Univision anchor Tony Lopez (left), Considered the greatest futbol player of all time Pele’ (center), and the author and Univision anchor Amaury Pi Gonzalez (right) (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

The World Cup – World’s Greatest Sporting Event From My Notebook

By Amaury Pi-González

The 2026 World Cup in the United States begins this Thursday, June 11, and runs through the final on July 19. This is the largest tournament in FIFA history, with 48 teams across 16 host cities in the US, Canada, and México. I covered the historic first time the FIFA World Cup came to the United States of America. In my opinion, the ’94 US World Cup was crucial in raising interest among Americans in soccer/Fútbol.

It was the introduction to most Americans about why this sport is so popular worldwide. An education, including for me, since I come from a Caribbean country where baseball is the top sport, not fútbol. Cuba qualified only once for a World Cup, in 1938, which took place in France.

The First FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States was in 1994; Brazil won it, defeating Italy 3-2 in a penalty shootout. It was played at nine major stadiums in the United States, including Stanford here in the Bay Area. It was truly a spectacle, covering these athletes from all over the world.

The games I covered were at Stanford: Brazil 2, Russia 0. Brazil 3, Cameroon 0, Colombia 2, Switzerland 0; and Russia 6, Cameroon 1. The World Champion Brazil team stayed at the Villa Feliz Lodge in Los Altos, about 10 miles from downtown San José, where I also covered the celebration after they won the Cup.

Great players like Romario, Bebeto, and the great coach Bora Milutinovic were all gracious and joyful about the event. The matches for Brazil were held at Stanford Stadium, about 20 miles from San José. Telemundo CH 48, the main Bay Area station, is also located in San Jose.

I had the most fun I have ever had at this sporting event. Numerous people I met inside and outside the media from different countries and nationalities, all focused on their countries and fútbol; there is nothing really like it. At the time Telemundo was a smaller network, today it is part of NBC Universal.

However, we did have all the ‘state-of-the-art’ equipment necessary for a worldwide event. My good friend and producer Mauricio Quijano, who is Colombian and also speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and English, introduced me to the staff of the famous Globo TV of Brazil.

We went inside their remote truck, an incredible operation, because for Brazil their Fúbol is more like…well, a religion, not only a sport. Highlights of the many ‘Live Shots’ for news in the afternoon, late night with packages and interviews, plus the games highlights coverage, interviews with players and fans from all over the world, plus the pre and post games, were when FIFA brought to this World Cup the one and only Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, better known around the world as Pelé.

He was wearing a very sharp blazer with a Mastercard monogram, his sponsor as the official Worldwide Ambassador of Fútbol. My good friend Tony López, Sports Anchor for Univisión, and I, similar for Telemundo, each conducted an exclusive interview (one-on-one) with Pelé, who spoke Portuguese, English, and Spanish fluently. I remember (who passed in 2022) told me, “In 20 years, Fútbol will be a very popular sport in the United States,” and he was right.

Tony López and I always reminisce about those years, days when non-Hispanics would call our stations to ask about the scores of the Latin American and European Fútbol Leagues, which were NEVER GIVEN by the regular local ABC, CBS, and NBC in the United States, but we would always include them in our sports segments. Pelé was for Fútbol what Muhammad Ali was for boxing. A world personality that transcends sports, in many countries, even more famous than the Kings, Queens, or even Presidents.