The Replacement
October 4 – 2006
Within weeks, Sunil Gulati will announce the hiring of a new United States National Team coach. Who the hell is Sunil Gulati?
Gulati is not only a professor of economics at Columbia University and the former World Bank advisor to Moldova, he is the president of the United States Soccer Federation. And as such, he is charged with hiring the man to replace Bruce Arena and mend our broken hearts. If Gulati’s qualifications for the task seem ill-fitted, it’s because they are: Gulati is pure pencil-pusher. Though he has excelled in all aspects of soccer business (member of the US World Cup bid committee, Board of Directors of FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 1999, President of Kraft Soccer Properties), it’s hard to say just how much he knows about the game itself. In truth, it’s quite possible he knows fuck-all.
Over the next week or so, Soccernista will be evaluating Gulati’s shortlist as presented by Grant Wahl in his recent article. Though we will certainly perform said evaluations with less care than Wahl, we promise to do so with more hair, and hopefully more poignancy. Stay tuned.
[...] Sunil Gulati has hinted that a hire for the US Men’s National Team coach will be announced sometime in November. Though we have serious reservations about Gulati’s qualifications to manage this task, his shortlist does contain some intriguing options. Over the course of November, Soccernista will take a look at the candidates. Today: the “Golden Bomber.” [...]
Pingback by soccernista.com » The Replacement? - Jurgen Klinsman — October 10, 2006 @ 3:48 pm