LIVE U.S. vs Portugal Reaction, FIFA World Cup field is set, Italy SHOCKED

Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast

FOX Sports

Soccer, News, Sports News, Sports

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2026

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alexi Lalas, David Mosse and Rob Stone are back with a new LIVE episode of State of the Union! We break down another disappointing USA loss in the buildup to the World Cup, this time a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Portugal. The trio discuss the changes to the starting XI made by Mauricio Pochettino and whether we are too close to the World Cup to be tinkering with the team’s tactics. Additionally, with Christian Pulisic being in an extended scoring slump for both club and country, the guys ask what his role within the team is and how the squad and Pochettino can get the best out of him. Finally, we ask the question: has this window changed our minds about the U.S.’s prospects in the World Cup. Can they still make a deep run? After a thorough USA discussion, Alexi, Mosse, and Rob react to the full World Cup bracket and break down the final day of qualifying that saw Türkiye book their place in the USA’s group and Italy failing to qualify AGAIN. All of that and much more in the newest episode of State of the Union.Presented by Zillow #Zillow (0:00) Intro(3:10) U.S. falls to Portugal 2-0(9:41) The Great Keeper Debate: Freese vs Turner(17:32) Are we worried about Pulisic?(22:05) Too Late to Tinker for Pochettino?(37:18) UEFA World Cup Playoffs: Italy falls yet again(48:27) FIFA World Cup Playoffs: Sorry Jamaica(56:28) Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina Friendlies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are a lot of people that are tuning in just to get the score.
0:04.0	And this is a, like I said, a bad look when those scores keep coming up and the U.S. isn't scoring.
0:10.0	The U.S. isn't winning.
0:12.0	And that's not what you need.
0:13.0	72 days away from not just a World Cup, but a home World Cup.
0:18.0	He has to get that joy back in his game.
0:20.0	I don't see him smile anymore.
0:22.4	There's not this joy, you know, this Jogo Benito, if you will, right, to go resilient. And he just
0:28.5	seems to be trapped in a place right now that it's not good. It should never happen that from a
0:34.8	corner kick, somebody could get the ball, hit it to the top of the box,
0:39.4	and have somebody not hit it first time and hit it in the upper 90,
0:42.4	and you go, wow, that's a freaking great goal.
0:45.4	But plenty of time in the air in order for a defender to get close
0:50.1	and to make it difficult, block the shot, whatever.
0:58.0	But not only is that able to happen, he's able to bring it down, not with a good touch,
1:01.0	with a bad touch, where the ball goes up,
1:03.0	and we still have time for the ball to come all the way back down
1:06.0	and then for the shot to occur.
1:08.0	That's inexcusable.
1:10.0	... to occur. That's inexcusable. Hello, Sunshine. I'm Alexa Lallison. Welcome to the State of the Union Show.
1:33.3	Presented by Zillow, Someday starts today.
1:36.3	This is where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue-colored glasses.
	...

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