I agree with the author (dunno if that’s you) that Alexi Lalas definitely didn’t call the game evenly. I’m okay with some bias but he didn’t even hide it.

He is there as a color commentator and to keep the conversation going. The people calling the game are the ones doing the play by play. Alexi is there to highlight and explain things to those who don’t know much about soccer, and to provide a view point to create conversation and discussion. His comments on England aren’t off base he mentioned several times that they have some great individual players but they didn’t play like a team. They were a bad team at the World Cup, most England fans would agree with the statement but they hate it when someone else says it, let alone a yank.

He was critical of the US as well, and I am sorry the reality is that his comments while unpopular with many have been spot on.

I think MLS is as good as it can be. Its like NFL Europe, could their best players keep up with our best players? Soccer is not our game and the competion is not up to the world standard, but I still enjoy it. I guess I don’t understand what saying the MLS sucks has anything to do with Alexi Lalas bias when talking about the American Team. I understand Lalas is a homer but in any sport the commentators are not going to trash the home team . I understand he works for ESPN and in this situation the US team is acting like home team. Soccer is not a very popular sport here, a lot of people watchng the World Cup don’t know the first thing about soccer. My point being, if he analyzed the soccer game as he saw it, people would get confused and think he hates the US Soccer team like all the refs and FIFA does. So the hardcore soccer fan looking for an unbiased honest evaluation of the game at half time, is not going to get it on ESPN when they are talking to the viewer like they know nothing about soccer. And lets be honest if any of us fans walk down the street and strike up a conversation about soccer, what are the chances that person would have any idea what we are talking about, 20 to 1 at best.

The worst thing about this World Cup was the horrible refereeing. A good portion of the games had huge mistakes, a few even decided the games. I can’t believe a soccer fan in the US , (I assume you live here) who gets a treat like a month straight of soccer games, and the MOST memorable thing you take away from the World Cup is a analyst that DOES’T EVEN call the games. So in theory if he aggravated you that much, you could of still watched every game without having to listen to him once. LOL Kind of funny if you ask me.