Will Cain Country - Getting Ready For The FIFA Women's World Cup With Alexi Lalas

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

With the FIFA Women's World Cup set to kick off tomorrow, Will sits down with Alexi Lalas, a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and one of the sport’s most recognizable personalities, who also serves as FOX Sports' lead studio analyst. Together, they preview what to watch for as the U.S. Women's National Team looks to win their third consecutive FIFA World Cup. Plus, Will gives his analysis on the current state of the 2024 GOP Presidential Primary, and who he thinks may end up as Trump's new running mate. Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for $5.5 plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. I mean, they haven't knelt yet. dangerously close to making me tune out. But not yet, so let's get ready for the United States of America. Let's get ready for the Women's World Cup.

It's a Will Kane podcast on Fox News podcast. What's up and welcome to Monday? As always, I hope you will download, rate, and review this podcast, wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News Podcast. Big weekend in politics. Big weekend for former President Donald Trump. All of the candidates first met last Friday in Iowa. They made their way across the state, and they also had a candidate's forum, where they all took questions, answered questions, about their support or lack thereof, their questions, perhaps, for the war in Ukraine, their approach to vaccines.

All of the candidates but Donald Trump. And then, most of the candidates then, in turn, flew to Florida for a turning point conference where they gave speeches. and were met by a crowd that was decidedly pro-Donald Trump in a poll at the end of that turning point conference, 85% of the straw poll respondents chose Donald Trump as their pick for the Republican candidate for president. Coming in second in that very passionate crowd was not Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In fact, it was tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramoswamy. Trump has begun praising Vivek Ramoswami.

He's said, in fact, that he could soon pass Ron DeSantis. DeSantis's campaign continues to seem to leak water. If you look at fundraising right now, in the second quarter of the year, Ron DeSantis raised a very respectable $20.1 million. That's compared to Donald Trump raising $22, or rather than $17.7 million. But then you look at cash on hand. That's cash you have not yet spent, and Ron DeSantis is down to $12.2 million, where Donald Trump has more than the $17.7 million he raised in the quarter.

He has $22.5 million. dollars. Rodasantis, spending money while the poll numbers have flatline. You know, this first big debate is what all the Republican candidates are trying to make. They are trying to ensure they're on that stage. In order to do so, they have to poll above 1%. They have to have 40,000 unique donors. And some of the candidates are doing some very unique things to try to get their fundraising numbers up and the number of donors to their campaign up. Doug Bergam is offering a $20 gift card for everyone that donates $1 to his campaign. Not a get-rich-quick scheme.

You can't donate multiple dollars. But he brought in $11.8 million in the second quarter. He spent a bunch. He's down to $3.7 million cash on hand. Vivek Gramiswamy brought in $7.7 million during the quarter. He has $9 million cash on hand. Vivek Ramaswamy is benefiting from the same thing as does Donald Trump, and that is earned media. People talk about him, online.

He gets attention for what he says, and he did very well, both in Iowa and at turning point. But the man who seems to be Donald Trump's favorite is the senator from South Carolina. In an interview over the weekend with Maria Bartramo, he was asked if any of the other candidates might potentially be a running mate. He said he liked Tim Scott. Tim Scott, for what it's worth, raised $5.9 million in the second quarter, but get this, he has $21.1 million cash on hand. That's second only to Donald Trump more than Ron DeSantis. The only other significant fundraiser, by the way, would be South Carolina's former governor, former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, others, Aisa Hutchison, Francis Juarez, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, barely register.

Tim Scott could be putting himself in a very, very good position, perhaps only rivaled by the Vake Ramoswamy, to be the potential vice presidential candidate running along with the prohibitive favorite in the polls, Donald Trump. It is early. It is still early. We haven't even really gotten close to one of the first presidential primaries yet. We haven't even gotten close to Iowa. But it looks right now like an intersurmountable lead for Donald Trump,

and it looks like an interesting race for number two for potential vice president, perhaps led by Tim Scott. The Women's World Cup kicks off this week. We will, as we always do, root for the U.S. United States of America, even when the women's national soccer team seems to drape themselves in politics at every corner. Hopefully they don't turn off most of the nation by kneeling during the national anthem, even though they participated in making a villain out of me last week at the Espies in accepting their courage award, their Arthur Ash courage award for fighting

for quote-unquote equal pay. A ridiculous concept once again. Get what you're worth. If you're worth more, get more. But to get ready for the Women's World Cup we thought we'd bring in Fox Sports Lead. Soccer analyst, Alexie Lawless, a member of the men's national team,

World Cup teams in the 1990s. Alexi Lawless has deep knowledge, not just of soccer, but of this U.S. women's national team so we thought we'd get ready. It's going to be on your televisions. Let's understand what we're watching for the Women's World Cup. Here's Alexei Lawless.

We'll be right back with more of the Will Kane podcast. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every day. Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate

life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com Alexey Loll is so great to see you again, man. This time we're here together to talk about the U.S. Women's National Team,

the World Cup, coming up here on Fox. So I believe it's that the U.S. Women's National Team has won, is it like half of the total ever women's World World Cups. Gelley won five. And does that mean it's anticlimactic?

Does the U.S. Women's National Team ranked one again in FIFA rankings win the World Cup? Is it anticlimactic? Hell no. I mean, America winning? Does that ever get old? I don't think so. I love it. On or off the soccer field?

And these women are badasses. They have been now for multiple generations. To your point, they've won lots of World Cups. They've won the last two. They're going for three in a row. And by the way, that's unprecedented, never been done men's or women's. So history is in the offing this summer in Australia and New Zealand for this women's national team. You know, you need a lot of stuff to go right, but you also need quality.

They have quality. It's a little transitional this team as age takes its toll, but you still got some of your usual suspects in your Megan Rapino and Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrun, Julie Ertz, these types of players that have been there done that. But you also have a whole new crop that's coming up that watch these players play, that recognize this is now their platform that they want to take a hold. Sophia Smith and these types of players, I think, are going to become household names through this tournament this summer. Can we just take one moment and talk philosophically?

Why are we so good at women's soccer? Why do we dominate in a way that we haven't been able to accomplish when it comes to the men's side? Is it because, and I'll forward a theory while asking an open-ended question, is it because we got into the game so much earlier than the rest of the world? We invested in it. We saw women's athletics on, if not an equal playing field to men's, certainly a more worthy investment playing field than the rest of the world saw it. We beat Brazil. We beat England.

We beat Europe to the stage. And we've dominated because of that when it comes to women. Yeah. I mean, it's cultural. And all of the things that you said, including, by the way, making laws for women's sports and obviously women's soccer, that gave us an incredible head start. and multiple generations, multiple decades types of head start with putting the resources and the energy and making it a priority for young women

and whether it's through college or whether it's through the professional game. And so we have reaped the rewards on a consistent basis. But the rest of the world and other cultures that didn't look at women's soccer or women's sports in the same way. Now they look at it. And as you know, it can't be a charity.

And it's not. I think people are looking at it right now as a business venture and putting in those resources. And you don't need to put a lot of resources in to make up incredible ground. And so you see a country and a team like England right now that are the European champions. They will be out for blood this summer to try to not only win a World Cup, but also knock off the U.S. that in a very short period of time, have made incredible strides on and off the field with the women's game. But we all know that soccer is king over there. It has a long history. It just doesn't have that type of history when it comes to the women's game. So all the things that you said are true, and the rest of the world is coming. It's a good thing. Competition is a good thing. Now the U.S. has to make sure that they keep up in order to maintain that distance. Just on that note of culture, you know, while in America we love to think that we are both the best and the worst at everything we believe we're the most racist and the most sexist.

You can take this world of soccer to see that the rest of the world, in so many of these ways, is actually behind. the United States. I have a friend whose family is very into soccer, just like my family, as you and I have discussed, he had both boys and girls. He ended up moving to England. And in the U.S., his daughter was welcomed onto the soccer field pitch. But when they moved to England, his sons were in a way where they said, over there, at least it has been the case. Culturally, it's kind of improper for girls to be big-time athletes, to be invested, to be on the soccer field. That's like a a butch thing to do. Or it was in the past, and maybe there's still some remnants of that in English culture, where it's just not right for girls to be out there, you know, really competing

hard in the way that we encourage here in the United States. I thought that was just an interesting window into the culture, but you do say, and the rankings do suggest, the world is now beginning to, they haven't caught the United States, but they're beginning to catch up. Yeah, I mean, look, it sucks for them that they are not more evolved, if you will, when it comes to women's sports in terms of giving them the opportunities. And I know we kind of frame it in wins and losses and that kind of stuff. But the benefits, as we know, for all men and women and for boys and girls, are numerous in terms of participating in sports. So if you only look at it from a societal perspective, this has ramifications and positive

impact that you would want for your society in terms of the participation. And it has started it to change. And it's literally hearts, it's hearts and minds. And it's winning over and changing the way that people think, changing norms, changing tradition, changing culture. And that can be difficult and that can take a long time. But I like to see it. And as I said before, we from an American perspective, we started this decades ago. And it has become our norm. It has become our tradition. And, you know, this summer when the World Cup happens down in Australian, New Zealand, there's 32 teams. It's the biggest women's World Cup that we've ever had. There's eight debutants.

And so those teams will go on the field and they will put on that shirt and they will walk out. They'll put their hand over their heart. They will sing that anthem of that country. And the pride that will be felt through women representing your country and culture, that can't be underestimated because that is an important image and that is an important moment that has nothing to do necessarily with kicking the ball. But this team of women who are playing soccer, a traditionally men's sport in a lot of these countries and cultures, are now represented. of their countries and cultures. And that is a move forward. That is evolution and that is, I think, an improvement and progress. I love that. I love what you just said, that it's not just about the sport, but it's those women showing pride in their nation, and that has an

infectious viral spread, hopefully, hopefully inside of a culture. I want to go back to the women in just a moment, the specific players on the U.S. women's national team and a few of the squads across the world. But because you went here, I want to follow natural curiosity. The U.S. women's national team has been, this is my editorialization, my subjective opinion, but has been one of the most political teams, pro or national, in the United States over the past probably decade. That image you just painted for me of women from across the world, hands on heart, national anthem playing. Do you think we can expect this U.S. women's national team to be political on the world stage when it comes to the World Cup? Is this going to be a situation where, and by the way,

I think it's been very divisive. This is, again, my editorialization. It's been very divisive for the U.S. women's national team to have been so political. Now, they're going to be those that say to me, will this X or Y cause is not political, it's just moral. And that's what everyone who ever had a political opinion always has said. I'm not being political. I'm being moral. But the question I'm asking you is, with these players at this time, are we going to see kneeling?

Are we going to see protest? Are we going to see something political from the U.S. women's national team? I mean, I think so. I think they have kind of built their image around that, to what extent I don't know. And look, you know, someone, for example, like Megan Rapino, and I know that, you know, she brings both sides and she has people that are incredibly supportive and people that are turned off by the things that she does and says off the field. I disagree with a lot of stuff that Megan Rapino says, for example, but I will fight to my dying breath for her to have. the freedom to be able to do that. Now I'm not talking about, you know, the, the national anthem and co-opting that and doing that kind of stuff, which I vehemently disagree with. But they have a,

they have a platform. They have voices. They have the ability to say different things. So absolutely, I think that they will continue to do that. And that's their prerogative. And keep in mind, well, that this is done. And the reason why it has an impact and why it is so powerful is because they back it up time and time again. The reason why they have the platform, the reason why they have this voice, is because they are winners and they are habitual winners. And so when, you know, President Trump calls out the team or calls out players and say, just win, well, what do they do?

They went and won. And so we can agree and disagree going forward. But one thing that I think we can all agree on is that this team wins. And at times it's divisive. I get that. But the other thing is at a time where there is so much that divides us, where we are not united as a country on so many different things, if in this moment we can come together and sit on our couches and watch this team that represents all of the United States, whether we may agree with different things or not, it's still representative of the United States, does it, I hope, in a respectful way, and then goes out there and are badasses and win and do that. That brings people together. And then we can go back and fighting about other stuff.

I hope you're right. You know, I mean, the team, various players, surprising players like Alex Morgan, have taken up issues like the issue of trans women in sports. And, you know, look, to your point, I can find that divisive or I can find that disagreeable. And that's one level of politicization. I hope we can rally as well under the banner of the unified concept and flag and Anthem of America. when that becomes the form of protest, then it's something that I think we can't avoid

is going to divide the United States of America. And I hope that's not what happens with this team. Oh, I hope not to. I hope we don't have one of those, you know, something that divides us in that moment. Because it's, let's be honest, the national anthem in that moment is this one brief 90 seconds

of everybody together celebrating what we are, what I feel is the greatest country in the world. it has absolute flaws but in that moment one of the best things and it's not just the U.S. team but one of the best things for me is seeing sometimes

tears streaming down the eyes of these players who are in that moment and the pride that they feel on this international stage for their country and some of these countries that have never been there before and what it means to their country

and their country that is watching them or the rest of the world watching them and when the United States look we understand we go on that stage with baggage because we are the United States. It's fine.

It's part of the deal. But in that moment, we can come together and unite, and I would hate for that moment, like I said, to be hijacked or co-opted that does nothing more than again divides us. Well said. I agree. We're going to step aside here for a moment. Stay tuned. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America,

where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at Noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com. Let's talk about those women. You brought up Megan Rapino. She is not only polarizing. She has been one of the best players on the U.S. women's national team for quite some time.

Along with players, like I just mentioned as well, Alex Morgan, you mentioned Becky Sauerbren. It does feel like we're in this transitional phase where those players, Rapino, for example, a reserve now, not a starter. Morgan, I think, is still considered, isn't she not just one of the best players on our team, but in the world? But Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, we're making a transition where, those watching at home, there are new stars. Yeah, yeah, so you mentioned a couple of them. I think a really interesting one would possibly be Alyssa Thompson, who is playing for Angel City. She's 19 years old. She's burst on the scene.

She has incredible speed. She's still a little bit raw. but also injuries that are going to plague this team with Macario and these types of players that would be there that aren't there, I think are going to give opportunities to others. And again, some of the players that we have mentioned, they will use this opportunity, use this platform to become household names and live that dream, that ambition that they saw growing up watching the likes of Megan Rapino, watching Carly Lloyd, you know, even back in the day watching, you know, the great Mia Hams and all the different players. that have come through and have used that stage to represent our country. They want that. I would want that if I was a young player staring at that and that being the dream. And for some of them, that dream is going to happen this summer.

Am I right? By the way, I think, correct me if I'm wrong on this as well. Trini Rodman is Dennis Rodman's daughter. Am I right that Alex Morgan is still, though, the star of the team? And is she the best player currently in the world? She's playing as good as I have seen her play in a long time. And she is still, I think, the starter up there in that strike. her number nine position, the goal score.

And look, if you're going to have somebody to score goals, you want them playing well, which she is doing. I think she has gotten to that point where physically she understands what she needs to do, but also the game has slowed down in a way in her mind, which is great. We just got to make sure that she doesn't get hurt going forward. But listen, going into this World Cup, having Alex Morgan up top and playing well right now, that's nothing but a good thing. I think she has the highest FIFA rating.

And everybody knows that's how you rank soccer players by FIFA rating. I think she has the highest in the world. Okay, so if it is a case where, Alexi, the world is beginning to catch up, who's a threat to the United States? As I said at the beginning, we're number one in FIFA rankings. I think we're looking at Germany and England up there. Who's the biggest threat to the United States winning yet another third straight World Cup? I mean, let's be honest. There's a handful of teams that can actually beat the United States on a given day.

And we have beaten all of them at certain points. So whether it's England, Germany, France, Sweden, these types of Canada, the gold cup winners, gold medal winners from the recent Olympics, all of these teams we have beaten. But on that day, if things happen and the soccer gods don't smile upon you, they can lose. I love this team, and I want this team to win. But if they're going to lose, just don't lose to England. Because, God forbid, we lose things. They're the European champions, as I mentioned. They want to be the world champions, and they would love nothing more than to go through the United States in order to get there.

And you think the English and the British are insufferable now. If they were to win the Women's World Cup, good God, I would have to listen to them for the next four years. I just cannot have that happen on my watch. Okay, last, just because I have you with me here, Alexi, I just asked him before we went on there, how tall are you? He said 6'4. He played centerback, everyone knows. So I have tall sons And I think they're both by the way

On the way to 6-4 They've both been moved out of centerback One is a 6 Just a little bit of a metronome Move the ball Keep the team organized And the other is all the way up at 9 Because he's physical

And he's tall Did you play anything Did you play everything growing up You probably did When did you settle in And everybody said He's a centerback At what age?

Oh I didn't play any type of defense until I got to college. And I lied my ass off and I told the coach that I had played in the back because I knew that they were going through a transition and they didn't have defenders. And I was a kid from Michigan that went to Rutgers and I said, yeah, yeah, I played in the back, no problem.

And he put me in a sweeper and the rest is history from a defense. But I had never played in the back. But, you know, look, I had the traditional American upbringing in the sense that I played multiple sports, Like I grew up in Michigan, the law up there is you got to play hockey. I actually played more hockey at times than I was playing soccer. And in this day and age of specialization of sports, you know, high school sports has kind of, it's not what a lot of kids do, to be quite honest. And I think not only are they losing the opportunity to play for their high school and what that represents, but, you know, the socialization aspect of it, the representation aspect of it.

And I know I sound a little grumpy old man right now with what I'm talking. talking about, but that's how I grew up playing. So, I mean, that's, but the world has changed. Sports has certainly changed. The specialization has changed sports, sports forever. And that's the way that things happen. But, you know, it's a brave new world. So it was hockey. You were, you were diverse as a high school athlete, more hockey than soccer. But when you were on the soccer field. I played soccer, baseball, everything. I did everything. And then, and then it became a situation where obviously I was good at soccer. I liked to do it. But I didn't grow up thinking that I was going to play in the World Cup.

I didn't grow up thinking that I was going to be a professional soccer player. I was, you know, like I was, it was about, you know, slurpees and bubble yum and MTV and, you know, rat and deaf leopard and that kind of stuff was much more of an interest. Hold on. That makes a lot of sense. Rat and deaf leopard. You were kind of, oh, rats that, listen, rat is the greatest rock band in American history. I will fight anybody on that.

I am a huge, huge rat fan. One of the greatest days of my life was the first time I ever got to meet. the guys from from rat oh yeah absolutely yeah and the deaf leopard in general metal was that your thing full on 80s metal absolutely all of it skid row warrant Tesla Cinderella the list goes on it's a little hair bandy though that's a little metal hair bandy you weren't full on like quiet riot metallica you were hard hard as well poison poison I mean I can go deep with you if you want I got you know trickster and the bullet boys and you know it just go LA guns oh yeah just yeah you probably haven't had a whole lot of trickster references on the show lately

actually don't know trickster i can't name a trickster song i know exactly because that's that's like a deep that's a deep uh you know deep cut if you will from the metal genre the glam hair metal genre so yeah i was all over all about that and then lastly all over so once they put you on the soccer field before you got to college where were you were you in them were you in the middle were you a midfielder were you a striker before you got to records i was a yeah i was a midfieler i went all all over the place like i said i was you know i was growing up and the suburbs of Detroit and doing look I did all the things that kids still do today I had mom and dad coaching and orange peels and juice boxes at half time and then travel teams and all and all that

and it's very different I have a I have teenagers now one of them's going through the college process and it's just completely different world than my my dad called up because I got rejected everywhere I applied and he called up the ruckers coach and he said listen I got this kid he's an okay student and he's a pretty good soccer player we drove the 16 hours out from Michigan to Ruckers. I met with him for four hours. He said, listen, I can invite you to preseason and I can get you into the agriculture school. Now, I grew up in Michigan, but I did not grow up on a farm, but I said, thank you, sign me up. We drove back to 16 hours. I packed. We came back to New Jersey. Exit 9 off the turnpike. He slowed the car down

a little bit, then kicked my ass out and said, good luck. And the rest is history. 16 hours each way three times. That's 48 hours of rat with your dad. That's just a good bond. Lots of rat. Alexi Lawless, U.S. Women's National Team, U.S. Women's World Cup coming up here in the month of July. We'll be watching, watching you on Fox.

Thank you so much. Thank you. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Alexi Lollas. And I hope you're enjoying. I hope I'm enjoying the U.S. Women's National Team at the World Cup. I'll see you again next time. Listen to ad free.

with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon Music app. Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast, featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Bear favorites,

like his All-Star panel and much more. Available now at Fox Newspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.