There have been a lot of fathers and sons in prominent broadcasting roles over the years, but it’s unusual to see them in the same booth. That’s happened a couple of times on regional broadcasts, but it’s exceptionally rare on national broadcasts. But that’s going to happen when Andrés and Nico Cantor team up for a CONCACAF Nations League broadcast of the Canada-Mexico semifinal for CBS next Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET, Paramount+).
CBS shared that news on Thursday, along with the rest of the details for their Nations League Finals coverage.
That coverage will originate from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and will see CBS UEFA Champions League Today analyst Thierry Henry join their usual CONCACAF studio team of Kate Scott, Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Charlie Davies, Janelly Farias and rules analyst Christina Unkel. Chris Wittyngham and Tony Meola will call the first semifinal match (USA-Panama) Thursday at 7 p.m. ET (also a Paramount+ broadcast), followed by the studio show as a bridge before the Cantors call the second semifinal. This will mark the first time that father and son pairing has shared a television booth.
The 62-year-old Andrés Cantor has been one of the most prominent voices in world soccer for decades. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he moved to Southern California as a teenager, and quickly became notable in U.S. broadcasting after joining Univision in 1987. His elongated “GOOOOAAAALLLL!” calls were from a style common throughout Latin America and Spain before that, but Cantor became one of the first to take that approach to a U.S. English-speaking audience.
The elder Cantor became particularly prominent for those calls during FIFA World Cup coverage in both 1990 and 1994. That even led to him making regular appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman. And he’s continued to be a key figure in American soccer broadcasts in both English and Spanish over the decades since, especially for Telemundo and NBC recently, and even taught Snoop Dogg how to call a goal at last summer’s Paris Olympics:
Meanwhile, Andrés’ son Nico has also become quite the soccer broadcaster. He’s worked with CBS since 2020 as a host and analyst, hosting the whiparound The Golazo Show, contributing as a reporter to UEFA Champions League and CONCACAF Nations League coverage, and contributing as an analyst to their Golazo Network‘s Morning Footy show. And he’s certainly made a mark of his own. So it’s fascinating to see him teaming up with his father this way. Nico spoke to The Cooligans a couple years back about what he gained from watching Andrés growing up, and how he didn’t fully realize his father’s fame at the time:
There have been many notable fathers and sons in the broadcasting world over the years, from Joe and Jack Buck to Marty and Thom Brennaman, Bob and Brian Griese, Phil and Chris Simms, Ian and Noah Eagle, Cris and Jac Collinsworth, and all of the Carays (who have previously called the same game for different networks, and Chip Caray is set to call a regional broadcast of a Cardinals’ spring training game with his son Stefan Saturday).
But it’s highly unusual to see a father and son on a national call together. That makes this coming broadcast from the Cantors stand out.