{"id":717869,"date":"2026-06-21T19:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717869\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T19:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:15:13","slug":"alexi-lalas-refuses-cringe-world-cup-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717869\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexi Lalas refuses &#8216;cringe&#8217; World Cup request"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You can call it football \u2014 just don\u2019t expect Alexi Lalas to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>The former USMNT defender is working yet another World Cup as an analyst for Fox, and he\u2019s once again <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/19\/sports\/world-cup-panel-has-funny-response-to-alexi-lalas-absence-youre-welcome\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">proven to be a polarizing presence on air<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Lalas brought his brash personality to social media as he responded to a fan asking him to call the sport soccer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlexi we need to talk about you continuing to call the sport \u2018soccer\u2019 cmon man.. you could bridge the gap,\u201d an X user wrote. \u201cEven the US players call it \u2018football\u2019 in overseas interviews out of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39661137\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2277575576.jpg\" alt=\"Former football player Greg Olsen speaks into a microphone at the Fox Sports FIFA World Cup 2026 media day.\" class=\"wp-image-39661137\"  \/>Alexi Lalas refused a fan\u2019s request to call the sport \u201cfootball\u201d, calling it \u201ccringe.\u201d FOX Sports via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Lalas was having none of the \u201ccringe\u201d request.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JediFunk36\/status\/2067748512872165703\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cYeah\u2026that\u2019s not gonna happen. I call it soccer. I own it proudly,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AlexiLalas\/status\/2067755812400116142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067755812400116142%7Ctwgr%5E631a0cdc6331e1e588094fe55b828aef9b38c34f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fawfulannouncing.com%2Ffox%2Falexi-lalas-soccer-football-weak-poser.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">began<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never apologize for it. If you grew up calling it soccer and changed out of insecurity or some misguided belief it makes you more authentic\/credible\u2026it doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s cringe. It makes you look like a weak poser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fiery response is not the first headline that Lalas has made during this World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the USA\u2019s debut against Paraguay last week, Lalas and colleagues Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rebecca Lowe <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/12\/sports\/alexi-lalas-insults-james-corden-during-usa-world-cup-coverage\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were discussing James Corden<\/a> hosting a late-night World Cup show for Fox.<\/p>\n<p>Lalas then stunned his fellow panelists as he joked: \u201cWhat do you guys call them? A full kit w\u2014-, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lalas and Ibrahimovic have also sparred a bit during this tournament, and the legendary striker jokingly reveled in Lalas\u2019 absence from the Fox studio show on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica, you\u2019re welcome,\u201d the former PSG star said.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, there\u2019s been plenty for Lalas to enjoy in this tournament so far, with the USA already confirmed as Group D winners following comfortable wins against Paraguay and Australia.<\/p>\n<p>The USMNT will face Turkey on Thursday in what has become a dead rubber (Turkey are eliminated), before playing a yet-to-be-determined third-place finisher on July 1 in the round of 32.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can call it football \u2014 just don\u2019t expect Alexi Lalas to do the same. The former USMNT&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[8467,403,99,3015,84938,153412],"class_list":["post-717869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-fox-sports","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sports-media","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}