US coach Bruce Arena resigns after World Cup failure, federation chief Sunil Gulati stays
US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said he will not resign and might even seek re-election despite the Americans’ failing to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
Just minutes after US coach Bruce Arena resigned in the wake of Tuesday’s 2-1 loss at Trinidad and Tobago, which saw the US fail to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986, Gulati took the blame for the humiliating failure.
“It’s a shock to the system. We fully expected to qualify,” he said yesterday. “It’s a big disappointment… I certainly take responsibility for us not getting to Russia.” Gulati, a 58-year-old India-born American, then outlined why he thinks he remains the correct person to guide the program back from the abyss, including the US role in a combined bid with Mexico and Canada for the 2026 World Cup.
“I don’t plan to resign,” Gulati said. “We’ve got a lot of things on our agenda, including a World Cup bid that’s due in March. I don’t plan to do that — because of everything, where the sport is now, the role I played in it and where it could go if I choose to run again.”
Gulati became the US Soccer supremo …read more
