On the eve of another U.S. Soccer presidential election, it’s worth thinking about why the two candidates have spent time giving media interviews.
The USSF is a membership organization. It’s comprised of the professional leagues, all the state associations that govern youth and amateur soccer at the local level, as well as myriad national bodies that represent a range of constituencies, from coaches to disabled athletes. None of that includes the public.
In those interviews, the candidates—the incumbent Cindy Parlow Cone and her challenger and predecessor, Carlos Cordeiro—have been making their case to people who don’t have a vote. The readers get no say. The quadrennial election will be settled Saturday morning at U.S. Soccer’s annual general meeting in Atlanta, where athlete representatives (who get one-third of the vote), members of the pro, youth and amateur councils, board members and a handful of other stakeholders and affiliates will choose a president. All of them had access to Parlow Cone and Cordeiro in recent weeks. They didn’t need to read the Q&As.
