Alexi lalas soccer player, The day after Detroit's Belle Isle was featured on The Colbert Report, another Motor City connection was on the show.
On Wednesday night, former US National Team star and current ESPN analyst Alexi Lalas made another guest appearance on The Report to defend the sport that the show's host can't stand.
Stephen Colbert doesn't hide his disdain for the 'beautiful game' and he invited Lalas on to discuss the recent news that hundreds of soccer matches from around the world have allegedly been fixed in recent years.
The Detroit native, who attended Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills before embarking on a Hall of Fame career, was asked if corruption will destroy soccer. ("It's all a sham, it's theater. It might as well be wrestling at this point," shouted Colbert)
"Absolutely not ... it's important that it be dealt with," said Lalas. "Fixing has been around for a long time. We're talking about in Europe, in Central America and we're talking about a massive amount of people."
How do you fix a game?
"It's easy. I guarantee that I've played in a fixed game, but there's a difference between playing in a fixed game and fixing a game," explained Lalas. "You don't need a lot of people to do it, obviously the referee - a lot of people point to the referee - it's not always the referee. It's players. Players on the field and you also have to have the actual fixer."
Lalas was also asked if match-fixing is a problem here in the United States.
"We have some evidence, but I'm here to tell you that the US, in particular, Major League Soccer, is clean, and maybe in that sense, there's an opportunity there."
This was the third appearance on the show for the soccer Hall of Famer. The first time came in the summer of 2006 when he was invited on the show to trash talk the United States' upcoming World Cup opponents (Colbert: "Hey Ghana! You're not GHANA win."). Three years later, as Team USA was preparing for the 2010 World Cup, Lalas was back on the show to answer the question "Is it time to care about soccer?"
Wednesday's interview also features a dramatic and rather mysterious injury, as well as Lalas playing to Colbert's hatred for soccer by talking down to him about the sport.
Watch the video of his Wednesday appearance below, as well as his two previous encounters with the soccer-hating Colbert and share your thoughts in the comments.
On Wednesday night, former US National Team star and current ESPN analyst Alexi Lalas made another guest appearance on The Report to defend the sport that the show's host can't stand.
The Detroit native, who attended Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills before embarking on a Hall of Fame career, was asked if corruption will destroy soccer. ("It's all a sham, it's theater. It might as well be wrestling at this point," shouted Colbert)
"Absolutely not ... it's important that it be dealt with," said Lalas. "Fixing has been around for a long time. We're talking about in Europe, in Central America and we're talking about a massive amount of people."
How do you fix a game?
"It's easy. I guarantee that I've played in a fixed game, but there's a difference between playing in a fixed game and fixing a game," explained Lalas. "You don't need a lot of people to do it, obviously the referee - a lot of people point to the referee - it's not always the referee. It's players. Players on the field and you also have to have the actual fixer."
Lalas was also asked if match-fixing is a problem here in the United States.
"We have some evidence, but I'm here to tell you that the US, in particular, Major League Soccer, is clean, and maybe in that sense, there's an opportunity there."
This was the third appearance on the show for the soccer Hall of Famer. The first time came in the summer of 2006 when he was invited on the show to trash talk the United States' upcoming World Cup opponents (Colbert: "Hey Ghana! You're not GHANA win."). Three years later, as Team USA was preparing for the 2010 World Cup, Lalas was back on the show to answer the question "Is it time to care about soccer?"
Wednesday's interview also features a dramatic and rather mysterious injury, as well as Lalas playing to Colbert's hatred for soccer by talking down to him about the sport.
Watch the video of his Wednesday appearance below, as well as his two previous encounters with the soccer-hating Colbert and share your thoughts in the comments.
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