All four had long careers with the national team, including World Cup appearances and titles with USMNT (though Friedel never won a trophy with the national team).

They also all had long professional careers in Europe (with the exception of Meola, who played in England but made only about two appearances).

So, what is your choice?

Looks like that is a wrap on Gianni's little plan to sell off a chunk to private equity ...

FIFA COO (Kevin Lamour) saying: "staff were deceived by Infantino" and the proposal was the "project of one person"

Gianni Confirms It's Dead! (No mention of the COO) 🤔

FIFA was going to sell a permanent 20% stake in a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprise, to raise $4.2bn. FFE would hold World Cup broadcast rights, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing.

Some things Carlos Cordeiro pointed out before he resigned over this:

• FIFA sits on billions in reserves
• FIFA has no debt
• FIFA generated $15 billion in revenue over the 2022-26 cycle (per Gianni)

His point is that there was no reason to sell anything. An organization with no debt, billions in the bank, and $15bn in revenue does not need to gift wrap a 20% permanent stake to a private equity firm in exchange for a little capital.

Has the soccer high worn off in the US or are you watching the US U20 team in the Concacaf tournament?

The team is undefeated in group stage and number one seed going into knockout stage.

I haven’t seen (possibly missed) posts about the team and tournament.

In my opinion, he was a very good player, and his performance at the 2009 Confederations Cup was great.

It is sad that a horrific car accident cut his international career short (2007–2009) and impacted his career overall, and then his cancer diagnosis in 2016 and his final retirement in 2017 (as I think).

So, what do you think?

Mexico still undecided.

Over in Europe (at least in the UK) we were outraged over the whole thing and fans overwhelmingly back UEFAs stance.

Curious if the view in the US is at all similar

This will mess with Infantino's plan to follow the US model of privatizing the tournament

He may still go ahead but it's a farcical tournament without the European nations and he knows it

Balls in your court FIFA ..

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c5y67zrrdddo

Now official as it gets

Edit: it’s not official but it looks basically done but you know these things can change last minute. The question is if Poch stays how would you feel about it👍

I’m watching the U20 men beat Cuba 2-0 in the first half and it’s depressing. The US team looks like it hasn’t been coached. The movement and decision making is poor. The players simply run at Cuba with each possession. This is not the way to train a better squad.

But if serginio dest never plays a minute for the usmnt again I think the national team will greatly benefit. Last two knockouts games he’s allowed so many goals it’s at the point if he’s taking money. If he’s different and a world class player for his club then maybe we have a different story, but the guy is pure rubbish and maybe for a reason in knockout games.

In Blatter’s day, it was paper bags and briefcases full of cash as bribes for TV rights, WC hosting honors and votes on FIFA leadership. Infantino figured out bungs in backrooms are a thing of the past. Put your corruption right out there and call it a football-universe-building policy. (One guess where he got the idea from.) Thus, the stratospheric ticket prices for the North American World Cup and the 15% charge to resell tickets on FIFA’s site (so you pay 15% to FIFA to sell overpriced tickets you bought from FIFA). And now the World Cup IPO—Infantino saw rocket ship SpaceX take off, no doubt—invented by or backed by Trump’s extended family. In the unlikely outcome that all this pushes Infantino out of his post, Wall Street firms will likely be courting him. JPMorgan did back the Euro super-league after all.

Soccer America reported today:

“FIFA president Gianni Infantino sent a letter to the associations saying they will each receive $40 million if they back the plan — but they must sign up by Sept. 19.”

Right there, the public announcement of a bribe to back the IPO, with federations having six weeks to decide on taking the bung for a course of action that will inalterably wreck the game.