Alexi Lalas urges USMNT to ‘have a conversation’ with Jürgen Klopp after Copa America flop
Alexi Lalas wants U.S. Soccer to go big-game hunting.
Speaking with The Post on Wednesday following the USMNT’s disappointing Copa America exit, the former USMNT defender addressed the “unique” situation the team is in ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America as questions swirl about whether coach Gregg Berhalter is the right person to lead.
“We’re in a situation now that’s unique,” Lalas, a current Fox Sports analyst, said when asked what he would do about the coaching situation if he were in charge.
“If the World Cup in 2026 wasn’t in the United States, I think the conversation would be a little bit different, but because of this train that is barreling down the tracks and coming at us — in a good way, because it’s going to be incredible — I think the conversation changes a little bit. Over the next two years, you need somebody who is going to ignite and inspire a nation that we are headed in the right direction. You need a bigger-than-life personality.”
Berhalter, 50, has come under fire following Monday’s 1-0 loss to Uruguay, with the USMNT failing to advance out of the group stage.
Lalas referenced comments from earlier in the week by longtime Fox soccer host Rob Stone, who said on-air the USMNT should “go big or go home” for 2026, and called attention to former Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp, whose name has been brought up in recent chatter.
“If you’re not going to go big, it flies in the face of what America is — we want big, we want bold, and dare I say we want arrogant in the things that we do, in particular, in terms of maximizing the summer of 2026. If you’re not going to do it now, then when are you?” Lalas asked.
“Someone like Jürgen Klopp is out there. I know people scoff at the idea of someone with his pedigree and background would ever consider doing this. But until you have the conversation, you don’t know.”
Klopp, 57, just stepped down as head coach of Liverpool, where he won one English Premier League championship and a Champions League title, and was generally the steward of elite performance since taking the job in 2015.
Lalas continued that the USMNT should do “something that is going to excite the masses — something that is going to transcend just the soccer culture out there, and can talk about the game in a passionate way and get me excited for the next two years.”
“If we don’t go in all guns blazing in 2026, it will be an incredible waste of an opportunity,” Lalas said.
“You have to be strategic about it because this is the team. There’s no Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan coming down the road for this group. You might have a couple players here or there, so you have to work with what you have, and you need somebody that has that ability.”
In college football, boosters — whether corporations or wealthy individuals — can write a check, for example, to fund a $75 million buyout for now-former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and then turn around and sign Mike Elko to a six-year contract worth $42 million.
Asked if it was an outrageous question as to whether USMNT could fund a dynamite hire like Klopp in a similar manner, Lalas said, “It’s not dumb at all. With money it’s not no obstacle — the U.S. Soccer Federation does have a fiduciary responsibility — but money will not stop it. It literally is going to be, does this person that you want actually want the job?”
Lalas explained why he thinks the USMNT gig is “an appealing job.”
“You have two years to get ready for the World Cup. You’re living in what I think is the best country in the world in America. You also are playing in the World Cup as the host, and that’s very special and unique,” he said. “It’s not that you have nothing to lose, but we are in a position right now where there’s an opportunity for someone to meet us and bring us back to where we believe in this team.”
Lalas emphasized that if U.S. Soccer decided to move on from Berhalter, they would be “derelict in their duty not to have a conversation with Klopp.”
“He might say that he doesn’t want to do it, but you leave no stone un-turned in terms of going out and trying to identify and lure in the best in the world,” Lalas said.
Another name Lalas mentioned as a possible Berhalter successor was Jim Curtin, who coaches the Philadelphia Union in the MLS.
“And if they believe that Gregg Berhalter is the guy that’s going to take us to the promised land in 2026, then they have to back him, and I’m sure there would be blowback, but what has been concerning to me is there shouldn’t be a division right now,” Lalas said.
“We should have somebody that is uniting us together, collectively.”
Fox Sports is having a very successful summer season airing soccer, both with Copa America and the Euros.
Through this past Monday, Copa America games were averaging 1.1 million viewers across Fox, FS1 and FS2 — up 411 percent versus 2021 (when the U.S. did not compete) and up 48 percent from 2016.
The three USMNT games collectively averaged over 3.14 million viewers (two games were on Fox and one was on FS1).
For comparison, the game against Uruguay, which averaged 3.78 million viewers on FS1, had a bigger audience than several Stanley Cup Final games this year.
The Euros, meanwhile, have averaged 1.243 million viewers on Fox and FS1, up 31 percent compared to games that aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC in 2021.
Even without the United States, Copa America will remain intriguing as it continues to feature Lionel Messi and Argentina.
“Messi, in his new backyard, if you will, is defending not only his and Argentina’s Copa America championship, but it might also be a prelude to their World Cup defense in 2026,” Lalas said.
He also touted Messi’s success in America with Inter Miami as showing other stars around the globe that “there’s gold in them hills,” as far as playing in the MLS late in their careers goes.
