USA Soccer Honcho Leaves of His Own Accord

In the wake USA Soccer's most humiliating defeats, Sunil Gulati all but said he was the dude to lead the program out of the wilderness.

Ironic, as he was the dude who led the United States Soccer Federation into the wilderness.

At least he's finally read the tea leaves.

Or maybe social media.

The USSF presidency is up for a vote on 10 Feb 2018, and it was looking to be a tense affair until Gulati realized he didn't have enough support to stay on.

So, while he continued to delude himself, he at least fell on the grenade:

I spent a lot of time thinking about it and talking about it with people in many different positions, many of whom told me I should run. But in the end, I think the best thing for me personally, and for the federation, is to see someone new in the job.

Correct.

Gulati was a front office dude for 30 years and held the top spot since 2006 and had his moments:

• He was instrumental in securing the 1994 World Cup for the USA, and
• He was the first deputy commish of Major League Soccer, serving until 1999 when he got the boot.
• He then slid into the top spot for Robert Kraft's New England Revolution before being replaced there.

Frankly, Gulati got too fond of being unilateral in his decisions, and unfortunately, most of those decisions regarding the USSF were too vanilla and MLS-oriented.

Full marks to the USA's top league for just being there, but international competitiveness is simply a level or two above.

For the program's sake, the new prez had best have a strong grasp of that obviosity.