Alexi Lalas

Panayotis Alexander " Alexi " Lalas ( born June 1, 1970 in Birmingham, Michigan ) is a retired American soccer player of Greek descent. From 2006-2008 he was the manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Lalas studied after graduating from Cranbrook Kingswood School at Rutgers University. In 1990, he was a tourist at the World Cup in Italy and then only came up with the idea to be a footballer. Actually, he was active as a defender in a hockey team. In 1993 he made ​​his first appearance at the U.S. Cup in action, in which he showed a very good performance against England ( 2-0 U.S. victory ) and made a header.

After the Football World Cup 1994 in their own country Lalas was courted by several European teams and moved to Calcio Padova in the Italian Serie A. He played in 44 games and was able to achieve 2 goals. In 90 % of his games and his opponent could not score a goal.

The reason for his commitment as first American in the Italian Serie A was his outstanding performance in the four games of the USA at the 1994 World Cup. None of his opponent was able to score a goal. Stéphane Chapuisat ( Switzerland ), Faustino Asprilla (Colombia ), Florin Răducioiu (Romania) and in the end scorer and champion Romario failed due to the snappy and strong in the tackle Americans.

After two years he moved to Lala back to the U.S., where he was at the Kansas City Wizards and Los Angeles Galaxy with multiple championships for the American fans the epitome of football.

Lalas also took part in the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996. In total he played from 1990 to 1996 96 caps for the USA, scoring 9 goals.

After his playing career he became manager of the San Jose Earthquakes from 2005 to April 2006, he was manager of the MetroStars, since April 2006, he was manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy. In August 2008 he was dismissed from the Galaxies.

Alexi Lalas is a cult figure in the U.S. soccer and was still the only American who even secured a regular place in the team of the Serie A. His trademark was a red long goatee, which earned him several nicknames, including King Thrushbeard.

  • National football team (United States)
  • Americans
  • Born in 1970
  • Man
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