U.S. Group D Favorites, McKennie, Balogun, Pepi score in UCL & More

Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast

FOX Sports

Soccer, Sports, Sports News, News

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Alexi Lalas and David Mosse are back with a new episode of State of the Union and we’re talking all things 2026 FIFA World Cup™. Alexi dives into his experience at the draw in Washington DC before he and Mosse give their thoughts on the USA’s group and whether the Stars and Stripes should be favorites to top Group D. Alexi shares his first bracket prediction for next summer’s tournament including the side he believes is going to hoist the trophy. After, Alexi and Mosse hop into the latest happenings in Europe where USA stars can’t stop scoring, with Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi ALL finding the back of the net for their clubs. In #AskAlexi, we break down the news that there will be hydration breaks in every match in next summer’s World Cup and in One for the Road, Alexi shares a touching story of giving back to the soccer community. Intro (0:00)U.S. Group D Review: Win or Bust? (10:05)Alexi's Way-Too-Early Knockout Bracket (20:04)U.S. Abroad: Americans stay hot in UCL (29:28)#AskAlexi: MLS top league in world or USMNT top 5? (41:02) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Paris Pizzeriere. Your blind dates is already at the table and here she is. Cousin Brenda, what are you doing here? You're married anyway! Substitution brought to you by Paddy Power. Cousin' Brenda makes me for Beth, the office crush. Oh, get in! You might not always pick the right starter, but your sub can still deliver. Because with Paddy's Super Sub, your bet rolls over to the player coming on. Patti power. Valid on selected leagues and
0:24.3	markets only. Pre-match and in-play bets on qualifying player outcome selections only. T's and Clusions
0:28.3	apply. 18 plus scummelaware.org. If you believe in the soccer gods, you have to be saying
0:34.1	thank you, thank you, thank you for blessing us with this group. I don't think that I'm
0:39.6	being unfair. In having high expectations for this team, I don't think that they are unfair expectations.
0:47.4	Given what this team is, given the talent that they have, we're very good at being the underdog.
0:53.7	We're very good at being Cinderella.
0:56.0	But in order for us to be elite, in order for us to win a men's world cup, we have to make
1:01.0	that final leap to be an elite team.
1:05.0	I expect this team to finish first in this group.
1:26.7	Hello, Sunshine. I'm Alexi Wallace. Welcome to the State of the Union podcast.
1:30.7	Where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue-colored glasses. This show will be talking, well, our World Cup draw review, a much too early bracket for the
1:37.3	World Cup, Champions League, Americanization of soccer, hydration breaks, Diddy, DC scores,
1:43.9	Bubaista, MLS Cup is pink, and so much more.
1:48.0	But first, joining me as always my friend, my colleague,
1:50.0	my guiding light, David Mossy, a soccer savant
1:52.0	and a Fox Soccer researcher and writer, extraordinary.
1:56.0	Mossie, how are you doing on this Wednesday,
1:58.0	December 10th in the year 2025?
2:05.3	I'm doing well. If I seem a little rusty today, I haven't done this in a while.
2:11.2	My last pod was on November 24th. Since then we took off for Thanksgiving. We did those two draw shows, which I wasn't a part of. We skipped another one because you and Stu were traveling,
2:15.6	so it created a bit of an awkward gap for me
	...

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