Alexi Lalas previews the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the film ‘Summer of 94’
American soccer legend Alexi Lalas joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to talk about the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. Lalas highlights the cultural significance of the event and reflects on the 1994 U.S. World Cup team. Fox Sports announces a $250,000 donation to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, matched by Fox Corporation, aimed at growing 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 an answer.
“I don’t care who wins as long as it’s not England,” he said during Fox Sports’ 2026 FIFA World Cup Media Day on Wednesday in New York City. “I can stand a lot of things happening this summer, but one thing I can’t is England coming to our shores, on our 250th birthday of what I think is the greatest country in the world, and winning a World Cup.
“If you think they are unbearable now, can you imagine they came and won that World Cup and came home through our country? I can’t allow that, so no one except England.”
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Alexi Lalas, Fox Sports soccer analyst and US men’s national team legend, appears animated on stage at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on April 14, 2023. (Michael Janosz/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
The soccer rivalry between the United States and England was in full force in 2022, when they met in the group stage in Qatar. It was a 0-0 draw in a very close match for both teams, but in 2026 they will have to get out of their respective groups if they want to face each other in the tournament.
But Lalas couldn’t 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 great the English team will be this year, as Lalas well knows.
“They’re really good,” he said. “As much as it pains me to say it, they are very, very good. The football gods have a wicked sense of humour. Please not England, anyone who isn’t England.”
Lalas’ Fox Sports colleague, presenter Rebecca Lowe, is a west London resident who has dreamed of her country winning it all for as long as she can remember.
“Every four years of my game since 1990, I think about England winning the World Cup,” he said after Lalas’ rant. “So, now I’m reaching a stage where if now go against them, they will do it.
“I’m going to be brave. Everything will come home.”
Commentator and former player Alexi Lalas looks on before the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup 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 make a bet once the tournament starts that if England really wins it all, the latter will have to do something and vice versa.
Carli Lloyd, Stu Holden and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández also gave their predictions on who would win. Hernandez was on Lowe’s side believing England could win it all, although he hopes his home country, Mexico, can too.
Both Lloyd and Holden believe France, who lost on penalties to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final, will get the job done at MetLife Stadium in July.
“The French, I just look at this team, they continue to get stronger. When one generation passes, the next 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’ll go with France too,” Lloyd added shortly after. “The depth, the experience. I know firsthand having lost in 2011 in the World Cup, coming back and really having that desire to want to win in 2015. There’s something about that.”
The panel was hopeful that the U.S. men’s national team can succeed at home, but it’s hard to deny the level of talent elsewhere as the world’s best players and countries converge on North America in just a few weeks.
