Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast · FOX Sports

Pepi makes history, Balogun bags his goal | USMNT in UCL Recap

·48 min·2 clips

Alexi Lalas says his biggest regret from the 1994 World Cup is that the team settled after beating expectations.

1. Alexi Lalas' State of the Union Podcast, recorded Wednesday, November 5, 2025, recaps Champions League match day four through its American players and looks ahead to the USMNT's friendlies against Paraguay and Uruguay. 2. Host Alexi Lalas is joined by David Mossi, a Fox Soccer researcher and writer, who adds stats such as the U.S. having only one World Cup knockout win since 1990. 3. The episode's core argument is that Ricardo Pepi's 1-1 stoppage-time equalizer at Olympiacos and Folarin Balogun's near-post winner in Monaco's 1-0 win at Bodo/Glimt could give the USMNT a "plethora" of options up top. 4. An Opta stat puts Pepi at three result-changing second-half stoppage-time Champions League goals, tying Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero, while Lalas says he would still start Balogun over Pepi and Haji Wright against Paraguay and Uruguay. 5. After Liverpool's 1-0 win over Real Madrid, with a goal from McAllister, Lalas says the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who made more than 350 appearances for the club, "screamed insecurity" and that the club's supporters showed "victimhood." 6. Lalas says Pochettino should treat Pulisic's absence from the November camp as if the player were hurt or sent off, and he names Tim Weah and Diego Luna as possible replacements. 7. On Luis Suarez's suspension for kicking an opponent in game two of Inter Miami's MLS playoff series, Lalas says "if you got baggage, that baggage is going to play into how people react to you," while Inter Miami objected to punishment after VAR did not act in the match. 8. In Ask Alexi, a caller named Jonah from Seattle asks if the hosts would swap Pochettino for Greg Berhalter, and Lalas says no, saying a return would be a regression after Berhalter nurtured the second-youngest team at the 2022 World Cup. 9. Answering whether a round of 16 exit at the 48-team World Cup would satisfy him, Lalas recalls the 1994 loss to Brazil and says "we settled," while Mossi notes the U.S. has only one knockout win at a World Cup since 1990, over Mexico in 2002. 10. Suited to USMNT followers and fans of Champions League and MLS playoff talk.

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