How the USSF Set Aside Morals For the Slimmest Hope of Political Gain

I don’t know if my American soccer heart has ever been humbled as much as as it was Saturday. The ’98 World Cup still stings, but nothing quite like Saturday.

What humbled me had nothing to do with the pitch. It didn’t come from Cazorla, David Silva or Torres. It wasn’t even those dreadful beauty pageant strips our boys are still wearing. No, it came from a halftime show and from a man I’ll admit I had never heard of until he popped on my screen. U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati couldn’t have been any more obvious with how relatively low in importance this sport is to Americans.

Asked about the federation’s vote to give Sepp Blatter another term as FIFA President, Gulati shot out this gem: “I don’t think taking the moral high ground is the right thing to do.”

To hear such remarks from the president of any organization should induce a cringe, let alone our country’s representative to the body that oversees the world’s favorite sport. It’s safe to assume if an American representative to any global body said or even thought such nonsense they would be removed from their post. The media would have a field day. Even the person who put such a gutless coward in charge would be thrown in the boiler.

But sadly only soccer fans will ever see Gulati’s slap to the face of American integrity. Not only is soccer of so little importance here that no one would notice, but the U.S. Soccer Federation is in such a low standing place where morals are set aside for the slimmest hope of political gain.

It seems then the U.S. is to FIFA as Kazakhstan is to the United Nations. Just a vote. Just a mindless sheep with no reason to shake the boat in hopes one day it might be noticed again. Forget that viral video of the celebrations after Donovan’s goal last summer – soccer does not mean anything to America. While it certainly feels the sport has grown on American soil in leaps and bounds over the past couple of decades, Saturday proved for all that has been accomplished, the USA is still pre-1994 when it comes to the global stage.

More telling than that 4-0 pummeling from the world champs was that statement.

When it comes to soccer, American exceptionalism is more of an idea than the ideal. We still have a long way to go. Let’s just hope we take the moral high ground to get there.