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The goal of the 2026 World Cup — or, more accurately, the “gooool” of the 2026 World Cup — does not belong to Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe or Harry Kane. It was not Daniel Munoz’s karate kick finish against Uzbekistan or Gio Reyna’s trivela against Paraguay.
Instead, that honor belongs to Livano Comenencia of Curacao, the tournament’s smallest participant.
The goal Comenencia scored, which brought Curacao level with Germany for 17 shocking minutes, was announced on Telemundo for 52 seconds, in four consecutive bursts.
Gol! Gooooooool! Goooooooooooool! Gooooooooooooooooool!
Listen to the Curacao goal, as announced on Telemundo
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Andrés Kantorlocutor de telemundo
No goal call thus far has lasted longer on Telemundo, the network that broadcasts the games in Spanish to millions of viewers worldwide.
We know, because we counted, downloaded and listened to them all: 307 goals over 103 games, as called by Telemundo’s nine announcers.
Curacao went on to lose that game 7 to 1. But Andres Cantor, who announced the game for Telemundo, still thinks the goal merited the full length of his call.
“It was Curacao’s first-ever World Cup goal, and I immediately understood what that meant,” he told The Athletic in an email. “Besides, it was against Germany and Manuel Neuer. That’s why I let myself get swept up in the emotion.”
Collectively, Telemundo’s announcers have shouted “gol” for a combined 5,440 seconds. That’s slightly more than 90 minutes.
The longest ‘gooooools’ of the 2026 World Cup
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Telemundo’s view of the tournament
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Together, the compilation of these recordings and their varying lengths give us a new — if somewhat absurd — look into how Telemundo’s broadcasters interpret the biggest moments of the tournament.
They reveal an understandable bias toward the tournament’s primarily Spanish-speaking countries (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain and Uruguay).
Average length of ‘gol’ by commonly-spoken language of scoring nation
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As a rule, the more dramatic the goal, the longer the “gooool.” Extra-time goals were almost twice as long as those during the game’s 90 minutes of open play.
Average length of ‘gol’ by time of game
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Stoppage time (Min. 90+ in regulation)
Extra time (Min. 90 to 120)
Similarly, the deeper into the knockouts a team is, the longer the call, on average. (Related: Cantor, whose calls are the longest on average, called all but one of Argentina’s games, a group-stage game against Jordan.)
Average length of ‘gol’ by stage of tournament
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How American broadcasts compare
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These recordings also reveal a broad philosophical difference between Telemundo’s approach and the one American viewers typically see on television.
Telemundo’s announcers let their calls of the goals become the backdrop for the moment. During the Curacao goal, Cantor was shouting “gooool” for 49.5 of his 52 seconds; the rest was him inhaling between “gooools.”
How Telemundo and Fox called the same Curacao goal
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Luis Omar Tapia, one of Telemundo’s commentators, told The Athletic that he first heard this style of announcing from Álvaro Riet, a Uruguayan announcer, and Tony Tirado, a Peruvian announcer.
“They demonstrated that a goal isn’t just a piece of information to be conveyed; it is a moment of glory to be shared, the most intense moment of the match,” Tapia said in an email.
Broadcasts for American audiences are different, usually allowing for some silence so viewers can experience the natural sounds of the moment for themselves. The term of art in sports television for this tendency is “laying out,” and it’s distinctive to U.S. broadcasting, and to Fox in particular.
Just for fun, why not experience both?
Below, we’ve made a tool so you can hear two announcers’ calls of the Curacao goal at the same time: Cantor’s, on Telemundo; and Ian Darke and Landon Donovan on Fox.
Listen to two announcers’ calls of the Curacao goal
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Additional reporting by Dan Shanoff.