Alexi Lalas previews 2026 FIFA World Cup, ‘Summer of ’94’ movie
American soccer legend Alexi Lalas joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. Lalas highlights the event’s cultural significance and reflects on the 1994 U.S. World Cup. Fox Sports announces a $250,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, matched by Fox Corporation, to grow grassroots soccer.
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There is no clear favorite heading into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but if you ask Fox Sports analyst Alexi Lalas who he thinks will lift the trophy at the end of the tournament, he will give you one answer.
“I don’t care who wins as long as it’s not England,” he said during Fox Sports’ FIFA World Cup 2026 Media Day on Wednesday in New York City. “I can abide a lot of things happening this summer, but one thing I can’t is to have England come over to our shores, on our 250th birthday in what I feel is the greatest country in the world, and for them to win a World Cup.
“If you think they’re unbearable now, you could imagine them coming over and winning that World Cup and it coming home through our country. I can’t have that, so anyone but England.”
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Alexi Lalas, Fox Sports soccer analyst and U.S. Men’s National Team legend, makes an animated appearance on stage at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on April 14, 2023. (Michael Janosz/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
The rivalry between the USA and England in soccer was in full force in 2022 when they were pitted against each other in their group stage in Qatar. It was a 0-0 draw in a hard-fought game for both sides, but in 2026 they will have to get out of their respective groups if they are to meet in the tournament.
But Lalas could not imagine England taking home its first World Cup since 1966 – the country’s only victory in the tournament of all tournaments.
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However, there is no denying how big the England squad will be this year, as Lalas knows.
“They’re really good,” he said. “As much as it pains me to say, they are very, very good. The football gods have a wicked sense of humour. Please no England, anyone but England.”
Lalas’ Fox Sports colleague, host Rebecca Lowe, is a west Londoner who has dreamed of her country winning it all since she can remember.
“Every four years of my game since 1990, I think about England winning the World Cup,” she said after Lalas’ rant. “So I’m now reaching a stage where if I now go against them, they will do it.
“I will be brave. It will come home.”
Commentator and former player Alexi Lalas looks on before the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025 final between the United States and Mexico at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on July 6, 2025. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
Lowe and Lalas said they will have a bet in place when the tournament begins where, if England actually win it all, the latter will have to do something and vice versa.
Carli Lloyd, Stu Holden and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez also gave their predictions on who would win. Hernandez sided with Lowe and believed England could win it all, although he hopes his home country, fellow hosts Mexico, can do it instead.
Lloyd and Holden both believe France, who fell on penalties to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final, will get the job done at the MetLife Stadium in July.
“The French, I just look at this team, they keep getting stronger. When one generation goes down, the next generation comes,” Holden said.
Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas speaks at the FOX Sports 2018 FIFA World Cup Celebration on September 26, 2017 at ArtBeam in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for FOX Sports)
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“I’m going with France too,” Lloyd added shortly after. “The depth, the experience. I know I lost in 2011 at the World Cup, came back and really had that desire to really want to win in 2015. There’s something about that.”
The panel hoped the US men’s national team could do well at home, but it’s hard to deny the level of talent elsewhere as the best players and countries in the world converge against North America in a matter of weeks.
