Name: Alexi Lalas Talks Soccer, Lets Dave Trim His Beard | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-11-30T23:03:34.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Alexi Lalas Talks Soccer, Lets Dave Trim His Beard | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-11-30. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Alexi Lalas Talks Soccer, Lets Dave Trim His Beard | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-11-30. Transcript available.

Our next guest starred on the U.S. World Cup soccer team that defied odds by
advancing to the second round of competition before losing to Brazil.
Man, what a game that was. You know him, you love him. He gave you World Cup
fever.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome number 22, Alexi Lalas.
Alexi, nice to see you, sir.
How you doing?
Pretty good.
There it is. It's your World Cup fever.
Alexi, why don't you, first of all, how old a guy are you?
24.
You're a kid.
So this is like, I would guess, for a soccer player, an achievement of a
lifelong dream to be in the World Cup tournament.
Well, for a soccer player, but for me, no.
I mean, I'm a soccer player.
You know, like last World Cup 1990 in Italy, I mean, to give you an idea of how
far off it is,
I mean, I was in Italy bumming around with a bunch of high school friends, you
know, chasing women and drinking beer.
There you go.
There ought to be a World Cup for that, you know what I'm saying?
You know, we were in the stands with our face painted and doing all that stuff,
so it never even occurred to me that I would be out there doing it.
So then how do you go from that situation in your life to getting on the U.S.
team?
You just, you know, I played my college ball at Rutgers University.
Right.
And then I played in the Olympics, and after Barcelona, I was called by the
national team to come and try out.
And at that point, I didn't have a job or anything, so I just wanted to get a
job.
And I was like, please don't cut me, and it came through, and the final cuts
were like in June of this year, and I was just like, oh, please, man, don't cut
me.
So none of us were answering the phone or doing anything, and I made it.
You mean there's a possibility that they wanted to cut you, but they couldn't
get a hold of you.
Exactly.
They went right down the list.
Lalis isn't home.
He's out, so he's on the team.
Rent up the programs.
He ain't home.
But now, can you make money as a professional soccer player on a situation like
this?
One can make money as a professional soccer player.
I haven't made any yet.
But, you know, there's a lot of money over in Europe, and hopefully with the
professional league starting up in 1995, there's a possibility.
So what will become of the unit you played with now after the game against
Brazil?
It's sort of like the basketball dream team in terms of everybody plays in
different clubs and then gets together for these big tournaments.
So everybody will go off into different clubs all over the world.
And then will this team ever reassemble for any purpose?
Yeah, for a 98.
Oh, well, good for you.
And do you think you'll be around for that one?
That's like four years away?
You know, 28.
That's four years away.
What is the oldest soccer player at this level?
Well, we had a guy on our team who was 36 years old, you know.
Yeah, the lifespan, you know, it varies, but I think you can play until like 35.
Now, when you guys took the field against the Brazilians, and this has to be
the team favorite in the tournament, wouldn't you think?
Definitely.
Them in Germany, yeah.
What was that like?
Were you scared silly?
Were you just nervous?
Did you think you had a chance at all?
What was your...
I think that the attitude that we had going through the whole tournament was
that we could beat anybody, and we definitely believed that we could beat
Brazil.
We didn't play as well in the Brazilian game, but if you go out there with, you
know, in awe of the people that you're playing, you're doomed.
So, you know, that was an attitude that we couldn't have, and I think that's
what gave us the success is saying, hey, we're just as good as anybody else.
Do you think that Americans who maybe not were avid soccer fans before the
tournament now know something about the game that will cause them to be fans in
the future?
I hope so.
I mean, that's basically what this World Cup's done.
It's such a great thing because people that don't know anything about soccer,
you know, were given the opportunity to see what it's like when it's played by
the best people, you know.
I mean, and the whole atmosphere around the World Cup has been great.
Well, you know, I would watch some of these games.
ESPN has, like, a replay of the game very late at night, and there's something
very fascinating, very soothing, very graceful about the game.
I mean, it's really enjoyable to watch.
It's very rhythmic, you know, and you're constantly running and everything like
that.
Can I trim that up for you?
Just a little?
Do you mind?
Just a little.
Just take a little off.
No, no, wait.
Just a little.
Just a little.
I won't take...
Not much.
Just even it up.
That's all we're going to do.
Be gentle.
All right.
Just...
That ain't bad.
That's all right, huh?
Oh, Mr. Bob, what lovely work.
No, no, that's not a bad job there.
Okay, we have time for two shots.
You want to go ahead?
Yeah, well, you can have them with it, right?
I'll do what I can, yeah.
Here we go.
Coming at you.
There you go.
Whoa!
Oh!
Alexi, thank you very much.
No problem.
Have a great summer.
Congratulations.
Thanks a lot.
We gotta go, folks.
Thanks for watching.
Good night, everybody.
Try another one.
Go, go, go.
Go!