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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n San Francisco: Former United States international Alexi Lalas says the Socceroos should be grateful they are being dismissed as a threat to the World Cup co-hosts, urging Tony Popovic to print out his comments and stick them on the walls of the team\u2019s dressing room.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that they print it out. Make sure you spell my name correctly,\u201d Lalas said.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that it\u2019s wallpaper all around the Australian dressing room, because they\u2019re going to need all the help they can get.\u201d<\/p>\n Lalas is one of several American soccer pundits who could not hide his glee when the Socceroos landed in group D alongside the USA for the World Cup. As the lowest-ranked team in pot two \u2013 which also featured the likes of Croatia, Morocco, Colombia and Japan \u2013 Australia was statistically the best possible opponent for the co-hosts.<\/p>\n The celebrations began almost instantly ahead of their showdown on June 20 (AEST) in Seattle.<\/p>\n Mike Grella, an American ex-player turned analyst for CBS Sports, described the Socceroos as a \u201clay-up\u201d, as if a basketball term was the optimal way to assert his country\u2019s supremacy in soccer.<\/p>\n That was in December. Just last month he struggled to defend his position during an on-air grilling from Mark Schwarzer, and then said if the USA couldn\u2019t beat Australia, they shouldn\u2019t be at the World Cup.<\/p>\n On Fox Sports, Lalas looked up to the heavens with gratitude on the night of the draw: \u201cIf you believe in the soccer gods, you should be thanking them. This is not just a good group, this is a great group. This is a group you should expect this United States team to win.\u201d<\/p>\n This week, Lalas went hard and direct at the Socceroos, who he has rated 36th out of the 48 teams at the World Cup in his personal power rankings.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to struggle to score goals, to maintain possession … against better quality competition and the elites of the world, they can\u2019t play the way they play in their region,\u201d Lalas said on the State of the Union podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an average team by any measure, and certainly not a great team.\u201d<\/p>\n Best known as the long-haired, ginger-bearded centre-back for the USA during their last World Cup at home in 1994, Lalas the pundit has become one of the defining personalities of American soccer, famously unafraid to say what he thinks, whenever he wants. He is a proud MAGA advocate and engages in rolling social media battles with just about anyone willing to take him on.<\/p>\n So, yeah … he\u2019s not backing down on this one.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have to defend myself,\u201d Lalas said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the one thing that I\u2019ve learned from travelling to Australia is, while you are a mighty and proud nation, you\u2019re also a realistic nation, and a nation of truth. There is total truth in what I said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you put it up certainly against groups that we have had in the past, this is, like I said, not just an easier group \u2013 and I know you use that, and that\u2019s a triggering type of word \u2013 but I think it\u2019s a winnable group for a number of different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n One of those reasons is the advantage of being a host nation. Lalas travelled to Australia for the 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup in his capacity as a \u201cFIFA Legend\u201d and saw first-hand how the Matildas rose on the back of an unprecedented wave of support.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you piss it away, it\u2019s on you. Hopefully these guys don\u2019t do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lalas considers Australia and the USA to be \u201ckindred spirits\u201d in soccer because of the sport\u2019s domestic outsider status in both countries, and promises anyone coming to visit for the tournament that they will have a \u201ckick-ass time\u201d.<\/p>\n If anything, Lalas reckons, he\u2019s doing us a favour by talking his country up, and the Socceroos down.<\/p>\n For him, it\u2019s actually \u201cnecessary\u201d to demand more from the world No.16-ranked Americans. They have gone past the World Cup\u2019s round of 16 once, in 2002, but the game is booming in America: their squad is filled with top-level quality and experience, and their coach is the famed Mauricio Pochettino. Lalas admitted there would be no valid excuses if this squad could not go on the USA\u2019s deepest World Cup run yet.<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c4caf389501a83448945590215ac7ef12a4720c7b216595eea6884e3b2f3d022.jpeg\")
Former US international Alexi Lalas doesn\u2019t think the Socceroos are much chop.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Alexi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e88f59e73555a7ca4f6a7a04e9d5abcd5d98450900ad4e4f4715b5bf287251fc.jpeg\")
Alexi Lalas was one of the most iconic players from the 1994 World Cup in the United States.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6d2ea108c6d1e386d4b9545ff47c33c40b15c115.jpeg\")
The heated nature of Australia\u2019s friendly with the United States in October sets the stage for more fire at the World Cup.Getty Images<\/p>\n
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