00:00Your voice, sir, is famous. I'm not going to imitate the goal, but everyone knows it.
00:07This is your 10th World Cup tournament that you're calling matches for.
00:11It's your 11th that you've covered as a reporter.
00:14Talk to us just about how the experience has been, because, again, you've called 14 of the matches so far,
00:19and I know that Sunday's going to be a big day as well.
00:22It's going to be a very big day, Katie, but before, can you buy me those $38,000 seats?
00:27If I do that, Category 1.
00:31That is how crazy this final of the World Cup has been.
00:34I mean, we have the best two teams in the tournament, the two best teams in the world.
00:39The European champion, the South American champions, all the storylines.
00:43You just went through them. Messi against Lamine Yamal.
00:46Argentina defending the world title in back-to-back finals.
00:50It doesn't get any better than this.
00:52So I'm very curious. I mean, what do the next few days look like for you?
00:56Because there was reporting by USA Today that you nearly lost your voice on Argentina's winning goal versus England.
01:04So how do you sort of prep for an event like that, which I have to imagine millions, potentially billions
01:10of people will be watching?
01:11Yes, there is obviously a lot of pressure.
01:13We've been having record ratings in Telemundo and Peacock in Spanish, and we expect that this final will break all
01:22records.
01:22So I know the responsibility that I will have on the call.
01:27So tomorrow, I'll probably call it a day around 3, 4 p.m.
01:32Just log myself in in my hotel room, prepare the last notes.
01:35I already have pretty much the game prepared because I know the team so well.
01:40And it's going to be a very even final, to put it in your terms.
01:43It's like kind of Apple and NVIDIA going head-to-head, Spade and Argentina.
01:48Now I get it.
01:49So I want to ask you, this World Cup is unique in being that it's the second time America and
01:54really North America has hosted this.
01:56What have you seen in the difference between the 1994 World Cup and the 2026 one?
02:03Well, the fandom, definitely.
02:05I remember when we did the 1994 World Cup, soccer was kind of a novelty for many of the people
02:12that went to the stadium.
02:13Now we have record attendance numbers, more than 6.5 million people watch the games.
02:20They're all very soccer savvy.
02:21They came from all over the world.
02:22They came from all over the United States to follow their team.
02:27So obviously, soccer fandom in this country is alive and well.
02:30This is a soccer nation.
02:31We don't need to compare soccer to any of the other leagues.
02:35Soccer is doing fine with MLS and its 30 teams with a U.S. national team program, both men's and
02:40women's.
02:41So it's been a great summer for soccer in our country.
02:44Calling 14 matches during this World Cup, which city that you traveled to had the biggest crowd presence where you
02:51were like,
02:51I can't even hear myself think.
02:53I hope that the broadcast is going through.
02:55Which city had the most aura?
02:57I would say I was very impressed with Seattle for the U.S. national team games.
03:02I was like you.
03:03I woke up every other day and said, where am I?
03:06What game do I have ahead of me?
03:08But Seattle impressed me.
03:10I mean, really all of them.
03:12I can't just pinpoint one because I was fortunate enough to be in all three countries, two Mexican cities in
03:18Vancouver.
03:19And the only city I haven't gone to in the U.S. is Boston.
03:23But all of them were absolutely great hosts for this World Cup.
03:27And, of course, you work with Telemundo.
03:29And what's really been interesting about this World Cup is that a lot of English speakers are watching Telemundo.
03:36They're watching us.
03:37I mean, he's there.
03:38Yeah.
03:38It's about him.
03:39Obviously, you're a huge draw.
03:41But, you know, I wonder what that sort of says to you.
03:44I mean, does that surprise you that, again, it's English speakers who are choosing that this is where they want
03:50to watch their World Cup coverage?
03:51You want to be my agent?
03:55I'm not surprised this happened before, but it's happening in more numbers perhaps now because people are finding us find
04:02that not only myself,
04:03but all the other colleagues that work for Telemundo Sports have done a terrific job in their play-by-play
04:10with the same enthusiasm and the same goal calls and this and that.
04:14So I think we have a passion for the game that is unparalleled to none.
04:19It's not a question.
04:21It's a question of styles.
04:22I respect so much, you know, the English language broadcast on our competitor.
04:28But, you know, we have a different feel for the game.
04:30We're very passionate.
04:31Latin Americans are very passionate.
04:32We have this sense of craziness for football, for soccer, and that transcends on the screen.
04:38And we're very, very grateful that we're pulling the numbers that we're pulling also from the English dominant side of
04:45things.
04:45And so I believe that you have watched more Lionel Messi football in person probably than Katie and I have
04:52combined because I've never been to a match.
04:54Katie, have you watched Lionel Messi?
04:55No, not in person.
04:57So more than both of us combined, what is it like to witness someone like that on the pitch, to
05:02see him do the things that he's doing at 39 years old,
05:04and to have a chance for Argentina to defend their title, which is something we almost never see?
05:09Yeah, it is incredible because we thought before the World Cup that he was going to play a special role
05:15this time around.
05:16It took him five tries to win the World Cup.
05:18In 2022, that was his fifth World Cup.
05:20Now he's playing in a record-breaking sixth World Cup.
05:24And we thought he was going to play maybe coming off the bench.
05:27He was going to play for an hour because, you know, he's 39.
05:31In soccer terms, that is a lot.
05:33That is being old.
05:35And yet he has proven time and again that he's the GOAT.
05:38He's the best of all times.
05:40He's the goal scorer leading a sister.
05:43He plays every single minute.
05:45And the other day against England, when he crosses the ball with his right foot, which is not his dominant
05:51left,
05:51he broke two English defenders that were 19 and 21 years old.
05:59And they were looking at him like saying, what?
06:01The office here was devastated.
06:04Yeah, yeah.
06:04Everyone here was devastated.
06:05He's just great.
06:06He doesn't need to win a second World Cup.
06:09But obviously, if he does, this group of Argentinian players and Messi will be forever remembered as the greatest team
06:16ever in the history of the sport.
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