“Alexi and I have been working together for 10 years,” said Stu Holden, a Fox Sports analyst and former U.S. men’s national team midfielder. “He was one of the first people I was asked about. They said, ‘What about the guy off camera?
This is what many people think when watching Alexi Lalas play. Famous for his gunpowder contribution.
He has a notable football pedigree, with nearly a century of caps for his country and playing in Serie A and MLS. In a sign of his influential status, world governing body FIFA conducted a feasibility study in 2021 as part of a failed attempt to launch a biennial World Cup. Lalas was invited to take part in a seminar hosted by former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, which included Brazilians Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and Australia’s Tim Ka Hill.
On US television, Lalas, 54, a studio analyst on Fox during this summer’s European Championships and Copa America, is bold and direct in his views. This week he has compared the England squad to the Dallas Cowboys, describing them as “intolerably talented”.
Spending more than 40 minutes in a Manhattan coffee shop, he was no exception. Topics ranged from Gregg Berhalter’s future as coach of the U.S. men’s national team (“We’re letting guys off the hook,” he insisted), or his “video game” approach to social media. This is a pure, undiluted dose of Laras. Holden, 38, sat next to him, ordered a piccolo coffee (when I asked what Piccolo involved, Lalas said, “Don’t encourage him”), and his analysis was sharp.
I told Lalas that some people took a deep breath when I mentioned I was going to interview him. He smiled. First and foremost, Lalas said he sees his studio role as “hopefully having a fun and informative part, and doing it in a fun way.”
He moved. “But I’m in the entertainment industry. I’m a performer. Sometimes people cringe when you say that. I’m by no means saying I can’t be authentic. But I recognize that how I say it is as much about what I say as important.
“When I go on TV, I put on a costume and when the red light comes on, I don’t want people to change the channel. I don’t care if you like me or not. I try my best to be a person and realize that on TV, things It has to be bigger and bolder.
Holden chimed in: “He’s one of my good friends. People ask me, ‘Does he believe everything he says?'”. I said, “We have the same conversation in the bar as we do on the radio.”
“What I learned from Alexi is that you have to be interested in this industry to last. Whether that’s the role he plays, or whether it’s true to himself and the views he holds – but maybe with a little bit of energy to fuel it – you always You don’t want to be in between. You never want to get caught up in that and people are like, “Ah, that guy is good.” So, stand aside, be bold, don’t care about other people’s opinions, but stay true to yourself. This is who he is – in front of and off the camera.
Horton made 25 appearances for the United States national team, but his career, which included Premier League spells at Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers, was cruelly cut short by injury. He and Lalas are diligent about their results, often meeting with coaches, players or front-office staff the day before a game to explain to the crowd what the team is trying to accomplish.
Lalas playing for Team USA at the 1994 Home World Cup (Photo: Michael Kunkel/Bongarts/Getty Images)
As time goes on, they get further and further away from modern locker rooms, but Holden said it’s important to “get people into the tent.”
“It’s not common in England,” he added, “but it’s so ingrained in American sports television that they’ll go to NFL training and sit with the coaches and get exclusive game breakdowns. It’s hard for Europeans to understand when they come here That’s it. Patrick Vieira (who was the head coach of New York City FC at the time) didn’t want to meet with us, and the same thing happened with Frank de Boer (Atlanta United). European or South American coaches would often ask, ‘Why are you coming. here?
They believe that, given their age, maintaining a bit of detachment will allow them to be harsher on the people they analyze when appropriate. I would advise many in the sports community to be careful when on television or radio right now and be wary of public backlash.
“Life is too short, go to hell,” Laras said bluntly.
“Ultimately, I’m talking about football. I know we have passion and emotion about these things – that’s why I love sport. I try to be honest and sometimes it comes out differently and people see it differently. Through It’s one thing with a keyboard, but it’s a very different type of interaction in everyday life. Some people come to me and disagree with me, but we have genuine, civil and respectful conversations, even when we’re in football. There are strong disagreements on matters both on and off the field.
He said his on-screen characters were inspired by more than just sports broadcasting. “It’s an element of shock athletes, it’s an element of political commentary, it’s an element of late-night TV hosting. And then when it comes to actual sports, I grew up in the ESPN era where the hot topics were happening, but I also like Gary Lineker (former England international striker and long-time presenter of BBC Football Report).
“The way he talks, you almost forget he’s a player – and not just a player, but a great player. When I hear him talk about the game and life, even though I agree Or disagree with his approach, it makes me forget what a great player he was because his approach is interesting, informative and entertaining so I have a lot of respect for what he creates.
Another thing Lineker and Lalas have in common is that they both seem to have a love-hate relationship with social media. Lineker’s show Match of the Day, the BBC’s Premier League highlights program, was thrown into crisis last year after the company took a pessimistic view of his political comments on Twitter, now known as X.
If Lineker is on the center-left, Lalas appears to be a political antidote, recently announcing on Twitter that he would attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Like Lineker, he seems irresistibly drawn into the vortex of culture war politics. He has recently shared a number of posts that appear to be sympathetic to Donald Trump and often engages in entertaining battles with his social media critics. But he has said he values face-to-face interaction more. So why bother with X?
“I’m sure I’ll overcome some of the addiction,” he admits. “This is the world we live in. There’s an ego factor. But I’m not delusional that I don’t solve the world’s problems. No one tells me what the hell I have to say about these things. First of all, Twitter is an information machine.
But it could also be an error message machine.
“Sometimes,” he said with a smile. “It depends on who you ask or where you look. I almost think of it as a video game that I play.
“I like the element of poking the bear and being provocative. When it comes to things off the field, like politics, honesty can be cathartic, especially in this day and age. There was a time when we were all so bold. Unfortunately, now we Sometimes I live in fear that just saying something that people don’t agree with is going to cause a real backlash, and I don’t want to live in a world like that. Maybe that’s my way of getting revenge.
“I’m not saying that’s smart or prudent, especially if it might alienate people. When it comes to the separation of sports and individuals, sometimes they blur and sometimes they contaminate or affect the other. But I just Live for once and I’d rather be as honest as possible regardless of whether anyone listens or cares.
As the U.S. national team looks for signs of real progress under Berhalter during this summer’s Copa America, Lalas will be as direct as ever. Holden also made his expectations clear.
How to follow the 2024 European Cup and Copa America Competitor…
“Getting through the group stage is non-negotiable,” Holden insisted. “If we can’t emerge from the group of Panama and Bolivia, then what are we doing? It’s time for a change.
Lalas chimed in: “Isn’t it tenable? Maybe from the outside and how we look at it. But ultimately it will be (U.S. Soccer technical director) Matt Crocker’s decision. He also has a chance ( Berhalter was reappointed as USMNT coach in June 2023).
“No one is jealous of cleaning house and getting rid of everyone. But he (Crocker) didn’t. So something really bad had to happen to American soccer to make a change.
“But there’s a lot of people sitting with their arms crossed saying, ‘OK, Greg, you’ve got a long leash, you’ve got a second chance, we need to see something different, we need to see something let We believe that by the 2026 World Cup, the U.S. men’s national team will likely win the World Cup for the first time ever and we haven’t had those moments yet. He needs a statement game and a statement summer to ease that. situation.
Holden noted that the U.S. lost in the round of 16 at the last World Cup against the Netherlands, which had the second-youngest team in Qatar, and cited the draw against England in which he said the U.S. “Tit for tat” as evidence of what could have happened.
“When we keep talking about coaching, we let the players off the hook,” Lalas said. “They get every benefit, every resource. From little to big, nothing is spared. We expect more from them individually and collectively.” , that’s fair. They’re not teenagers anymore. It’s time for some of them to play for the best teams and the best leagues in the world.
“We take coaches very seriously – I’m not saying they can’t produce results – but it’s a players’ game. When the whistle blows you decide what happens and the responsibility is on you. If you want If you don’t, that’s great. If you don’t, don’t blame the coach.
“If the United States wins the America’s Cup, it’s hands down the greatest thing they’ve ever done as a soccer nation in men’s soccer,” Holden laughed.
(Top photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
