At the end of a conference call on Tuesday during which he explained the decision to fire Jurgen Klinsmann as coach of the United States men’s national team, Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, talked about the sport’s steep rise in popularity in this country. One result of that spike, Gulati said, is “that pressure has increased on anyone involved in the game.”
He was, of course, including himself. And while much attention in American soccer this week has been devoted to Klinsmann’s ouster and the hiring of Bruce Arena for a second stint as coach of the national team, plenty of scrutiny has also been directed toward Gulati — the man who essentially hired (and fired) Klinsmann, as well as fired (and hired) Arena.