The United States Soccer Federation is a mess.

For all the glory that was 2015 Women’s World Cup, it masked the considerable mess our national federation is in. Since the USWNT win over Japan, things have gone from bad to worse. Consider the following:

1. An under-performing men’s national team coach somehow received a long-term contract that is so lucrative, U.S. Soccer cannot afford to fire him until after the next World Cup.
2. Oh yeah, for no apparent reason, they also named Klinsmann the technical director for the whole federation. Since his taking over this role, the results of every men’s national team have worsened.
3. We have leaders in Dan Flynn and Sunil Gulati who let Chuck Blazer, Jack Warner, and most of CONCACAF’s leadership steal millions of dollars from U.S. advertisers and television channels. They refuse to address these allegations, even when summoned by the U.S. Congress.
4. The U.S. Soccer Federation has continued an unnecessary contract dispute with the U.S. Women’s National team, a dispute that has resulted in the personal information of U.S. Women National Team players being leaked to the public.
5. The Federation has provoked members of the women’s national team to file a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer for wage discrimination. Their lower pay despite generating higher revenue than the USMNT seems to violate basic principles of equality and wage fairness.
6. We have a broken player development system that still adheres to economically discriminatory practices such as "pay-to-play", and a coaching development system that is more like a pyramid scheme. U.S. Soccer has promised to fix these problems for years without even an inch of progress being made.
7. Finally, the U.S. Soccer Federation works more and more in darkness with respect to major decisions and financial dealings. Who carries influence in the federation becomes murkier and murkier to the nation they supposedly serve. Sunil Gulati, Dan Flynn, and the entire Board of the U.S. Soccer Federation have created a toxic culture of zero accountability, closing shop to anyone outside the MLS/USSF family. Transparency and democracy have given way to a tinpot dictatorship that would make Sepp Blatter envious.

But hey! At least, the logo looks great.

Let’s go into detail.

The Jürgen Klinsmann Disaster

We have a terrible USMNT team coach.

The results speak for themselves. The team has not developed under Klinsmann. The talent is stagnating as he relies more and more on aging stars to carry the senior team from one mediocre performance and occasional embarrassment to another. In addition to this, Mr. Klinsmann’s roster selection, player motivation, and tactics leave a lot to be desired.

However, the thing many people don’t appreciate is how big of a disaster Mr. Klinsmann is the Technical Director. The men’s U-23 team failed to reach their most important tournament – the 2016 Rio Olympics. With more kids playing the game than ever before and with the competition they faced, this is inexcusable. Yet since the loss we’ve seen zero accountability on the part of anyone at U.S. Soccer.

Despite how bad he has been at his job, Klinsmann is not going anywhere. He has two years (ends 2018) of his $2.5 million per year contract left. With the current financial budgeting of U.S. Soccer, they cannot afford to both fire him and hire a new coach. Like it or not, we are stuck with Jürgen Klinsmann until after the Russian World Cup.

U.S. Soccer is shackled to a corpse until then. As Klinsmann’s biggest champions, Gulati and Flynn deserve the major portion of the blame for this. They hired him for four times more money than they had paid any previous USMNT coach. They signed off on this ridiculous duel role arrangement.

Yet, for all the terribleness of the men’s program, it pales in comparison to what the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team have faced.

The U.S. Soccer Federation versus what's right

The fight between U.S. Soccer and the members of the United States Women’s National Team is one that should have never happened and reflects indifference to U.S. law, the performance of the USWNT, and common sense. The U.S. Soccer Federation seems incapable of treating female soccer players with the respect and pay they deserve.
USSF refused an open, honest dialogue with the members of the women’s national team by firing off a hostile, preemptive lawsuit in early February. That wasn’t even the worse part.

The same early February lawsuit leaked personal information of USWNT players which U.S. Soccer later redacted. With this, the actions of U.S. Soccer have gone beyond a simple union dispute and into the area of gross negligence. For players who fear stalkers and deserve privacy, such a breach of trust is inexcusable. Yet, there were no repercussions at U.S. Soccer for the leak and break in trust. That’s the moment – in my opinion – when this turned personal and made this a crusade for many USWNT players.

The issues facing the U.S. Soccer Federation and the USWNT are more fundamental than how much the players are being paid. It’s also about respect and power. For example, look at the Board of Directors of the U.S. Soccer Federation. There are only two women on the 16 member board – former Thorns’ manager Cindy Cone and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. NWSL’s leadership is not represented on the board while MLS and USL's are. For a country that prides itself on equality, this lack of representation at the highest level of power is inexcusable – especially with how important the women’s game is to our national sports identity.

This avoidable fight is another example of the terrible leadership of not just Gulati and Flynn, but of the entire Board of Directors of the U.S. Soccer Federation. Hopefully, this will all be settled by Rio. Then again, knowing U.S. Soccer they will probably screw this up and we will be facing a walkout by USWNT members. Frankly, would you blame them?

The Ghost of Chuck Blazer haunts the U.S. Soccer Federation

There is a ghost that lingers around the U.S. Soccer Federation - Chuck Blazer. AKA Sunil Gulati and Don Garber's closer personal friend and business partner.

For all of their interviews, Gulati and Flynn have not answered the simple fundamental questions about Blazer's relationship with the U.S. Soccer Federation. Questions like:

1: What did you know?
2: When did you find out about it?
3: What did you do when you found out?

If they can't answer these questions publicly, then they need to be fired or resign. The only conclusions I can reach given the information available is that Sunil Gulati and Dan Flynn were either both too stupid to noticed what was going on or complicit in the fraud which Blazer and the administrators of CONFACAF took part in.

So how does it tie into U.S. Soccer?

Blazer, Jack Warner, and every single person involved in this massive fraud stole from United States soccer fans. As Nico DiBenedetto rightly pointed out in December, these people unlocked the monetary potential of the United States soccer market and used it for their own largess. Blazer & company stole from the very programs that U.S. Soccer and other federations desperately need to fund. Things such as coach training, referee training, youth development programs, infrastructure, and grassroots development. Hundreds of millions of dollars - gone. All gone into the pockets of a few apparatchiks.

Yet not a peep from Gulati or Flynn on how all this happened. They were either too stupid to notice - which they should resign - or too cowardly to act - which they should resign - or they were complicit in the fraud - which they should be fired and charged by the U.S. Justice Department.

Until we have some sort of truth and reconciliation in this matter, it is hard to believe in Flynn and Gulati's innocence when it comes to Chuck Blazer and the largest scandal in football/soccer history.

Yeah, we know. What can we do?

So what can us as fans do? I believe several things.

We must show solidarity with the U.S. Women's National Team in these trying times. Their willingness to take on the federation is commendable and right. I don't like hashtag solidarity for its futility but it's a start. If it takes the USWNT to boycott the Rio Olympics, we need to back them 100%.

We collectively as a national fan base have to demand change. We need to ask Gulati and Flynn repeatedly why they feel that USWNT players should only earn 40% of their male counterparts. We need to ask Garber, Cone, and every single board member why they are supporting Gulati and Flynn when it is obvious that the two are neither fit nor proper to carry out their current roles. It's about asking the sponsors of the U.S. Soccer Federation why they are supporting a federation so fundamentally broke. It's not about being obnoxious or mean, it's about questioning power and creating collective pressure.

Third, the U.S. soccer media need to ask the hard questions of power. One of the things that really bothers me about sports journalism the last 20 years is how leagues, teams, and players have bullied reporters. It's time they ask the simple questions of power, make these influencers accountable for their behavior, and apply consistent pressure till change is made - regardless of losing out on pregame meals, a press pass, or even players/coach access.

I would suggest boycotting U.S. Soccer matches and not buying national team apparel. However, those measures never seem to work. Besides judging by the falling attendance figures for USMNT matches, it would be hard to judge what lack of attendance is due to fans boycotting games and the growing disinterest of U.S. soccer fans towards Jürgen's team. Also, no one is buying that monstrosity of a national team kit anyhow.

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P.S.: The views of this column are of the idiot who wrote it.

P.S.S.: This has been edited since the initial posting (HT to Nevek) for the sake of shortening it.