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Mother Jones illustration; Getty; Jacob Kupferman\/CSM\/Zuma<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n The staff of\u00a0Mother Jones\u00a0is,\u00a0once again<\/a>, rounding up the heroes and monsters of\u00a0the past year<\/a>. This is a non-exhaustive and totally subjective list, giving our reporters a chance to write about something that brought joy, discontent, or curiosity. Happy holidays.<\/p>\n Viewers tuning in to Fox Sports to watch this summer\u2019s North America\u2013hosted World Cup will find themselves hearing from one the sport\u2019s loudest and arguably most disliked voices: Alexi Lalas.\u00a0<\/p>\n The soccer commentator and former US men\u2019s national team player\u2019s public persona centers on grandstanding nationalism, dumbed-down analysis, and incessantly controversial takes to generate buzz\u2014an \u201cedgelord,\u201d per Politico\u2019s apt description<\/a>. For any NBA fan, Lalas is the annoying, redheaded younger brother of Stephen A. Smith. Both spray audiences with hot takes and relish the hate they get in return. It\u2019s not creating division for rivalry or sport, it\u2019s creating division for attention. It\u2019s why a simple \u201cAlexi Lalas is bad for US soccer\u201d T-shirt<\/a> had a viral moment earlier this year, designed in response to his contention that \u201cdiversity<\/a>\u201d has hurt the US men\u2019s soccer team. (The claim was met by Eric Wynalda, another national team legend turned pundit, pointing out<\/a> Lalas\u2019 own background: His father is an immigrant from Greece, and his legal first name is Panayotis.)<\/p>\n For years, many<\/a>, many<\/a>, many<\/a> writers have argued that Lalas has dumbed down public understanding of the sport and harmed its growth in the US, calling him \u201cvillainous and ultimately untrustworthy,\u201d \u201cthe lowest common denominator,\u201d and \u201ca man who would power rank his own farts, if given the opportunity.\u201d As a Guardian<\/a> op-ed put it, \u201cThere can be no real improvement in the coverage of soccer in this country as long as [Alexi Lalas] continues to have a job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The future of the sport in this country and his own career prospects are intertwined.<\/p>\n Since that article ran in 2024, not only has Lalas continued to hold his job at Fox, but he even picked up a new gig helping advise President Donald Trump\u2019s White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026. The role makes sense: He hasn\u2019t exactly been shy about signaling his MAGA<\/a> beliefs and how they set him apart. \u201cI live in California, I work in soccer, I\u2019m like a unicorn when it comes to politics,\u201d he told Fox News in a radio interview while attending the 2024 Republican National Convention. (\u201cA cool place to be,\u201d he\u2019s said.) Beyond attacking diversity<\/a> in soccer, he\u2019s lifted up anti-trans rhetoric<\/a> around sports by advertising<\/a> Clay Travis\u2019 book Balls: How Trump, Young Men, and Sports Saved America and propped up<\/a> Trump as the \u201csoccer president<\/a>\u201d ahead of the first World Cup to be played in the US since 1994.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite this blatantly political rhetoric, Lalas criticizes the same behavior in others, most notably targeting the women\u2019s national team\u2014saying the players\u2019 advocacy made the squad \u201cunlikeable<\/a>\u201d after the four-time world champions<\/a> were knocked out of the 2023 World Cup in early rounds. Former US women\u2019s captain and Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe<\/a>, an advocate for LGBTQ rights and social justice<\/a> issues, responded to Lalas\u2019 comment in an Atlantic interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that America does really well is backlash. I think there\u2019s a huge backlash against women happening right now. I think we see that with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We\u2019re seeing that with the trans argument in sports. Does Alexi know exactly what he\u2019s saying? If I was saying stuff that anchors on Fox News are also saying,\u201d she explained, \u201cI would be worried about the co-sign.\u201d<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t the first time Lalas publicly went after female players from the US. In 2020, Lalas tweeted<\/a> about National Women\u2019s Soccer League professionals who took a knee in protest of police brutality, claiming that it \u201ctakes courage to actually stand for the national anthem.\u201d He later apologize for the \u201churt\u201d that tweet caused, but even in a 2023 post celebrating Rapinoe\u2019s career and retirement, Lalas couldn\u2019t keep from mentioning that he disagrees<\/a> with her \u201con many things.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite all this, Lalas may prove to be useful as the world\u2019s game is forced to navigate the rubble dome of the White House. He confided in Politico that he told Trump, \u201cThis is on our watch, and so let\u2019s not fuck it up.<\/a>\u201d He\u2019s even raised concern about how news of ICE raids will deter people<\/a> from coming to the cup\u2014though his preference is not changing policy, but fighting the \u201cperception out there that people have that it\u2019s not going to be a welcoming environment.\u201d For foreign fans considering visiting the US for the tournament, Lalas has said that if \u201cyou pass the vetting process, you are going to have a wonderful time.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Lalas wants the 2026 World Cup to be a success, seeing as his bosses at the Murdoch-controlled Fox Sports shelled out some $400 million to secure airing rights for nearly 70 percent of the games, and given that the future of the sport in this country and his own career prospects are intertwined. But to those who see his voice as harmful to the game, the dynamic sets him up as US soccer\u2019s parasite\u2014he depends on its success to create his own, while being a force that stunts its growth.<\/p>\n The power, the politics, and the media might of Fox have set the stage for Lalas to emerge from the 2026 World Cup with more prominence than he went in. He\u2019s laid the groundwork. He has his podcast. He has his own original patriotic music<\/a>. He\u2019s spoken about<\/a> more formally carving out a profile in political commentary, as long as someone will \u201cpay me to talk.\u201d He just needs the ball to bounce his way.<\/p>\n \t\t\t