I'm just wondering what his replacement is going to do. The women just won their first world cup in 16 years in 2015 and that's a big deal whether some of your want to accept it or not. When it comes to the women's program the words of foreigners lecturing us on how little the women's game matters mean nothing to me. We. Won. A. World. Cup. Under. Sunil. Gulati. That said the men's team is struggling. Also notice we have a large surplus in the USSoccer coffers under Sunil which probably is not a bad thing. If he were in the red people would be calling for his head on that basis alone. I want to know what his replacement will do and why people will think he or she can do it. I want to know what the alternative is because "just get rid of him" is not a solution. It's an emotional appeal based on conflicting data. ON one hand we have been successful and soccer has grown majorly under Sunil in this country. On the other hand the results are not commensurate with what we want but neither is our domestic league producing a level of talent that can get us to where we feel we need to be. tl;dr "anything is better than this so lets try" is not a real solution. I would be comfortable with cleaning house if we fail to qualify but short that I don't believe breaking the establishment will leave us better off than slow change or no change from the top down.
I'm a Sunil fan, I just don't know what we would even change from his point. More viewers, more revenue.... idk ive also had about 10 glasses of wine and its 3am
I find the quote in your signature from our boy T Paine ironic in this context. I have 4 daughters and have coached women's soccer, in addition to boys for over a decade. I do not take the women's team lightly and I attribute none of their success to Sunil, who has the unique distinction of having been sued by them. They were successful before he assumed the mantle of leadership and it is just as reasonable to ask what took them so long under his tenure as it is to praise him for their eventual success. Even those who think we are all lucky to have him because he is super awesome shouldn't worry, electing someone else president won't disentangle Sunil from power. You should support the idea of someone taking the burden of his unpaid charity position off his shoulders that he has been such a hero to handle for us all these years, so he can help us all by devoting more time to his jobs with SUM, MLS and his buddies at FIFA. His best friend and mentor was Chuck Blazer and Dan Flynn is paid $654,907 per year by USSF to go talk to congress when Sunil is too busy, thats enough for me to vote Wynalda to make US Soccer great again. Even in otherwise flattering puff pieces about him you get a little truth like this: http://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-...ti-the-most-powerful-american-in-world-soccer To his critics, it is incomprehensible that Gulati failed to notice the crimes being committed by Warner and Blazer during their years in charge of CONCACAF. There he was on the CONCACAF board, a Columbia economics professor, no less. Gulati has so far remained pretty much silent on crimes that were being committed at CONCACAF while he was involved with the organization. When the United States Senate held a hearing into international soccer governance, the fact that USSF CEO Dan Flynn appeared instead of Gulati caught the attention of investigative journalist Andrew Jennings, who opened his testimony by focusing on the "massive, massive deficiencies of the U.S. Soccer Federation, frightened to upset President Blatter's corrupt FIFA while enjoying the elite lifestyle that he provides." "I note the absence of your FIFA delegate, Mr. Sunil Gulati," Jennings continued. "That's one crucial question today. Where's Sunil? Where is he? He's the man who takes American values, supposedly, to FIFA and to CONCACAF, and he's not here to talk about it. It rather undermines the whole process, I think." Here are a couple more Thomas Paine quotes I think applicable: "Character is much easier kept than recovered." "It is error only and not truth, that shrinks from enquiry." "A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody, ought not be trusted by anybody." "It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing or unbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."
I agree that a change of regime would be healthy, but to think Eric Wynalda would be competent to handle that job - not possible.
Thanks for this. The quote in my sig is context sensitive and my views on what constitutes establishment, it's effectiveness and how I should feel about it are changing all the time but I do appreciate the contradictory nature of my position with that quote. I have no justification and yeah I am a hypocrite. You caught me red handed. That said, Why are you pro Wynalda? What about his history and demeanor make you think that he will be better than Sunil?
Pulisic would either be forced to play in MLS or face reduced minutes from up and coming MLS competition who deserves a chance or some bullshit. is what I suspect would happen.
All good, Thomas Paine in any context is a fantastic thing. I am by no means pro Wynalda, I'm primarily anti establishment and I find this Gans character more appealing than old loose cannon Eric Wynalda. Having said that I'm old enough to have watched Wynalda fight and bleed for the shirt and I know he cares about the product on the field, in his own bizarre way, so my point was I guess I'll take crazy over the status quo at this point if those are the only options.
The only reason to keep Sunil is for the World Cup bid. If he can be decoupled from that and it won't hurt our chances then he should go.
System is the issue. Sunil defends and represents the system. Pretty simple first step, even if the overall solution is complicated
Again, I am not a Wynalda supporter, I am saying I would take Wynalda over Sunil at this point in order to demonstrate how much I want Sunil out, not to pretend Wynalda would be a great choice. Additionally, if it is such a big job and requires so much time, effort, intellect and attention, lets get someone in there who doesn't have 11 other jobs taking his time and attention, many of which are blatant conflicts of interest.
It needs to become a full-time paid position. This is no longer the small ball, cult sport it was when the USSoccer system was set up.
This right here sums up the problem with US Soccer right now. Dude blows a sitter of a bid and lets Russia and Qatar walk all over us because he is too busy consolidating his own power within one of, if not the most corrupt bodies on the planet and then we all kiss his ring and pretend only he can deliver us a World Cup next time around and therefore needs to stay in power. Entitlement. Cronyism. Insulation. Profiteering. Lack of competition. Conservatism and a reliance on people and ideas that are well past their sell by date is effecting this federation from the top down. On top of being generally poor business practices, it is anti American, undemocratic and not transparent. At one point Sunil did represent innovation, efficiency, progress and competition. I acknowledge that and plenty of positive effects he has had on the federation. He has however been as much a beneficiary of, as a catalyst for, the growth of this sport and all of it's associated interests. Moreover removing him from this one titular, or all encompassing position (depending on who is spinning it and to what purpose), won't remove him from power in any real sense anyway. So, I see literally no downside whatsoever in electing someone else at this point and no cogent argument for the good of the federation why he has had to stay in his position this long, or should continue past the next election. Don't worry about Wynalda or Gans anyway: All hail our new overlord, USSF Vice President/Successor in Training - Carlos Cordeiro, BHP Billiton (Mining/Oil/Fracking Giant), Goldman Sachs - Vampire Squid! https://theantiquitiescoalition.org/about-us/carlos-a-cordeiro/ I don't see anything in his numerous online profiles about ever having touched a soccer ball, I may end up missing Sunil after all.
Sunil cannot be the scapegoat. He's a soccer idiot. Fine with business, but an absolute soccer moron. I knew it for years. So why have the other leaders of US Soccer not been able to recognize it? It's a cancer from top to bottom. After he resigns, hold everyone else accountable too, not just Gulati and the coach.
Gulati should resign. Whoever the new head of the federation is, I don't think the power should be in one person to choose the coaches for the US teams. There should be a group of 3-5 people, chosen by US Soccer, to select a coach, and to evaluate him/her and decide when they need to go. Sunil was not capable.