Andrés Cantor Recalls Earliest World Cup Memory

For hundreds of thousands of soccer fans, Andrés Cantor is the voice of their generation.

The Argentine Telemundo sportscaster is famously known for his Spanish and English commentary during matches, but especially for his enthusiastic shouting of “Goooooooooal!” He first introduced it during the 1990 World Cup.

Cantor, who has been announcing matches since 1987, has been bellowing his signature word for audiences worldwide during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. With almost four decades behind the mic, for some viewers (especially Latino households), he’s just as famous as the stars on the pitch.

He calls his celebrity status “strange,” in an interview with TODAY.com, as he’s usually the one off-camera shining the light on the players. That’s why while recently traveling from city to city during the tournament, he experienced an unforgettable moment.

“They were showing the games on the plane and then halftime comes and the Coors commercial that I star in goes live,” Cantor says. “The guy next to me starts looking like, ‘Wait, isn’t that you?’ ‘Yeah,’ (I say). I think he wanted to tell the entire plane that I was sitting right next to him.”

The man asked for a selfie, Cantor recalls, adding that it was a memorable experience because while working he doesn’t get to watch the ads.

“But I was traveling and watching the game, and then suddenly, (on) all the monitors on that plane the commercial came up,” he says. “I took a picture. I posted it because it was really, really sweet.”

With a handful of games under his belt this World Cup, Cantor says he knew this year’s matches would be “star power at its best.” He also notes the spectacular camaraderie across nations and the fans’ excitement.

“The atmosphere all around the country has been incredible. We knew that this tournament was going to be like this,” he says. “But it’s exceeding many people’s expectations because, obviously, the atmosphere, not only in the stadiums, but in the cities where the games are played.”

Below, in his own words, Cantor shares his earliest World Cup memories, the moment he would’ve loved to announce and his craziest fan experience.

What is your earliest memory of watching a World Cup?

Definitely when I ditched school in 1974 to go to the cafe in the corner of my school in Argentina to watch the games in black-and-white (on) television. That was my first experience of living such a big tournament like this from afar.

Then I was very lucky to be in the stands when Argentina won in 1978. And then ever since I’ve been involved, one way or the other, with this wonderful tournament that is played every four years.

What is a World Cup moment that you wish you could relive or had been a part of?

I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the best seat of the house at every World Cup since 1990, and I got to call the most epic moments of each tournament.

I didn’t get to call (Diego) Maradona in ‘86 because I was a writer. I wrote for an Argentinian magazine. But I lived history the day that he scored the goal against England, and then he went on to win the World Cup. I’ve been around the Women’s (World Cup) games, around the Olympics. So if there is something that I would have wanted to do that I didn’t — because I was writing at the time, not calling games — (it) would be to call Maradona’s second goal against England on television.

What’s the craziest place that people have asked you to yell ‘goal’?

Pretty much everywhere. One of the craziest things that happened to me was two years ago during the Women’s World Cup. I arrived, I believe it was in Melbourne. The driver that picked me up was from Iraq. He asked me if I was there for the games and he said, “Where are you from?” I said, “Argentina.” He starts saying, “Oh, did you see that man that cried when Argentina won the World Cup that went viral?”