Alexi Lalas Pin Badge

This month’s pin badge is in honour of the famous Alexi Lalas, supporting the 1994 USA national shirt which was worn in the 1994 World cup tournament, hosted in America. The tournament was a curtain raiser to get Americas into the sport and even though this USA team wasn’t tipped to make it out of the group stage, they got into the last round of 16 and were narrowly beaten by the to be champions Brazil. This tournament is where Alexi Lalas was noticed. With his long locks and beard, he was soon shaped by Padova who at the time was in Serie A he would be the first American to play in the top flight in Italy. He then had spells with New England Revolution, Metro Stars, Kansas City and then La Galaxy.

After retirement Alexi Lalas became general manager with the La Galaxy, where he had a pivotal role in bringing in David Beckham and subsequently putting the La Galaxy and MLS on the map