Alexi Lalas’ Arsenal rejection
America’s brilliantly bearded behemoth recalls starring on home soil at USA 94 and bringing Beckham to MLS
You left Rutgers University in 1991 to join the US national team. That’s a big step...
I didn’t envision becoming a professional – everything just snowballed. Rutgers gave me a good, but limited, soccer experience. I was spotted by the Olympic national team, then I left Rutgers to feature at the 1992 Olympics.
What were the Olympics like? Did you hang out with the US basketball Dream Team?
It was an incredible experience, and being in the Olympic village was nuts. I remember walking out at the opening ceremony, looking up and seeing both Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela. Then I turned to my right and saw the US Dream Team in the other direction. It was a surreal, but wonderful, experience. I’d broken my foot shortly before the Olympics, so wore a boot a size- and- a- half too big in order to incorporate the cast. I was adamant about playing in that tournament.
You had an unsuccessful trial at Arsenal. How did that come about?
I was a no- name. I didn’t have a résumé or work permit, and Arsenal had much better players than me. I remember Tony Adams, Paul Merson and Ian Wright picking me up from my hotel, taking me to training and then on to a sports bar, where we ate potato skins. I was sitting with these legends and thought it was the best thing ever.
Did that give you a point to prove when you scored in a 2- 0 victory over England in the [ now- defunct] US Cup in 1993?
It was awesome to play against England, never mind score! I wasn’t surprised with the result, as we were pretty good at being the underdog. We knew we had to defend like banshees and counter- attack, which we did.
What are your memories of the 1994 World Cup, on home soil?
It changed my life forever. I lived the power of what a World Cup can do to an individual.
The opportunities afforded me on and off the field kept coming. I still meet people who’ll say that World Cup introduced them to the game. It gave the American public an idea of what the game can be. It opened their eyes.
Would you have taken a better penalty than Diana Ross?
That was destined to fail from the start! You had a billion people watching on, so I guess even the great Diana Ross can get the jitters.
You were beaten 1- 0 by Brazil in the last 16. Was that painful or were you proud to run the eventual champions so close?
It meant the end of the adventure, but we knew we had achieved something lasting. After that summer, the game in the US was bigger than ever. Getting past the group stage was the litmus test for our credibility.
At what age did you start with the long hair and beard combo?
I grew my hair throughout college but the goatee was the result of a run- in with Bora Milutinovic, our head coach at USA 94. He was an incredible manager who tested us on a continual basis. We were preparing for the World Cup when his assistant told me to cut my hair. It was a test to see just how badly I wanted to be part of the team. We were in Phoenix, so I took a walk and went and got my hair cut. When I strolled into the next team meeting, Bora looked at me, nodded and didn’t mention the way I looked ever again. So I grew my hair longer and then grew the goatee. I created a brand, it was by design, but it wasn’t disingenuous. I liked it.
You released an LP with The Gypsies at the 1994 World Cup, and opened concerts for Hootie & the Blowfish. Tell us more...
Music is a huge part of my life, so I milked those opportunities for all they were worth and had a blast. I’ve always taken music as seriously as everything else – it fills me with a different type of excitement and emotion.
What are your memories of playing in Serie A with Padova?
I also had offers from Coventry and Bochum, but there was only one place I was going to go. I wanted to be a pioneer. I’d never been on the books of a professional club before; all my soccer experience was international. I learned the language and was conjugating verbs on my first night in Padova.
What do you remember about the early years of MLS?
I remain incredibly proud that myself and others decided to come back and start this thing. We had a belief. We had talked about a league of our own, but we also recognised the history of American soccer was littered with teams and leagues which went defunct. To think it was 25 years ago is pretty amazing. There aren’t many opportunities in life when you are there at the beginning of something.
What was it like to be in the USA squad in 1998, particularly for the Iran game?
We wanted to show we had improved, but it was a disaster; a wasted opportunity. I grew up knowing that Iran referred to the US as ‘ The Great Satan’, so everybody knew that the political aspect was going to be ramped up. The narrative brought people in who may not have otherwise watched this game. We would go to countries and not be liked simply because we were the US, and it was a chance to beat America at something.
After retiring, you were the president of LA Galaxy when David Beckham signed. How did you pull that off?
We had cultivated a relationship with David for a long time. We wanted to do something big and bold, which would not only change how the Galaxy was viewed, but MLS as well. There were few people who could do that, so we made David an offer he couldn’t refuse. I was in Florida visiting my in- laws and had to keep getting up from the table to sort out spreadsheets, because we were budgeting whether we’d be able to make all the money back. Beckham was a huge part of the team, but he was still just a player and no player is bigger than the club, so the balance was out of whack. In the end, there was quite a lot of collateral damage, which meant I was fired. To this day, people speak about the Galaxy because of the Beckham link.
What do you think the 2026 World Cup will be like – similar to 1994, or is soccer even bigger in the US now?
It’s going to be like ’ 94, but times a hundred. There’s a player, right now, whose life is going to change forever in 2026. I love seeing stars forming in front of our eyes.