Fox World Cup host Rebecca Lowe has defiantly insisted that there is no tension between her colleagues Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexi Lalas, despite multiple tense exchanges between the two during the tournament.
Ibrahimovic, alongside France World Cup winner Thierry Henry, have both appeared to grow impatient with Lalas on various occasions. Ibrahimovic has branded Lalas ‘the past’ live on air and abruptly dismissed him for saying France were ‘arrogant’ in the first half against Senegal.
When Lalas then left the studio to report live from the Seattle stadium for the second United States group game, Ibrahimovic said: ‘You’re welcome, America.’
Footage also went viral from the Fox studio where the three analysts were playing soccer and Henry mercilessly tricked Lalas with a faked back heel while the cameras were rolling.
Host presenter Lowe, however, has insisted that the trio all get along fine when the cameras are off and claims that the suggestions of unrest behind the scenes is actually a source of amusement to all in the Fox setup.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Lowe said: ‘These stories do make me laugh and we do laugh about them. We’re like, “another one”? And it is getting a little out of hand.
Rebecca Lowe has spoken out on the Fox World Cup tensions between the three analysts
Alexi Lalas (right) has appeared to irk Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry at the World Cup
‘We are going through every newspaper now. Like, okay guys, maybe let’s pivot and write about something else, that would be good. The football, maybe?’
Lalas has attempted at times to get his own back, telling Ibrahimovic last weekend that his cream suit made him look like one of presenters on the 70s television show ‘Fantasy Island’.
But Lowe says that amid the jokes the trio trade off at each other, there is an underlying respect between them all.
‘There is nothing, there is no tension, nothing! We are laughing our heads off at all of this,’ she added.
‘Everybody respects everybody hugely. If people want to watch and listen to what the guys say to each other and work off each other, they would see that.
‘It’s a strange old narrative when you’re in the middle of the thunderstorm, and I am right in the middle of it with them all day every day, and it just doesn’t exist. It is crazy.’
But a source around the World Cup broadcaster told the Daily Mail a different story this week, explaining that things have been cold between the analysts whenever there is a commercial break between being live on air.
Things might get tense between them later in the week when the United States face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
Lalas played 96 times for United States in the 90s, while Ibrahimovic’s father is Bosnian and the legendary striker got emotional when the team made it into the knockout rounds earlier this week.
The game is held at the San Francisco Bay stadium – the home of the 49ers.
