U.S. soccer president
Sunil Gulati had a stack of facts and figures to tout on a conference call earlier this week: massive attendance at recent summer exhibitions in the U.S., growing television audiences for U.S. national team matches, constant jabber surrounding
David Beckham.
But the last thing soccer wants to do — with its history of flaming then fizzling — is get ahead of itself, so Gulati shied away from labeling anything as a venerable tipping point.
“In many ways we’ve made it, but it’s still the first half to me,” said Gulati. “We’re not constant water-cooler talk, we’re not filling up our games in MLS stadiums, the U.S. national team doesn’t have the same following as the Argentine or English national teams, we don’t have the same coverage on the front page of newspapers as the U.S.-Mexico game would have had in Mexico City.”
The next round of the uber-heated rivalry with the Mexicans is Aug. 12. So while the U.S. performance at last month’s Confederations Cup might have been a turning point on the world stage, regional hierarchy is the more immediate concern and will be on the line in the World Cup qualifier in front of 105,000 at Azteca Stadium.
“It’s been sold out for every game we’ve played and we expected it to be sold out,” said Gulati. “We expect to be the visiting team, we expect a hostile crowd in terms of supporting the Mexican national team and we expect to get a good result. There is no way to counter that.”
