I think Cordeiro's pitch to have more inclusion of former players into meaningful positions within USSF sealed the deal for Athlete's Council.

So you guys saying "same old boss" I am curious about a couple of things:

1. What specifically did you not like about the Gulati tenure?

2. Specifically, what do you want to see changed?

3. What do you see in Cordeiro's platform that makes you think it will be more of Gulati?


I ask this because I have seen a tremendous growth of soccer during Gulati's tenure. The men's league and women's league have grown, USSF has invested heavily in a development program and in getting a women's league running. I did not like what he did with the hiring and firing of coaches for the NTs, so the idea of having a general manager for the men's rogram and one for the women's program is what I think we need. Someone to manage the teams from U-17 on up to the NT.

Just curious what the complaints are about the USSF that you thing will continue under Cordeiro.

It is difficult to say how much of the issues within US Soccer are Gulati's fault. Yes he was the President of the Board, but there is also a CEO in charge of the day to day operations and there is an entire Board. He's the face but I think they all have some measure of culpability.

Admittedly it's difficult as US Soccer really isn't a national entity. It's 55 state youth and adult organizations. And they each have their own bus drivers.

The single biggest issue to me is money and investment. For whatever reason US Soccer charges a ton of money for stuff and doesn't seem to pay any of it back out. Thy have $150MM in the bank. Ok. Reinvest it.

Their coaching licenses are expensive and everyone agrees they are mostly poor compared to other countries. There appears to be a disconnect between the national system and the state coaching systems.

They do not seem to be willing to invest any money at the national level for coaching infrastructure. Scouts and assistants say they are paid salaries less than many youth clubs pay or worse are paid per diem. I guess we will see who they hire but I think we all know the National coach and technical director needs to get hired and given authority to make changes. That's going to be a ways down the road it looks like. Maybe late summer.

Money raised from youth and adult registration does not seem to work its way back for training. And playing soccer is expensive. They need to solve that problem.

I guarantee you that money raised from referee fees do not filter back for training. That's all run through state dues. Hell, up until this year they didn't even supply a $0.25 sticky back Velcro to put your badge on. TASO (which may be the cheapest group I know) even does that.

In the end Gulati went down because of the failure of the USMNT. And that wasn't his fault. But it did expose a number of shortcomings in other areas. And he's taking the heat for it. I kind of think the whole Board should be.

I think the growth of the game has been more than positive, but he's also created a pretty big divide between USSF and the other organizations that run soccer at a local/regional level.

The biggest criticism of Gulati from me is that his ego was such he wouldn't cede power over the national programs to dedicated people who are better suited for it. We didn't build on any of the momentum garnered from the positive showings from 2010 onward. You can't give both the coach and technical director role to the same individual. Those two roles have different time horizon perspective on decision making.

I look at Iceland, and their concerted effort to streamline their program. They should be our model. Doesnt' matter what village you go to, even the youth programs have top-qualified certified coaches training them into the Icelandic Soccer system. Kids don't have to pay $1500-$3500 for the best coaching. They are all trained/certified....and follow the prescribed system.

This didnt just happen. Years ago they put a system in place, that is adhered to from the ground up, and it's now paying dividends.

I know we're not 100% the same. But we do the opposite, and Gulati has continually tried to hold to the status quo. Instead of the ground up, we try to identify talent from the top down. There is very little uniformity, and the sheer cost to play in a good program turns talent away before it has a chance to see the field.

There is also a HUGE difference in coaching between the lower level academy teams, and upper level. That makes it difficult for players to improve, and move up from an early age. And even if a player is talented enough to move up, the upper level teams cost so much, many dont/cant even consider it. We really make it hard for the talent to make it's way through the programs.

If we would actually organize, and funnel talent upwards, there is no reason why this country couldnt be a soccer powerhouse. Just look at the Olympics, and what these athletes do, with much less. We have teenagers with pimpled winning Gold medals against adult professionals. They have the best coaches, and access to training/instruction..and it pays off. We have the talent. We are just disorganized as a program.

For all Jurgen's failures on the field, he at least identified this, continually brought it to the forefront and pushed for it to change somewhat. I also think he tried to bridge the gap to an extent, with all the foreign born US players, to mixed reviews.

All that to say, if there isn't a change to the organization, to standardize the programs from the local level up...it will just be more of the same. That's great that our war chest might triple in size, but to what end? How will that help improve the 10 year old playing for an academy club in Austin?

It may be nealy impossible to break out of our expensive youth club system we have now. I'd like to see some actual ideas about how to do that.

the current pay for play club system is about like our healthcare system, so many people profit madly off of it that it's nearly impossible to fix/restructure without massive blowback

I dont think US Soccer realizes the power it has. They dictate what the clubs can do, in order to maintain status as an Academy. If they make sweeping changes/requirements, the clubs have to follow suit. They already use it as a crutch...'We dont necessarily like it, but that's what's required by US Soccer'....I've heard that a few times.

I could see it accomplished in two tiers. The lower/first tier being entry level for players that still requires a financial commitment. Another is an upper tier that is funded by the program. That way top talent can still get funneled, and there is an end goal for those that want to to continue. It's silly the way we 'reward' players now...work hard, move up a level?...nicely done, now your financial burden triples.

The key is coaching. The lower tier needs to have uniform coaching, on par with upper tiers in order to actually develop the players. Otherwise, what's the point of the academies.

It would also be nice to tie the top tie of the academies into local sponsors or pro teams, to lessen the financial burden. This is done somewhat on a local scale now, but if it could be done on a more national scale, it would make a world of difference.

I didn't like not qualifying for the World Cup...

gougler08 said:

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I didn't like not qualifying for the World Cup...

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Yeah, I did not want to discuss that part. That would be improved with the GMs for women and men programs.