Soccer’s Cantor Didn’t Make This a ‘<i> Gooooooaalllll!</i> ‘
Even if you don’t follow soccer, you’ve probably heard the Spanish language announcer who yells, “Gooooooaalllll!” whenever a goal is scored.
The man behind the voice is a native of Argentina named Andres Cantor. He is well known among viewers of Miami-based Univision, the Spanish language network, for which he has worked since 1987. But to most English-speaking viewers, he is simply that guy who screams, “Gooooooaalllll!”
We reached Cantor by phone in Miami the other day, not knowing quite what to expect. He figured to be a bombastic, hyperactive, fast-talking sort--soccer’s version of Dick Vitale.
He was anything but. Cantor, 31 and the father of a 7-month-old son, was soft-spoken and polite. If anything, he was reserved, even a bit understated.
He said his “Gooooooaalllll!” call isn’t really a trademark, and not even unique. That’s the style of the announcers he listened to as a youngster in Argentina.
Cantor seemed a little uneasy talking about himself, but we learned that he lived in Southern California for 12 years before moving to Miami 3 1/2 years ago because his job took him there.
He graduated from San Marino High, where another Los Angeles announcer, KABC radio’s Jorge Jarrin, son of Jaime, preceded him by a few years.
After high school, Cantor studied journalism at USC.
His father, David, and mother, Alicia, still live in San Marino. His father is a doctor, his mother a psychologist. David Cantor is the head of gastroenterology at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Alicia Cantor has a private practice in Pasadena.
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David Cantor had hoped that his two sons, Andres and Gerardo, 27, would become doctors. Now both work in television--Gerardo directs commercials--but Dad isn’t complaining. “I am very proud of both of them,” he said.
Andres fell in love with soccer after his father took him to a game at the age of 4 in Buenos Aires, where the Cantor family lived.
David Cantor came to the United States in the mid-1970s, teaching at UC Davis for a year before taking the job at Huntington.
Andres was 16 and entering his senior year of high school when the family settled in San Marino. At the time, Cantor’s goal, if you’ll pardon the expression, was to become a print journalist.
He was soon on his way. At 16, he landed a job with Editorial Atlantida, an Argentine magazine publishing company, as a soccer correspondent. At 19, he was assigned to cover the 1982 World Cup in Spain. He also covered the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
His first broadcasting job was filing radio reports for an Argentine network during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and he was retained as a correspondent. But writing continued to be his main occupation.
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Despite his lack of broadcasting experience, friends recommended that he try for a job at Univision in February of 1987. Formerly the Spanish International Network, Univision had new ownership and was undergoing a restructuring.
Cantor went to the network studios in Laguna Niguel for an audition, which consisted of announcing two taped soccer matches, the first as a commentator, the second as a play-by-play announcer.
He had never worked a soccer match in either capacity, and doesn’t remember much about the audition. But he must have done something right. He got the job, which not only calls for soccer announcing but also anchoring daily sports newscasts and a three-hour Sunday show, “Domingo Deportivo.”
“Announcing soccer is a small part of my job,” he said. “I work six, seven days a week.”
For four years, he worked in Laguna Niguel. That’s where he and partner Norberto Longo called the 1990 World Cup--which was being played in Italy. They worked the games off a monitor.
“It would have been impossible to announce all 52 games had we gone to Italy,” Cantor said.
In January of 1991, Univision consolidated its studios in Miami.
“I flew to Miami the day the Persian Gulf War started (on Jan. 17, 1991),” he said. “I got on the plane not knowing if we would be at war when we landed. We were.”
Because this World Cup is in the United States, the Univision team of Cantor, Longo (a 50-year-old fellow Argentine) and Jessi Losada, a onetime Spanish-language announcer for the Rams who has been added to the World Cup crew, actually get to attend two games. They will be at the opener between Germany and Bolivia next Friday in Chicago and the championship game July 17 at the Rose Bowl.
They will call the rest from the Univision studio in Miami, with millions watching.
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The World Cup might not draw viewers to American television, but it’s a boon for Spanish television. An estimated 40% of the audience doesn’t even speak Spanish.
These soccer fans watch the World Cup on Univision out of loyalty, since the Spanish-language network has been bringing them World Cup games since 1970.
And they watch Univision because they prefer the Spanish coverage, even if they can’t understand the commentary. Among other things, they complain that American coverage is aimed at those uneducated in the nuances of the sport and this insults their intelligence.
According to Arbitron figures, Channel 34, the L.A. Univision outlet, averaged 118,000 households during the first round of the 1990 World Cup. TNT averaged 42,000 L.A. households.
The championship game on Univision got a 10 rating in all households and a 33 share. (The share in Hispanic households was an 87.) TNT got a 3 rating and a 10 share.
Many of Univision’s viewers don’t understand Spanish, but there’s no mistaking Cantor’s “Gooooooaalllll!”
