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The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
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Luis Omar Tapia Teaches Jimmy His "Goal" Call, Shares 2026 World Cup Predictions | The Tonight Show
Luis Omar Tapia Teaches Jimmy His "Goal" Call, Shares 2026 World Cup Predictions | The Tonight Show
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Subtitles (215)
0:00
-Luis, thank you so much for being on the show.
0:02
You are a legend. I'm honored to have you here.
0:03
-Thank you. -You've been an announcer
0:05
for over 40 years.
0:06
Is that true? -'85.
0:08
-Is that right? -Yeah.
0:09
That's a long-- That's a long time.
0:11
-Yeah, before you were calling the games, though,
0:13
you actually played soccer yourself.
0:15
-I did, I did. -Look at this stud.
0:17
Hello! Hey-lo!
0:19
-Check that out. [ Laughs ]
0:22
-What was that guy--
0:23
What was that guy like on the soccer field?
0:25
-That's uh, Hartford Connecticut.
0:27
-Yeah. -Dillon stadium.
0:29
It's a small stadium there,
0:31
and, uh, it was, uh, very good times.
0:34
-Yeah. -You know, and, um,
0:36
I met my wife there. -Did you really?
0:39
-Yeah. -How did you meet your wife?
0:41
-Actually, uh, my father-in-law worked for the club,
0:45
and, uh, she was grounded one day on a weekend.
0:49
-Okay. -Yeah. She was grounded.
0:51
So she had to go to the soccer field,
0:54
and then she saw...
0:56
-That was her punishment? -Yeah.
0:57
Because she didn't like-- she didn't like soccer.
0:59
-She didn't like soccer. -No, no, no.
1:00
-[ Gasps ] But then she saw-- -Now she lives off soccer.
1:03
[ Laughter ]
1:06
-She saw the knight in shining armor.
1:08
-She saw my legs. -She saw your legs.
1:10
-And she fell in love.
1:12
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. Me too. Uh...
1:15
Did you-- When did you know you wanted to be an announcer?
1:18
-You know, truly, I didn't. It just came to me.
1:22
It was in a very small TV station
1:25
in Hartford, Connecticut, Channel 13.
1:26
And today, in the audience,
1:28
we have a gentleman here who's responsible for that.
1:31
Lenny Colon.
1:33
-Lenny, thank you very much. Lenny, hello.
1:36
-Yeah. -Wherever you are.
1:37
-He actually-- He's the one that found me.
1:39
And he used to work at Channel 13.
1:41
And I'll tell you what.
1:42
I did the sports news, the cast.
1:44
-Yeah. -And, uh, then all of a sudden,
1:46
I started calling just one game in a week,
1:48
and then the news and then all that.
1:50
-You had no experience? Didn't know how to do this at all?
1:52
-I was just a soccer player. -Wow!
1:54
-Yeah, so the owner, um, Lucio Ruzzier,
1:58
an Italian gentleman who was the owner of the station,
2:00
he told my mother, because she worked there,
2:03
"If Luis plays soccer, can he do the soccer news?"
2:06
-Yeah. -And I started doing it
2:08
for about three or four years and never paid me.
2:10
-No. -I did it as a hobby.
2:12
-Did it for free. -I did it as a hobby.
2:14
I'm serious.
2:15
-You did it because you loved it.
2:16
-And I made money playing soccer.
2:18
-Wow! -Yeah.
2:19
-And then what happened? That ended up becoming ESPN?
2:21
No? -Yeah.
2:23
Actually, uh, after that, Lenny Colon gets hired by ESPN.
2:27
-And he didn't forget you. -And-- No.
2:29
And the president, Bernard Stewart, I guess,
2:32
asked him, "We need a play-by-play announcer
2:34
because we're gonna have a soccer league."
2:37
-Come on. And then you step in there.
2:39
-Look at that. -There you go.
2:41
-I got to tell you the story of this.
2:43
Okay? That's a trailer.
2:46
And look at the-- Did you see the monitor?
2:48
We called the games out of that monitor.
2:51
Okay? -Geez.
2:52
-In that trailer, Berman, Tom Mees,
2:57
the legends from ESPN. -Yeah, of course.
2:59
-They used that trailer 10 years before.
3:02
-Wow. -And then we used it
3:03
in Spanish to broadcast to Latin America.
3:06
-This guy went on to do-- This is your eighth World Cup?
3:09
-Eighth.
3:11
-Eight World Cups. -Since '94. Yeah.
3:13
[ Cheers and applause ]
3:15
Yes. -What is it like--
3:17
What is it like knowing all these players
3:19
and watching everyone's career go up and down,
3:22
and you don't know who's going to be legends?
3:24
Now you know all these legends.
3:25
-It's great because of-- I'll give you an example.
3:27
I did the game when Messi debuted,
3:31
when Cristiano Ronaldo debuted.
3:33
-Ronaldo. -Yeah.
3:34
So, uh-- And I love all the players.
3:37
And in between, you have all these great tournaments,
3:41
European tournaments, South Americans, and in North America,
3:45
and then you have the World Cup or you have the Olympics.
3:48
So I had the privilege of seeing players debuted...
3:53
-Yeah. -...gone...
3:56
and I'm still here calling games.
3:57
-Yeah. Of course. Yeah.
3:59
You're still there calling games.
4:01
But when you first see Ronaldo or you first see Messi,
4:04
do you go, "Oh, yeah, they're special"?
4:07
-Yeah, from the moment I saw them-
4:11
I see in Messi that he was a natural player.
4:15
And when I saw Cristiano,
4:17
I saw a robot on him
4:20
because he had to work two, three times
4:22
more than Messi because he had the natural talent.
4:25
And Cristiano had to work two, three times more
4:28
to compete with him at the same level
4:31
for about 10, 15 years.
4:33
-Do you think in some way they helped each other kind of?
4:35
-In a way, they did.
4:36
Actually, there was an interview one time that Cristiano did
4:39
and, uh-- and he said that, "e actually helped each other
4:43
to compete to win the Golden Ball,
4:45
to win Champions leagues, uh, national leagues."
4:51
-And is this their last World Cup?
4:53
-Yeah, to me. It's their last dance.
4:56
You know, the Jordan, whatever.
4:58
-Yeah. -It's their last dance.
4:59
But-- But big tournaments like this, the World Cup,
5:03
it's so important, especially for the world of soccer,
5:05
because we're gonna see not only
5:07
two players like Messi and Cristiano retire,
5:11
but it's also the Mexican goalkeeper, Guillermo Ochoa,
5:14
and Luka Modric from Croatia.
5:17
They will be playing their sixth World Cup.
5:20
-Geez. -Okay? six World Cups.
5:22
-Wow. -Okay?
5:24
Since 2006, this will be their sixth World Cup.
5:27
-Legends. -And they will be retiring.
5:28
But the tournament also gives us the opportunity
5:31
to see brand-new players
5:33
that they are going to conquer the world,
5:35
just like these four guys did.
5:36
-Yeah. The next Ronaldo. The next Messi.
5:38
Yeah. And what is the US's chances?
5:41
And...be nice. Be nice.
5:43
[ Laughter ]
5:45
Be nice. -Do you want me to be honest?
5:47
-No. You do whatever.
5:49
[ Laughter ]
5:51
-I tell you what. I have a dream.
5:53
-Oh, wow! -I have a dream!
5:55
[ Laughter ]
5:58
I'm serious. -Okay. yes, yes!
6:01
We're behind you! We're behind you! Yes!
6:02
-I have a dream. -You had a dream.
6:04
What was in your dream?
6:05
-My dream is that, uh, the U.S.
6:09
plays England in the final
6:12
so we can kick their ass again after 250 years.
6:15
[ Laughter ]
6:20
-250th anniversary. Yeah.
6:22
Uh, but who do we think--
6:25
-You know, I truly-- I truly like Brazil and England.
6:29
-You do? Yeah.
6:30
-Yeah, they have-- England, the national team.
6:33
-Yes. Harry Kane. -This team, they've been
6:35
together for about maybe 10, 12 years.
6:38
From youth ranks, they've been playing together.
6:40
Brazil has a new generation of players
6:43
that they needed because, the past World Cups,
6:46
they didn't do any good, but they have great players
6:50
that play in Europe and England and Spain and Italy and France
6:53
And, um, they are--
6:56
It's a nice mixture of veterans and youth,
7:01
so I think they're gonna do very good.
7:04
-And are you practicing your "Gol's"?
7:07
[ Audience murmurs ] Yeah.
7:09
-What are you talking about? -I didn't want to do it.
7:12
I didn't want to do it in disrespect to you.
7:14
The "g-o-o-o-ol."
7:16
-I'll do if you do it.
7:18
[ Cheers and applause ]
7:21
Hey, but we have to-- We have to time each other.
7:23
-I don't know if we have the time
7:25
because you do it for a long time.
7:27
-Well, I'll teach you-- -Do you do a long "gol"
7:29
even if the goal is not that great?
7:30
Do you go-- Do you sometimes go, "Gol"?
7:32
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
7:35
-No. Only the English announcers do that.
7:37
-They go-- Yeah. They go, "Gol." -"Gol."
7:39
-"Gol." But not you. -"The back of the net."
7:40
-How do you do-- Give me a little-- How do you--
7:42
-Here. Let me-- Let me show you.
7:44
[ Cheers and applause ]
7:46
You know, it's all about breathing, okay?
7:49
You know, normally, the normal individual
7:52
will breathe in... into the lungs.
7:54
-Yeah. Of course.
7:55
-But now you got to do it into your stomach like this.
7:58
See that? On the count of three.
8:01
One two three. -Yeah.
8:02
-To see which one lasts the longest. Ready?
8:06
-Yeah.
8:08
[ Both inhale deeply ]
8:09
-G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ol! -G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ol!
8:19
-G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ol! -G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ol!
8:27
[ Laughter ]
8:29
[ Cheers and applause ]
8:31
You do it like it's nothing!
8:33
Luis Omar Tapia! -Thank you very much.
8:36
Spanish coverage for the FIFA World Cup
8:38
begins this Thursday on Telemundo and Peacock.
8:41
We'll be right back with Penn and Teller.
8:43
Come on back.
