NEW YORK (AP) — Alexi Lalas doesn't want to hear U.S. players citing pressure ahead of playing in a World Cup at home and says Christian Pulisic, the top American, is "never going to be the leader."
Lalas Rips US Players Over Pressure Complaints
"Cry me a river, OK, when it comes to the pressure. Bunch of whiners, that they're whining about the pressure," Lalas said Thursday at a Fox event to promote its World Cup coverage.
Lalas, 55, played for the U.S. when it hosted the 1994 World Cup and has been Fox's top soccer analyst since late 2014.
American players, hoping to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002, haven't complained about pressure but have said it exists.
"There's pressure, I feel it. Yes, it's there, but it's nothing that I can't handle," Pulisic said in March. "I'm going to, yeah, attack it head on. We are as a team. I don't need to do it by myself."
'Given Absolutely Everything'
"Allow me to grumpy old man a little bit here," Lalas said. "This is a generation that has been given absolutely everything both on and off the field in terms of resources, in terms of opportunities, in terms of pathways. And I don't think that I'm being unrealistic. I don't think I'm being unfair by saying that we should expect more from this group. We should expect this team to win this group."
Criticism of Pulisic's Form
Lalas expects a turnaround from Pulisic, who hasn't scored in 18 Serie A matches for AC Milan since Dec. 28 and a career-worst eight straight U.S. games since November 2024.
Lalas said Pulisic, a 27-year-old with 32 international goals, is "well on his way to becoming the best male American soccer player in history."
"He's a fascinating player in terms of his talent. He's a frustrating player in terms of his personality," Lalas said. "He's going through a period right now from a football perspective where it's not going well and so this is going to test my form-is-fallacy theory."
"He's never going to be the leader that people want him to be," Lalas added, "and that's OK because I think there's others that can do that, but he needs to be the star that this team needs."
World Cup Expectations
Lalas said the U.S. should win in the new round of 32 and reach the round of 16, where the Americans were knocked out in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
With home-field advantage, Lalas said the team could then hope to advance to "kind of rarefied air."
"Whether you're a Christian Pulisic or whether you are a Weston McKinnie or whether you are a Diego Luna or an emerging player, this is the platform for your brand," Lalas said. "If you star this summer, and this team does well this summer you will be remembered forever."