The U.S. Men's National Soccer Team just got a stamp of approval from Alexi Lalas ... who tells TMZ Sports he's so pumped for the squad after it qualified for the World Cup this week, he's imploring Americans to take note.
"This is definitely a team that is worth your time," the U.S. soccer legend said, "and worth your belief!"
After missing out on the 2018 World Cup ... the USMNT qualified for the 2022 event despite a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica on Wednesday.
See you in November. ๐บ๐ธ
— USMNT: Qualified. (@USMNT) March 31, 2022
๐ฃ @TimHowardGK pic.twitter.com/ZiX4E4JGir
And, the result has Lalas fired up for soccer's future in America ... telling us outside of LAX this week, "It's a fun team to watch and it's only going to get better as the years go by."
The World Cup is slated to begin in November ... and it was announced the Americans will have a pretty good shot at getting out of the initial stage as they got a relatively favorable draw when the tourney's groups were announced Friday.
Group B is set:
— USMNT: Qualified. (@USMNT) April 1, 2022
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
๐ฎ๐ท
๐บ๐ธ
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ or ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ or ๐บ๐ฆ
Lalas tells us he thinks there are certainly other countries who will be listed as the favorites to win the championship -- but he ain't counting out the U.S. just yet.
"Stranger things have happened!" he said.