.

For me, though, this was a dream come true ever since I had spent nights enthralled by the voice of Peter Jones on BBC radio, describing European matches on a crackly line from some exotic-sounding location.

The Ernst Happel Stadium was then known as the Prater Stadium and was about half full for a game which Arsenal lost to a late penalty but sailed through on aggregate. Back home, a friend had taped the game on an audio cassette for me. It's probably a good thing that it has long since been lost!

I can honestly say that I am as excited about commentating tonight as I was then. The four commentary teams at this tournament are told which group games we will be covering in advance, but no decision is taken beforehand on who will cover which games beyond the group stages.

To be given one of the two quarter-finals which will be shown live on BBC 1 is an enormous thrill. To be back in Vienna 17 years on from my first foreign game seems somehow appropriate.

Steve Wilson commentates on football for BBC Sport, working on Match of the Day and Football Focus. Please check our FAQs if you have any questions.


Comments

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  • 1. At 12:24pm on 20 Jun 2008, MontyPanesar wrote:

    Hello Steve, if Turkey score with Nihat or Tuncay can you give an exaggerated commentaryt

    e.g

    "and hers Nihat, GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL,

    NIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT

    GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL"

    Like they do in Spain and South America

    Cheers

    Your better than John Motson. He is annoyingly bad.

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  • 2. At 12:34pm on 20 Jun 2008, manctheknife wrote:

    Vienna eh.....means nothing to me.

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  • 3. At 12:49pm on 20 Jun 2008, LUFC_CRIBS wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 4. At 1:01pm on 20 Jun 2008, Malebranchist wrote:

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.

  • 5. At 1:10pm on 20 Jun 2008, The Y... (Spurs on the up) wrote:

    Why oh why does everyone on this site so love to berate the journo's!?!

    Anyway, good luck tonight Steve, I like MontyPanesar's idea of an exaggerated "Goooooooaaaaalllll" shout, although maybe it would'nt go down to well with your colleagues...

    Oh go on just do it, you'll be a legend and at worst I'm sure Capital will welcome you back with open arms ;)

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  • 6. At 1:12pm on 20 Jun 2008, mnmlfuss wrote:

    cribs, i agree

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  • 7. At 1:19pm on 20 Jun 2008, LUFC_CRIBS wrote:

    '5. At 1:10pm on 20 Jun 2008, The Y... (Gallas - The tears of a clown) wrote:

    Why oh why does everyone on this site so love to berate the journo's!?!'

    -------------------------------------------------------
    I agree i dont think journos on the BBC have been aything other than great and the commentators are so much better than that muppet clive tilsley on ITV - he's an idiot and cant keep his head out of Ronaldos and Man Utd's back door and his little monkey david pleat i dont think he knows why he is at Euro 2008 - cant all the Euro 2008 games be on the BBC????






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  • 8. At 1:37pm on 20 Jun 2008, The Y... (Spurs on the up) wrote:

    Too right Cribs, don't get me started on Pleat he annoys me so much I've kicked the poo out of five TV's during the course of these championships...

    Now I'm broke, my foot hurts and it's all that kerb-crawling reprebate's fault, lol...

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  • 9. At 2:03pm on 20 Jun 2008, Phil G - BBC Sport wrote:

    #4
    Blame the sub-editor. But "butcher" is a bit harsh, isn't it? I think you've overdone the hypebole there, if that's possible...

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  • 10. At 2:04pm on 20 Jun 2008, Grubbins wrote:

    At least when we are given a break from Pleat's ramblings at half time we can look forward to the football genius that is Andy Townsend talking us through the finer points of the game.

    After all, he didn't win all those medals without learning a thing or two about the game, did he?

    Oh, hang on a minute...

    :)

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  • 11. At 2:15pm on 20 Jun 2008, nigahban wrote:

    I am not a big fan of football i am a cricket lover. I got a chance to watch to match between TURKEY and Czech Republic. Which was won by TURKEY 3-2. Since i have develped my interest in football. I think that was a excellent effort from TURKEY site after down by 2 GOAL. They played relly well and i hope that they will perfrom good in next game.

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  • 12. At 2:21pm on 20 Jun 2008, thelovelyFarakh wrote:

    commentators need to scream there heads off when theres a gooooal!

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  • 13. At 2:53pm on 20 Jun 2008, PortugalOUToftheEU wrote:

    Now that Portugal are gone I'm supporting Croatia and Russia. Am hoping for a Croatia-Russia final but that's very unlikely to happen. That said I can see Croatia winning tonight and won't be surprised at all if Russia defeat the Dutch. I will no longer watch and care about Euro 2008 as soon as Croatia and Russia are eliminated because then the usual annoying suspects will be left in the competition.

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  • 14. At 4:28pm on 20 Jun 2008, verzun wrote:

    tuncay is the greatest player atm for turkey in my opinion. he plays with tremendous awareness for both boro and national team. vision, reaction, awareness, flare.. he's the talisman for tukey for sure and he could prove great if he bags a goal.

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  • 15. At 5:14pm on 20 Jun 2008, RavenZahadoom wrote:

    Yeah, you know that is missing in england... where is the "GOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLL" shout from english coms? While you guys are great on the mic, when it comes to statistics and who MAN U might be selling or who Chelsea are buying you guys are the best... when it comes to putting us next to you, at a seat, in the stand, sorry but english coms fail! and badly :/

    And it doesn't have to be only when england score... you see a goal that makes you go WOW.. what a GOAL... just let yourself go! Hell I've heard brazilian coms make me feel excited about a Turkish goal and we was playing Brazil! away!

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  • 16. At 5:58pm on 20 Jun 2008, FatherSnitch wrote:

    Bonus points if you can speculate on Nihat transferring to a Swiss club in Zurich during the commentary with the following phrase:

    "Nihat to, er, Grasshopper".

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  • 17. At 6:32pm on 20 Jun 2008, viennaspur wrote:

    Since you're in Vienna...take a trip to Tichy Ice cream parlour and have the hazelnut.

    You wont regret it.

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  • 18. At 7:07pm on 20 Jun 2008, Phil G - BBC Sport wrote:

    #17
    Thanks for the tip. What about the best place for pastries?

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  • 19. At 7:34pm on 20 Jun 2008, king_ronnie wrote:

    omg omg omg omg omg omg omg
    forget about the footy i just want a god dam hazlenut icecream now its sounds soooooooo goooooooood
    omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg

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  • 20. At 7:37pm on 20 Jun 2008, king_ronnie wrote:

    why oh why would someone post a comment about icecream on a footy site
    im all at sea now i just wany 1 soo bad just going to the shop for a bloody lions maid
    grrrrrr
    hazlenut icecream from vienna i ask ya

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  • 21. At 11:28am on 25 Jun 2008, MontyPanesar wrote:

    well i thought steve wilson did well

    I too though turkey were dead when Klasnic scored

    And Steve summed it up well with

    "and turkey score--thats unbelievable!"

    i hope turkey beat germany

    please tell me its steve not motty for the semi

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