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NEW YORK (AP) – Alexi Lalas doesn’t want to hear U.S. players talk about pressure ahead of their home World Cup appearance, saying top U.S. player Christian Pulisic “will never be a leader.”<\/p>\n
“You can cry about the pressure. The complainers are complaining about the pressure,” Lalas said Thursday at a Fox event promoting World Cup coverage.<\/p>\n
Lalas, 55, played for the United States during the 1994 World Cup and has been Fox’s top soccer analyst since late 2014.<\/p>\n
The American players, who are hoping to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002, aren’t complaining about the pressure, but say it’s there.<\/p>\n
“There’s pressure, I feel it too. Yes, there is, but it’s not something I can’t handle.” Pulisic said in March:<\/span>. “I say yes, we’re going to attack it head on. We’re doing it as a team. You don’t have to do it alone.”<\/p>\n“Let me tell you a story about a little grumpy old man,” said Lalas. “This is a generation that has been given everything on and off the field, in terms of resources, opportunities and career paths. And I don’t think I’m being unrealistic. I don’t think it’s unfair to say we should expect more from this group. We should expect this team to beat this group.”<\/p>\n
Lalas is hoping for a comeback from Pulisic. AC Milan has not scored a goal in 18 Serie A games since December 28th.<\/span> and He has played in eight consecutive games in the United States, the worst in his career since November 2024.<\/span> Lalas said the 27-year-old Pulisic, who has 32 international goals, is “well on his way to becoming the greatest American male soccer player of all time.”<\/p>\n“He’s an attractive player in terms of talent, but frustrating in terms of personality,” Lalas said. “From a football point of view, he’s going through a bad period right now, so this will test my theory that my form is faulty. When the door closes behind him and he’s on that plane, he’ll feel a sense of relief and he’ll feel a sense of relief when he comes to a team and of course a country that wants him to do well and believes he can do well.”<\/p>\n
“He’s never going to be the leader that people want him to be, which is fine, because I think there are others who can do it, but he needs to be the star that this team needs,” Lalas added.<\/p>\n
Lalas said the U.S. should win a new Round of 32 and advance to the Round of 16, where they were eliminated in 2010, 2014 and 2018. With home-field advantage, he said the team can expect to move into “kind of rarefied air.”<\/p>\n
“Whether you’re Christian Pulisic, Weston McKinnie, Diego Luna, an emerging player, this is a platform for your brand,” Lalas said. \u201cIf you become a star this summer and this team does well this summer, you will be remembered forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lalas spoke alongside fellow retired stars Stu Holden and Carli Lloyd from the United States, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez from Mexico, studio hosts Rob Stone and Rebecca Rowe, and Fox’s vice president of production Zach Kenworthy. Fox’s main network will televise 70 games of the expanded tournament.<\/span> It will run from June 11th to July 19th and will feature 34 performers on FS1.<\/p>\nHern\u00e1ndez predicted England would win the title, but not Mexico, while Holden and Lloyd predicted France would win. Stone went to Spain, Kenworthy to Portugal, and Rowe to England.<\/p>\n
Lalas said she was rooting for “anyone who isn’t British,” especially since it was the 250th anniversary of American independence.<\/p>\n
“Do you think they can’t stand it now? Can you imagine if they came and won the World Cup and it came back to our country?” he said. “It pains me to say it, but they are very, very good and the football gods have a wicked sense of humour.”<\/p>\n
Stone said the quarterfinals are likely the cap for the U.S., and perhaps the patriotism of the local crowd could push the U.S. into the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love those \u2018Miracle on Ice\u2019 moments,\u201d he said. “I think it’s too soon.”<\/p>\n
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the former Swedish star who was appointed as a Fox analyst for the first time, also took part in a video, criticizing his colleagues for lacking boldness in their US forecasts.<\/p>\n
“I don’t have the courage to say America is going to win the World Cup,” he said. “I hear voices saying, ‘Yeah, if they win their group, if they get to the next stage, if they’re lucky.'” Oh, let’s be a little brave and say: \u201cWe will win.\u201d \u200b\u200b\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico and Canada are co-hosts of the tournament, and Hern\u00e1ndez said El Tri players are also facing pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say they think we can win the tournament, but they all call us crazy,\u201d he said. “But then the first game happens and they expect you to play like you’re going to win the tournament.”<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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