[upbeat music]

From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is American Fútbol, a show about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots.

I've gotten to do a lot of wonderful interviews for this podcast, and I've enjoyed every single one of them.

But when the video call started with Argentinian announcer Andrés Cantor, I kind of had a moment of like, "Wait, what? I know that voice.

That's the voice that calls the games." His voice means soccer to me.

We spoke a few weeks before the World Cup started, and right away when he introduced himself, his chill vibe put me at ease.

I think most of our audience knows who you are, but if you don't mind introducing yourself, who you are and what you're known for.

You can also find a link in this episode description.

Pero a ver, en tu experiencia, tu travesía por el fútbol en Estados Unidos, ¿qué es culturalmente?

El fútbol en Estados Unidos culturalmente hoy es mucho más de lo que ha sido antes.

Es-- eso es lo primero.

Para mí, como para muchos migrantes, cuando llegas a Estados Unidos es como un shock el ver que no es un país que ame el fútbol.

Te quedas así como que: ¿cómo? En todo el mundo lo aman, todo el mundo sabe lo que es el mundial.

Aquí como que: ¿qué, qué onda? ¿No? Entonces eso es algo que, que nos pasa a muchos y que conforme pasa el tiempo es menos el shock.

Porque si tú o yo nos hubiéramos venido a vivir a Estados Unidos este año, hubiéramos tenido mucho más acceso a la cultura de fútbol, a la emoción, a los partidos de fútbol que en cualquier otro momento antes.

Tus papás me perdonan.

[crowd cheering]

[laughs] You know, this is a show called American Fútbol, and it's about soccer culture in the US and its underdog roots, and it's really not about the stats or the games, but about the stories, the drama, which is my thing.

One of my favorite things about this podcast is that throughout the interviews that I've done so far is we keep hearing this is the immigrant game, which is why it has not become part of the sort of top three sports of, like, America's pastime the way baseball had become.

So if I had to, my Futuro is, my Futuro is not afraid to take risks.

My Futuro is now, is how I would describe it in one sentence.

And it's now because right now, especially working for Latino USA, and then working on a show like this, there is a lot of things that we need to make sense of in the world and in the United States, in politics, in policy, in real life, in everyday news.

And there's also a huge need to provide a relief, a break, a palate cleanser in the never-ending doom scroll.

I don't see our work as completely separate, like this is just news, this is just culture.