Running to restore U.S. Soccer
World Cup miss gives Wynalda’s campaign chance to win presidency
CHINO, Calif. – Eric Wynalda remembers the laughter that erupted after telling attendees at a national coaching convention in January 2016 that the United States was in danger of missing the 2018 World Cup without swift and urgent changes.
And he remembers the silence on Oct. 10, the night his prophecy came true.
Wynalda, a former national team star turned television analyst and now a leading candidate to become the next president of US Soccer, watched the U.S. fall in Trinidad and Tobago at a party hosted by the American Outlaws fan group in San Diego. As fans shook their heads, Wynalda left the building and headed home.
“I needed to be alone,” Wynalda told USA TODAY on Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe it. I was in total dismay, I didn’t know what to do. My phone started blowing up but I didn’t call anyone back. I couldn’t.”
Eventually the sorrow turned to anger and then into action. The 48-yearold, who scored 34 goals in 106 U.S. appearances and played professionally in Germany and Major League Soccer, revealed his presidential run months earlier, while it still seemed Sunil Gulati would seek reelection. He figured he’d lose but wanted to spark debate. Now the goalposts had shifted.
Two months after the outcome in the tiny Trinidadian town of Couva, feelings that the game in the U.S. needs change are stronger than ever.
On Tuesday morning, Wynalda was at a community park in California’s Inland Empire overseeing practice for Invicta FC of the minor-league United Premier Soccer League. He drives two hours a day each way to serve as technical director, and has mainly filled the team with players who didn’t neatly fit into the current system. Many are smaller, skill-oriented players, rejected by MLS because they didn’t fit the image of size and strength.
“The current system alienates,” he said. “It needs to feel that there is a belief that we can win. Our fans sing the damn song. It is time for us to believe it.
“Having pride in your country whether you win or not is commendable – good job and a pat on the back and … you’re out. Or, your hard work and your dedication and passion is all validated by success. That has got to be where we get to, where we are great at all this. Right now, we are mediocre. At best. It hurts to say it, but it’s better than ignoring it.”
Wynalda’s main contenders are establishment members. Kathy Carter took leave from her position as president of MLS’s marketing arm to run, with the apparent support of both MLS and Gulati. Carlos Cordeiro is the federation’s current vice president.
Wynalda’s platform involves revamping the pro level, introducing promotion and relegation and conforming to the international winter calendar to maximize earning potential from summer tournaments.
Like all the candidates he wants to breathe life into youth development and says the right way to do so is with more soccer people involved in decision making.
“Getting pro level right trickles down to everything else,” he added. “There has been mass confusion and that has duped people into thinking that everything was alright.”
The World Cup exit ripped off that bandage, and gave Wynalda’s campaign a chance.
As training ended Tuesday, Wynalda went around to each member of his young group, offering quiet words of encouragement.
“Until I met him the doors were closed,” Pablo Cruz, 25, said.
Cruz played for the U.S.’s under-20 national team at 16 but never got the MLS breakthrough he craved. Wynalda gave him what might have been his final chance, and Cruz is now one of the UPSL’s best players. “I think if he wins the presidency it will open a lot of doors.”
Wynalda headed to lunch with head coach Auggie Rodriguez, who has worked in tandem with him for nine months. Rodriguez saw a shift in Wynalda after the qualifying debacle.
"He never stops, that’s just him,” Rodriguez said. “But he is very focused. He has a mission to make things better with American soccer. People need that kind of energy to relate to. We don’t have that right now.”
Wynalda is running as “the soccer guy,” an antidote to the suit-and-tie image of Gulati’s reign. It is easier to convince people the game is in your heart when you have a playing pedigree.
Before ordering sliders (no fries) at a sports bar, Wynalda urged the waiter to switch channels to a German Bundesliga game in which Christian Pulisic’s Borussia Dortmund was on its way to defeating Mainz.
Like the rest of the American soccer community Wynalda has high hopes for Pulisic but fears there is a gaping disconnect between the national team and the federation’s bosses.
A moment later, his flow was interrupted when Hope Solo called. Solo is also in the running as a surprise candidate for president but was battling on Tuesday to get the requisite three nomination letters to become a full-fledged entrant into the race. Wynalda said he would call her back later.
Wynalda is committed to talking frankly no matter what, and the period ahead of the Feb. 10 vote for the presidency could see spicy back and forwards between the candidates. Don’t expect him to hold back, even if it is controversial or awkward.
In 2010, when England national team players John Terry and Wayne Bridge fell out amid claims Terry had slept with Bridge’s ex-girlfriend, Wynalda revealed on TV that his former teammate John Harkes had an affair with his exwife. The revelation confirmed years of whispers about the saga, which saw Harkes left off the team for the 1998 World Cup.
“I believe in being open,” Wynalda said.
“There were so many people talking about it. It was out there. I wasn’t trying to make headlines but I just owned up and said 'Yeah, it happened, my wife cheated on me.' Where are you going to go from there?”
Wynalda's candor has made for good TV, but it remains to be seen how his demeanor will play as president of US Soccer.
“I am not doing this for power or significance,” he said.
“I am not looking for anyone to love me. How many times have people thought I was an (expletive) and then they meet me and find I’m not what they expected. They’ll like me later.”