Andres Cantor on USMNTs World Cup ceiling, Lionel Messi moments and what goes into a signature goooal call

As Telemundo broadcasts the biggest World Cup ever, spanning three host nations and reaching millions of fans across the Americas, there is no voice more synonymous with the beautiful game than Andrés Cantor, who is calling his eighth World Cup.Telemundo will deliver more than 700 hours of FIFA World Cup programming from June 11 to July 19 — the most ever for a Spanish-language presentation in the United States — including all 104 matches live, with 92 matches airing on Telemundo and 12 on Universo.Cantor recently fielded some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.Q: How flattering is it to be known as the voice of soccer?A: It’s extremely flattering because more and more, I get people saying to me that I’ve been the soundtrack of their lives when it comes to soccer, obviously.

That they’ve listened to my calls throughout the years.I’ve been working on television now almost for 40 years calling games.

I would say at the beginning of my career was an average of 200 games per year, now it’s probably a little bit less.To get stopped and be recognized by my voice and not by my likeness or face, and for people to turn around in an airport line or a supermarket line and say, “Man, you’ve been the soundtrack of my life, I’ve listened and watched you for so many years,” is extremely flattering, and I take that to heart, and obviously it’s super-nice when that happens.

For anybody that just taps me on the shoulder and says, “Hey, I heard you, aren’t you Andres Cantor?” That’s super, super, super nice.Q: Is 43 seconds your longest GOOOOOOOOAL call?A: [Laugh] Actually an NBC upfronts executive told me that they have an average short time of 23 seconds and a long average I believe of 43.Honestly, I have no idea, and I never have any intention of making it even shorter or longer.

The way it comes out, it comes out naturally, organically if you will.It depends on the play, it depends on whether my setup to the goal is easier than not, becau...