The excitement of Telemundo's World Cup coverage: a rollercoaster of emotions


Since I was little, I studied French and German, but not very well. My school offered the opportunity to learn Spanish, but, without implying that 1990s Scotland was a bit conservative, we were all a little afraid of the language. I distinctly remember hearing people muttering, "no one speaks Spanish." And so, the suggestion was discarded. In fact, a lot of people speak Spanish, and I've often wished I wasn't so stupid about the language (about Spanish, I mean, not in general—that's another topic). Spain's influence on football is immense and, as an English-language writer in this field, knowing the language would have helped me a lot. It would also have allowed me to fully understand one of the best discoveries of my trip to the 2026 World Cup: Telemundo's game narration. I'm not criticizing Fox Sports, which has nothing to do with this. What happened was, on the second day of the tournament, the Fox broadcast in our apartment started to glitch, flicker, and freeze. In that moment of panic, we found Telemundo, the Spanish-language broadcaster watched by millions in the United States. Since then, I've been completely hooked, browsing blindly with no idea what's going on in the comments booth. I can't recommend The Mystery enough. On the other hand, not speaking Spanish has become an advantage as it turns Telemundo into an amusement park where you are in the dark and unable to see where the tracks are going. The enthusiasm of the commentators is unparalleled and frightening, bordering on cardiac arrest. I could take them to a game between Peterhead and Arbroath on the north coast of Scotland on a Wednesday night in December with a crowd of 345 and they would turn it into Lionel Messi's finest hour. We're about 40 games into the World Cup, and I haven't heard a single lukewarm comment. Every day is a fresh start. GOOOOOL FROM THE UNITED STATES! LOCURA IN SEATTLE! Alex Freeman scores with a header, the goal took a while to be validated because it was being reviewed for a possible offside… ¡EXPLOTA LA AFICIÓN! The USA team is 2-0 ahead over Australia. What I noticed immediately is that on Telemundo they talk incessantly. Like, all the time, filling every second. This made me laugh because in the UK we are picky about TV commentators who talk too much. Those we don't like, we'd rather not say anything. Televised games, strangely enough, can be ruined by people saying what's going on. We have eyes and we don't want to know when Brazil and Ecuador finished 0-0. In defense of the British commentators, many of them believe that less is more. This is not the case with Telemundo, and all power to them. Listening is like being at a traffic light with a Mustang next to you, revving the engine. Sometimes it's roaring, sometimes it's purring, but it's always working. How much of the narration is scripted? They can't be improvising all the time, right? I honestly think talking for 90 minutes straight would be too much for me, but Telemundo's joy would be diminished if they didn't. They roll the r’s masterfully — “Cristiano Ronaldo” is manna from heaven — and the notion of an unimportant game seems to not exist. These guys (it seems like they're all men in the narration booths) manage to go tosource repeatedly. Also, the on-screen scores, which don't show 'New Zealand' and 'Egypt', for example, but 'Nueva Zelanda' and 'Egypt'. I'm aware how tragic this may sound, but it reminds me of following Scottish football in the 1980s. When the club I support signed an Englishman called Mike Galloway, it seemed exotic only because he wasn't Scottish. When they signed Juanjo, a Spanish winger with white boots, I thought he would spontaneously combust. These are the little things that remind you: there's a big, wide world out there. From what I understand about Telemundo, Argentine commentator Andrés Cantor is the king; he delivers his speech as if storming the Bastille and has become famous for shouting each ending with a thunderous “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!” When Curaçao scored against Germany, he kept chanting for about 60 seconds. Then he surprised us again. The man has an extraordinary pair of lungs, and every time he uses them, I think I'm already out of breath when I get out of bed. CURAZAO'S FIRST GOAL IN WORLD WORLDS! COMPLETELY HISTORICAL! Livano Comenencia is the hero, he ties the game against Germany and scores a HISTORIC GOAL. But my favorite member of the team is Luis Omar Tapia, and here's why. On the third day of the tournament, Australia beat Turkey in Group D. Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach made an incredible save. Late in the second half, he dived to stop a free kick, paving the way for Tapia to praise him in a way I don't think can be rivaled or surpassed. You are welcome. He turned a football player's name into a masterpiece. Best of all, it was improvised. Before these finals, I knew nothing about Patrick Beach. If asked, I would have guessed it was a strip of sand in Ireland. But from now on, I won't be able to hear your name without remembering Tapia's voice in my head. If you're Beach's friend, make him hear this. It's an ode to his life's work. He's missing an opportunity if he doesn't make this his ringtone. I'm heading home from Los Angeles on July 13th, so I still have a good amount of Telemundo to look forward to. But when I say goodbye, it will be one of the things I will miss most about the World Cup. Some things take over your life. Without four games a day, Cantor, Tapia and Patrick Beach, I don't know how anyone expects me to cope.

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