Los Angeles, Nov 15 (AFP) The United States' humiliatingfailure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup may have leftmillions of fans across the country in shock, but for SteveGans, the debacle had been a long time coming.
The 57-year-old Boston attorney's worst fears came tofruition last month when the USA were eliminated after a 2-1loss at Trinidad & Tobago in their final qualifying game.
The defeat means the United States will be frustratedspectators when next year's finals in Russia kick off, thefirst time since 1986 that the country has missed the world'sgreatest tournament.
Gans is now one of the front-runners in a crowded fieldbidding to unseat United States Soccer Federation presidentSunil Gulati when his post comes up for re-election nextFebruary.
So far, seven challengers to Gulati's 11-year reign haveemerged for an election that promises to be the mostsignificant for US soccer in decades.
"The future of soccer in America is at stake here,including the future of the United States men's national team,which is going in the wrong direction," Gans told AFP in aninterview.
Gans was one of the first to declare against Gulati,having embarked on a nationwide "listening tour" in May totake the temperature of American soccer at all levels of thegame. He confirmed his plan to run before the US World Cupexit.
"I wanted to hear if the things that I was hearing fromthe people urging me to run, were representative of the widersoccer community," Gans said, revealing that common themessoon emerged from different constituencies within the sport.
- 'Ignored, marginalized' - =========================== Many youth and adult soccer officials from differentstates expressed frustration with the USSF leadership, Ganssaid.
"They have felt ignored, they have felt marginalized, andthey're a very important historical part of US soccer," Ganssaid.
"The reality is they need to be shown respect. Theirideas, their programs, should be given seriousness of purpose.
And they need to have input rather than top down edicts comingfrom US Soccer telling them how it's going to be." At the top of the pyramid, Gans emphasizes the importanceof making the right appointment to coach the US national team.
Although he is open to appointing an overseas coach, hebelieves the hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann in 2011 was a mistake.
Klinsmann was fired in 2016 after losing the two opening gamesof the final round of CONCACAF qualifiers, picking up aseverance package worth $6.2 million on his way out.
"I would have handled that completely differently," Ganssaid. "I'd pick a better manager in the first place. Iwouldn't pick the biggest name just to pick the biggest name." Appointing an overseas coach would hinge on whether thecandidate could demonstrate an understanding of the challengesof the job.
"You do your due diligence on every single person youbring into this league, country or national team," Gans said.
"It's slightly different with a national team coach. It'snot about 'Would they treat it as a holiday?' It's more,'Would they understand what is different about America?' --the vastness of the country, the amount of travel, playing onartificial turf, the American personality, those kind ofissues.
"You need to make sure that they 'get' it." - Creating 'joyless robots' - ============================= At the other end of the spectrum, Gans promises anoverhaul of youth development. The current system is producing"joyless" players, he said.
"There's a lot wrong with development. We're creatingbetter players technically but we're creating playerssometimes who are robotic. And even when they're not robotic,they're joyless," he said.
"And what I do know is that you can't play great unlessyou have joy, at any level. You can't play well if you don'tlove playing. So why did the US fail? It goes all the way backto youth level." Gans, meanwhile, said he would make working conditionsfor the US men's and women's teams identical if elected.
The successful US women's team, the reigning worldchampions, have been at loggerheads with the USSF under Gulatiover a range of issues, particularly having to play fixtureson artificial turf.
"That to me will immediately change," Gans said. "If themen don't have to play on it to any extent, then the womenshouldn't have to. It's a question of safety and fairness." While other candidates in the race have advocated theintroduction of promotion and relegation in Major LeagueSoccer, Gans advances a more cautious approach.
"In principal it's great. It's how the game works aroundthe world. We all love looking at the table on the last day ofthe season to figure out who is going to stay up or go down,"he said. "It's exciting and enthralling.
"That said, you can't just snap your fingers and make ithappen. It has to be considered within the framework ofAmerican sports economics. Some people say 'Well, so what ifthe MLS owners pull their money out. Let's just introduce itand figure it out.' "But I've lived this game since I was kid. And I livedthrough the period from 1985 to 1996 when the United Statesdid not have a professional outdoors league. It was awasteland for players, fans, player development. And I neverwant to go back to that." (AFP) ATAT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.