The U.S. voices for us

Lalas' bio:
First World Cup TV assignment ... former co-host of ESPN2's MLS Extratime ... color commentator for NBC's Olympic soccer coverage in 2000 ... first former MLS player to serve as president and GM of a league team, joining the Galaxy in April ... 1994 World Cup starting defender for U.S. team ... played for U.S. in '92 and '96 Olympics ... recently voted into National Soccer Hall of Fame ...

From his L.A. office, before jetting back to the East Coast for the weekend soccer coverage and the Galaxy's game in New Jersey, Lalas talked about:

Why he's still doing the TV work when he has all this in-season Galaxy work to do:
"When I agreed to do it, I was back working in New York (with the MLS Red Bull team) and it was just a hop, skip and jump (to Bristol, Conn.). Obviously things changed, and it turned into a 3,000-mile commitment. I can come in on the weekends and stay here (in L.A.) for my real job during the week. I wanted to honor my commitment, and I think it's good exposure for the team, too."

How his emotions have settled since Monday's loss:
"For me, it wasn't that the team lost. There's no shame in losing to the world's No. 2 team. But in the past, all the U.S. teams at least fought and had pride and in the end, maybe the better team won. But there wasn't a sense of urgency or recognition that this was a World Cup game. We're not going to let this team off the hook just because they're the U.S. team. We'll criticize and critique them."

On if his comments get back to the players and possibly motivate them:
"If they do hear it, I don't think they care. We constantly scream and yell about the lack of attention or focus, and this is part of it. If anyone complains about what I'm saying, I'll introduce them to members of the New York Yankees. It could be a whole lot worse."

On whether he's comfortable criticizing Landon Donovan, his star player for the Galaxy:
"If he plays well, I'll comment, and I do, just as if he was with us. You have to be honest in what you're looking at. We're trying to get him to be more consistent with the Galaxy. He's notorious for stepping it up when it's a big game, and it can't get much bigger than this weekend."

On why, during the taping of a show on American soccer's 10 greatest moments, he said: "If the next 10 years is anything like the past 10, the sky's the limit. We'll win a World Cup":
"It's going to happen. I'm telling you."

Wynalda's bio:
A field analyst for ESPN2's MLS telecasts in 2003, and a game analyst for matches, including the MLS Cup ... first U.S.-born player to play professionally in the German Bundesliga ... played in the first MLS season, scoring the league's first goal ... played 108 matches for the national team, including three World Cups (1990, '94, '98) ... holds the record for most goals by a U.S. national team member (34) ... inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004.

From the Bristol, Conn., newsroom at ESPN, where the Moorpark resident will be holed up for weeks on end during the World Cup, Wynalda gave his measured, yet meaningful takes on:

If his emotions have cooled since Monday:
"My emotions were similar to a lot of people who follow soccer. I've taken the last few days and watched the game over several times. I've also watched the U.S.-Portugal game again from 2002 to see the strategy used there. I've watched the replay (of Monday's game) so often I can honestly say the U.S. is a better team with Claudio Reyna in the midfield."

As a technical advisor to the movie, "The Game of their Lives," about the U.S. upset over England in 1950, whether Saturday's game will be the game of these players' lives:
"Maybe. This game is a true test, more than the first one, as a soccer nation. Our talent will be tested and our character and all the issues of pride and patroitism. We need to see that from our guys and they need to win us back."

The 12-hour plus days of working, watching games, and then instantly analyzing them for ESPN:
"It's bad, but it's not that bad. I'm busy, but no one's forcing me to watch these. I'd be home doing the same thing. I'm just getting paid to watch what I'd be watching anyway."

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By the way, the two don't alway agree on stuff.
Did you know:
"Alexi Lalas has been lying about alot of things ... I just don't believe him, I'm sorry, but it's only because he has a track record of lying," Wynalda said a couple of months ago in the Newark Star-Ledger of his former 1994 World Cup teammate.
Wynalda was calling Lalas out for denying that he was leaving the MLS' Red Bull New York team before eventually taking the job as president and GM of the Galaxy.
"Maybe that's the corporate side of things," Wynalda continued. "It's one thing to have no comment on something, it's another thing to blatantly lie, and that's something Alexi Lalas needs to learn. Professionally, I'm sure he'll do the job, but all this other stuff, his credibility is a little shot."

Later, Lalas shot back in the same newspaper: "People are going to say what they're going to say. I would be doing a disservice to my company and team to dwell on the past. I'd be the first to admit I made mistakes on the job, but I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of for anything the past three years or the past month. I love Eric. At best, he can be misguided. At worst, delusional. I'm sure I'll see him down the road and we'll talk and open up that little mind of his. Some of us have grown up and some of us haven't."

Yes, the two have talked it out since...