Texas A&M Soccer
Aggie and ESPN soccer announcer Fernando Palomo talks World Cup
Key quotes from Fernando Palomo interview
"For a soccer fanatic, which is what I consider myself, the World Cup is like Christmas time. We get our Christmas time every four years. We get to write our letters for three and a half years with World Cup qualifying then we get our wishes granted or not. Maybe our team makes it maybe not, but then we have 32 of the best national teams competing in one of soccer’s hallowed grounds. They don’t consider soccer a sport; it’s a religion. You can imagine it’s like having 64 super bowls in the span of 4 weeks."
"Brazil was considered the favorite going into the last game of the final round of the 1950 tournament. They only needed a draw against Paraguay to win the tournament. Newspapers that morning were already printing, “Lets celebrate tonight with our World Champions,” players had signed endorsement deals. In 1950, imagine how big of a deal that was. They went on and lost to Paraguay two to one. There were 200,000 in the stands.
They had decided to build the largest stadium in the world because they were getting ready to throw the biggest party in the world. It was just a funeral type atmosphere. They remember it as the day sport took them to hell. So imagine the pressure now after 64 years of not hosting the World Cup. They’ve won it five times already, but they feel like none of them count as much as the one they want to get this time around at home."
"It’s a dream come true, the fact that I’ve been given this opportunity to call some games in the world cup, not only Mexico but Honduras and Switzerland matches. I’m just trying to grasp everything and soak everything in, it’s a learning opportunity."
"It’s amazing, just to be there at a time when Brazil plays a match; they’re playing Mexico in their second game. Just to be able to listen to the national anthem being sung by thousands of fans and feel the atmosphere prior to and after the game. It’s going to be amazing, I can’t wait."
"It’s a unique opportunity for me and I guess I’m opening up doors for a lot of Hispanic announcers and journalists that see this as a great opportunity. ESPN is saying we are a big community in the United States and big enough to bring us along and call games in English for the network."
"Lionel Messi is the most exciting player there is. He’s Juanito Futbol right there. The guy can come out and do the unexpected at any point in the game amd can be the decider. He puts the team on his back, he has a quiet cockiness about him. You wouldn’t see him doing the money sign but he has a quiet cockiness about him, you sense he controls the game. He is the heir apparent, in our sport, to Johnny Football."
"Most people are saying that the sport will be hurt by how the US does in the World Cup, if they do bad the sport will be hurt in the US. I don't believe that is the case, I believe soccer has already taken enough steps, solid steps, to become one of the big time sports in the country. You see kids wearing soccer jerseys all over the nation. If I can bring some Aggies along to watch the games, that's great, but I think they're watching them because they love the sport more than because an Aggie is calling them."
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