i was watching the atlante vs necaxa game and heard the news. many mls fans hated him for criticising mls refs and said he was an enemy of us soccer. let me clarify that yes he did criticize refs many times, but he never just said "mls refs are bad" with no reason, without giving an explanation of the mistake they did. if he saw a ref make a blatant error he would explain what he did wrong, what the rule is partaining to that error (what the ref should have done) etc. He never went on rambling about the refs for no reason. i don't hate him for doing that because everyone knows mls refs are bad, and they need to be criticized. The quality of play in mls has improved greatly but the refs havent. Longo often praised the likes of donovan, beasley etc.
I remember watching a lot of MLS matches with him and Cantor doing the broadcast. Even with my limited Spanish I could tell he was frequently skeptical and critical of what he was seeing. That said, I came to recognize that this was his style in many of the MFL league games as well. While I bristled at his approach, I respect the fact that he was consistent about it on the whole. Mostly I remember the fact that he an Andres were an active part of the early years of this league, and for that I remember him with gratitude. Rest in Peace.
To those of us who deeply love soccer. To those of us brothers in Arms, that agreed or rejected his ideas of a way of seeing soccer as a whole. He there and on the other end of the broadcast us here, he meant something hard to express in words: to me he meant sharing of passion for the sports. Thanks for what you shared Norberto, wherever you are.
Descanse en paz, Norberto. Sad news. I got re-interested in soccer in the early 90's during the years leading up to USA'94. Norberto Longo and Andres Cantor were the main announcers on most of the games I watched in the early 90's. ESPN has not yet come close to reaching their level. Longo was not a rah-rah cheerleader type of commentator. He criticized mistakes and praised good play. Later on - after Univision stopped televising MLS, he seemed to me to downplay MLS' quality of play. That may have just been his network's tactic to belittle the competition - or it may have been his actual opinion.
As a commentator I say to him, Good Ridance. He sucked major ass. But you never liked to see people go like this so....
He wont be missed by MLS or US Soccer or the soccer watching nation (spanish and english). He knew little about soccer and never played the game and repeated himself constantly. His passion was more towards boxing. He was a homer to latin teams to the point of exhaustion. He talked down to his audience constantly. He berated referees, without knowing what he was talking about. He continually missed the action on the field. Only a handful of Hispanics found his commentary worth listening too, Outside of announcing he was a nice man. He was just in the wrong business.
I second this. BUT, his passion as well as Cantor helped me to love the game way back when the MFL was the only thing I could get in the states. I owe that. rest in peace dude
The people who say Norberto knew nothing about soccer are just plain stupid... The man worked 25 years in the soccer business. 15 or so in Argentina, for Telefe and Canal 9. He was a main reason, along w/ Tony Tirado of starting a professional sports department in the early years of Univison... The man covered 8 world cups... Although I did not agree always w/ what he said, I respected the man... Norberto NEVER said he was ANTI US SOCCER, for the national team (USA) he always stressed the importance of the teams sucess... Often putting weight on the likes of Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, and Tab Ramos as the players who need to be put as examples... unfortionatly Norberto was not so optimstic w/ MLS, MLS had, by the end of it's Univison run, done so many dum mistakes, that the man was feed up, as was I... Even though he may not have been a fan of MLS, he stressed the fact to support it, and always demand better... And why not, why can't the most powerful contury in the world, have the best soccer league in the world???? He traveled the world doing what he loved... An amazing man who until saturday I did not know he was the minister of the Press for Juan Domingo Peron, president of Argentina... An amazing man who lived an amazing life.. May he rest in peace... Norberto Longo had, and Andres Cantor has, a level of professionalism that puts MLS ESPN, and US soccer coverage by ESPN and ABC to shame!!!! If US soccer had english speaking announcers like these we'd be a lot better... US soccer NEEDS people to be objective and to tell them their flaws, not to by like Rob and Ty a$$ sinffers who know NOTHING about the game!
Que Dios te tenga en la Gloria Norberto. Like 2 years ago, I called Radio Unica and asked him about the future of MLS in particular. He said that there was a future in USA soccer. He said than millions of kids are participating in different youth leagues across the country and that the USA national team was starting to get some respect worldwide. He thought that MLS needed to send its referees to Latin America in other to get experience, such as making the correct calls. I know he was too critical, but I have to agree with El Mono Mario, he knew about soccer more than us. He never sold himself in order to get good feedback from fans. I respect him.
YOU RushOnze are an ABSOLUTE BONEHEAD!!!!! What happened to Norberto Longo is an absolute TRAGEDY! He used to be a commentator back in Argentina during his early years and called a lot of the Boca Juniors games. His passion wasn't boxing it was SOCCER! Yes, he was a fan of boxing but soccer was always his #1 passion! Yes, the guy always criticized refs, players, leagues and also executives, but it was always for the better of the game or to help improve the overall product. Love him or hate him his intensions were always good and for the right reasons! HE always praised the beautiful game! He knew too much about the sport and Andres Cantor along with Jaime Losada always looked up to him as their mentor. Longo was the first one to be picked up by Telemundo after Univision let him go. Right after that happened his team of Andres Cantor, Jaime Losada and the rest of the crew followed him right to Telemundo! Too think that the Latin community here in the U.S. will not miss this figure that has been ingrained in their homes every Sunday morning for the last 17 years is an absolute FARSE!!!! He was the first topic that everyone talked about on Easter Sunday and I come from a Latin family you BONEHEAD! I will deeply miss Norberto Longo and my Sundays will never be the same! May he rest in peace.
ditto that. I started to really follow soccer when I was in middle school/early high school, the run up to USA 94 and I quickly got used to hearing him team with Andres calling the games. I learned tons more about soccer watching the two of them than I learned about any other sport watching anybody else call games; it really felt like they spent Sunday afternoons in the living room with us. I talked to my dad yesterday for the first time since we'd heard of his passing and both of us said that we felt like we'd lost a friend. Que descanse en paz amigo.
AMEN BROTHER!!!! I COULDN'T OF SAID IT ANY BETTER!!! He criticized MLS because of their stupidity, bad refs, bad players and unexplainable mistakes! I still do that in the 8th year of MLS as a league supporter!!! How can you blame the man for that when he's way more knowledgeable and is used to a higher standard in the sport of soccer. Norberto Longo and Andres Cantor are the two responsible for popularizing the sport here in the U.S. during the early 90's. Pele did it in the 70's, but after soccer died here throughout the 80's those two guys revived it in the 90's! Not only did they make a huge impact in the Latin community but also in the non Spanish speaking communities as well! I remember watching Tony Tirado back in the 70's and 80's. He was good, but Longo and Cantor took the game to a whole new level for me. Because of their passion and knowledge for the game of soccer they game me a reason to love the sport again! You are absolutely right that for the people who don't believe that he was very knowledgeable about the sport are not only just plain STUPID but to make a statement like that is an absolute "LOAD OF CROCK!!! I want to thank Norberto Longo for all his work and for making an impact in my life! He will be deeply and sadly missed on every Sunday morning! MAY HE REST IN PEACE!
That's right Ty Keough doesn't! That's why you never heard of him as a player (even though he was) and that's why he SUCKS as a commentator!!!
I don't and I was a season ticket holder for the Earthquakes in the old NASL days since 1974! Besides what does MISL stand for? Major Indoor Soccer League? If so, then I know now why he really sucked! Totally different sport than the real game.
Ty Keough is one of those guys that actually knows too much about the sport, and that makes him spout off random bull$h!t every 4 seconds which in turn leads to him sounding like a smacked a$$.
He also played with the San Diego Sockers. Here's his bio: http://espn.go.com/abcsports/columns/keough_ty/bio.html Which explains why Preki is so crap... By the way, none of this should suggest that I'm a fan of Ty Keough.
The only recognized player that the San Diego Sockers had was Hugo Sanchez! During those days I never heard of Ty Keough and I can care less to read about his bio! In regards to Preki, he's crap also! Preki's a one dimensional player that only knows how to cut in and cut out with the ball. Hasn't changed his style of play since MLS 96! He's so predictable that you always know what he's going to do!