Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast · FOX Sports

Pepi Powers PSV, MLS Cup Playoffs Begin, and no captain’s armband for Pulisic?

October 23, 2025·54 min·4 clips

Alexi Lalas argues Christian Pulisic shouldn't be USMNT captain, questioning who else could lead the team.

The cold open comes in swinging. Christian Pulisic's armband case gets poked right away, and nobody gets an easy answer because the backup choice is not obvious either. That question hangs over the whole transcript excerpt. Alex and David Mossi keep using club news as a national-team checkup, asking what minutes, form, and injuries should mean once the roster board comes out. Pepi and Dest sit near the top of the Champions League conversation. The European run moves through Americans abroad with the usual mix of scorekeeping and worry, where starting can matter more than the result. Weah gets a steady nod. Red cards change the shape of his match, but the read is simple enough: he moved, he starts, and his club seems to value him. Balogun gets treated the same way. Monaco and Tottenham does not turn into panic because he started, played well, and still looks like the defined starter. Nobody is wrapping him in caution tape yet. The question is health, rhythm, and whether he is the top striker for club and country right now. The side roads feel very on-brand. Igor Pachon turns into a bit about scouting eyes, Marseille money, pronunciation, and YouTube comments warming up. Sean Sullivan gets a stray compliment, with the joke that talent spotting for a big European club might be Plan B if producing falls apart. Then MLS arrives, with wildcard games setting up the playoff field. The excerpt does not fully build an MLS-to-U.S. roster case, but it keeps the red, white, and blue lens on. Movie chatter bookends the soccer: Redford, Scorsese, Academy Awards, subscriptions, YouTube jokes, then the familiar sendoff. It plays like two soccer people arguing through the roster board out loud.

As heard by us

A brisk U.S. soccer discussion that turns captaincy into roster and playoff stakes.

Captaincy is the thread here, but the episode keeps pulling that thread through the rest of the U.S. soccer picture: McKennie, Johnny, Pepi, Dest, the MLS playoffs, European results, and roster chatter.

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Why you'd press play

You want a blunt Pulisic read before the playoff talk starts.

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