Riding in the soccer player’s dream bubble has yet to faze U.S. defender Alexi Lalas.
The day after Padova strutted into the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin and came away with a 1-0 win over Italian Serie A leader Juventus, Lalas was in Rome for a TV appearance.
“I have a new album coming out, so I sang a few songs,” he says. “Rome is only a 45-minute plane ride [from Padua]. It’s such a rough life.”
Padova’s win, its 11th in 28 matches this season, was a bit more high-anxiety. It not only kept the title chase in doubt a bit longer, it added another entry for the club’s remarkable rise out of the relegation zone.
With six matches to go, Padova is five points ahead of Cremonese, which occupies 14th place, fifth from bottom. The last four go down to Serie B, from which Padova earned promotion last spring and was seemingly destined to return after struggling early in the season.
But the club, which knocked off Milan giants Inter and AC in the fall, has reeled off three straight wins over Brescia, Lazio and Juventus.
“Now, we know there’s always the possibility of winning, if you believe it,” says Lalas. “Earlier in the season, when the whistle blew, there we were with our jaws open, asking for autographs.”
Juventus fell largely due to an inspired showing by the Padova defense. Lalas dueled Italian international Fabrizio Ravanelli most of the match, and chased back to block a close-range shot in the second half that was eerily reminiscent of the goal Bebeto scored against the U.S. in the World Cup.
“Yeah, it was exactly like that,” he says. “[Alessandro] Del Piero pulls a pass out of the hat, and Ravanelli slipped through, but this time I got it. Thank God.”
He’s earned solid ratings in most of his games, and even an own goal — a free kick that deflected off him — against Brescia didn’t hurt his cause, since Padova won anyway, 3-1.
Lalas says he’d like to stay in Italy for another season, either with Padova —
assuming it isn’t relegated — or another Serie A club, and wants to play in both the U.S. Cup and the Copa America this summer.
Seldom does he reflect on how well things have turned out. “It’s easy to say every player should go to Europe, but I’m one of the lucky ones,” he says. “I’m just keeping the pioneer spirit alive in all of us. There’s only room for a couple of us in this covered wagon.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney