Alexi Lalas Praises USMNT After Qualifying For World Cup, 'Worth Your Belief!'

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.

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.

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.