Perhaps some of the most important events in recent US Soccer memory have been happening in the last two weeks, as USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann began to explicitly call out MLS and USSF bosses in press conferences over the lack of a promotion and relegation system, and argued that "there's no way to know what is 'top-level' without it" (to paraphrase the USA boss). He backed up those words and beliefs by calling in Minnesota United forward Miguel Ibarra, and tipping Ibarra's teammate Christian Ramirez for a future USA national team selection, after calling in college standout and soon-to-be Sounders debutant Jordan Morris into the previous camp, although Morris barely saw the pitch and Ibarra only made a cameo appearance.
But Klinsmann's statements, which are not surprising given his own soccer background, were picked up and discussed by ESPN 'pundits' Taylor Twellman and Alexi Lalas in their halftime segment in the USA-vs-Ecuador match and somewhat repeated in the USA-vs-Honduras match. Not surprisingly, all of them received, in some way or form, "cease-and-desist" warnings from the MLS bosses, with Jurgen Klinsmann being the subject of a particularly admonishing press conference from MLS commissioner Don Garber. Garber's initial response was cutthroat and accused the USA boss of sabotaging the league and not speaking for 'what is best for MLS and the USA national team', and there are unconfirmed rumors flying around that several owners have made motions calling for Klinsmann to be sacked, with the likelihood of the motions being made with each passing day.
The USSF is not the only well-known FA in the world in which there are major, bitter disagreements between the FA and clubs, and the national team program. Gerardo 'Tata' Martino was on record with choice words regarding the Argentine club game. But there are several facets where what happens to Tata Martino may differ from what happens to Klinsmann.
First, Tata is a native Argentine and grew up in the Argentine footballing culture. Klinsmann may have lived in the USA for two decades and may be "American by family," but the USA boss did not grow up within the USA program, and the USA national team job is still his first managerial job within the country he has called home (or his offseason home) for close to twenty years. So, Tata may have an authenticity to speak on issues at home in Argentina that Klinsmann might not (even though Tata has spent many years in Europe, and away from his home country).
Second, Klinsmann's promotion/relegation comments and gambles are efforts to try to protect the long-term health of US Soccer and make the club game relevant to the American people, while Garber and the MLS suits seem only interested in perfecting their business model and having things "their way." Unfortunately for Garber and company, they lose out on the American fans who have long seen through the MLS action as pure rhetoric, and recognized the league is mostly "marketing fluff" when it comes to making it relevant to them. (Soccer, on the other hand, has come to dominate the Twitter and sports trends in most of the USA, especially when it has come to the USA and Mexico national teams, Liga MX, and various European leagues). (This absolutely discredits the few smart soccer minds who have worked at MLSsoccer.com on both the English and Spanish sites to try to help fans appreciate good, technical soccer, and the players that practice them.)
It is easy to see why the USMNT has drawn the kind of mainattention previously only reserved for NFL matches or major college football events--national team soccer gives Americans (and others) reasons to cheer on their country to success more than just at the Olympic Games. The continued team successes (although the team's World Cup advancement has stagnated since 2002) and not quite successes are a challenge to Americans used to seeing those in professional sport either explicitly avoid tough international competition or dominate it.
The national team, along with the FIFA video game series, has helped to generate a level of grassroots interest in soccer that might not have been there in the early days of MLS (and had been beaten out of realm of American sports relevance by the club of the old ASL and NASL). The availability of not only Liga MX, but also the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Copa Libertadores, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, and soon the Bundesliga on widely available cable, and the Argentine Primera, Brasilerao, Nacional B, Uruguayan Primera Division, Primeira Liga, Colombian Primera Division, Eredivisie, and others on costless-to-low cost legal inline services add to the diversity of soccer cultures available to American eyes. And so, USSF eyes have refused to acknowledge in a legitimate manner why the marquee matches of their top leagues are drawing only 150,000-200,000 viewers (on television), while top Premier League and Liga MX matches can net ~ 1M viewers for the biggest of matches (and even those numbers pale to the ~6-10M views (at least) the USA national team can garner).
In turn, Sunil Gulati, Don Garber, and the MLS owners that compensate them have not understood that a "top down" approach to making club soccer a relevant part of people's lives simply does not allow for deep, authentic passion than can be seen in tifos, flares, chants, whistles, fights, and brawls (in the most extreme cases) in the stands that accompany them. Most clubs in the true soccer cultures around the world (Latin America, Europe) were formed the people, by the people whatever way that was. It could have been the gun-machine workers who formed Arsenal, or steelworkers who formed Bethelehem Steel FC, or the internationalists who formed such clubs as FC Barcelona (and SC Barcelona), Club America, Chivas, or Botafogo.
The clubs were extensions of the communities, and sometimes could have seemingly "irrational" beings, like Chivas's "Mexican only" policy which started in the club's early professional days in the 1950s and 1960s, which resonated with Mexico's working class and galvanize rivalries with "clubs of the elites" like Club America and Club Atlas. It might be the Turkish identity of some lower-division German clubs, or the religious conflict at the heart of the Old Firm (Rangers - Celtic). Some clubs have forgotten about keeping their supporters involved in the decisions of the club for the sake of professionalization and the guise of "winning Champions Leagues." But in order for there to be a fuss about such matters, the connection had to exist in the first place. A top-down approach to league formation does not work.
Even with promotion and relegation, and the barriers of single-entity removed, the soul of US soccer has to be built up so identity politics (in many ways, including ethnicity, social status, locality, and political or company affiliation) can creep their way into the core identities of the clubs. It is that core identification that would allow modern Arsenal fans to protest not having a say in their club, or for El Clasico Tapatio to take on additional meaning and importance besides the score on the pitch. It could provide moments equal in relevance to Texas Western - Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA men's basketball tournament, or the 1960s USC-Alabama college football games, which featured upstarts featuring African-American players going against established Southern college powers that elected to keep African-Americans away from their doors. Instead of a riot in Ferguson, a statement protesting decades (if not centuries) of institutionalized segregation (which has not gone away), unfair treatment under the law, could be felt in the formation of a soccer club with strong ties to African-American (especially around St. Louis) culture and culturalisms, work its way up the USSF ladder and take on the mostly white (Anglo) "main team" of St. Louis. In a closed system, such a counter-team could not form, and the attitudes could not manifest in a deeply passionate local derby.
But such a derby requires that the teams actually be technically capable, quick, deep, and put on a show for the fans, and for the Latin-American soccer culture ubiquitous on Spanish-language media and telecasts to spill over to the Anglo (non-Hispanic) soccer realm. And a fight on promotion/relegation and single entity as the only tenet, and Klinsmann's bashing of MLS showed his deep ignorance and incompetence with scouting players within the USA's most lucrative domestic league, and the inclusion of limited players such as Omar Gonzalez, Kyle Beckerman, Graham Zusi, Matt Besler, Brad Davis, Brad Evans, and Chris Wondolowski at the expense of faster, technically more gifted options shows the USA boss has no relationship with the managers in his league--and may have picked the national team strictly by popularity contests, until others made him realize that he could not go with the same set of players.
A better relationship with the managers may have allowed him to integrate the likes of Chris Klute, Juan Agudelo, Shane O'Neill, DeAndre Yedlin (who's now fully integrated into the national side), Lee Nguyen, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, John Brooks, Joe Corona, Greg Garza, Kelyn Rowe, Luis Gil, Andrew Farrell, Benji Joya, Amobi Okugo, Dillon Powers, Rubio Rubin, Luis Silva, Alonso Hernandez, and others sooner into the national team picture. If Klinsmann had a better relationship with the MLS teams and wanted to send a message, he could have sent a clear one to Michael Bradley by including Perry Kitchen, Maurice Edu, Amobi Okugo, and Benji Joya in his position at the call up of concern.
Klinsmann's choice words also failed to mention the unfortunate reason why sometimes the sense of "artificial parity" isn't seen by those who follow single-entity sports. It's because many franchises (or outlets) cannot put together good well-balanced squads and lineups, with multiple technically and athletically competent players at each position. For instance, Michael Bradley can get frustrated and focus too much on being a playmaker, on a team without several players on the roster who are as good or better than him in that department. And such, because of him not being used purely as either a volante or a box-to-box player (at most advanced), Bradley's form with the national team suffers when playing against skilled competition in the holding midfield. Clint Dempsey's decline in form, as alleged by Klinsmann may have been there when the former Fulham and Tottenham player started his Sounders career, but Sigi Schmid took the time to add an underrated playmaker with whom Dempsey (and Nigeria international teammate Obafemi Martins) in Gonzalo Pineda and a capable passer in MLS veteran Marco Pappa in support. No longer could players close down 'Deuce', foul him constantly, and chip away at his confidence. And so, 'Deuce' returned to something closer to his Fulham self.
Klinsmann has thankfully experimented with what Sigi Schmid (another German) already done, and make his 2018 USA team more balanced. But that balance has not come with a chemistry, and more possession. And Jurgen Klinsmann could be fired on the simple merit that his 2014 team absorbed more pressure than the 2010 team did and did not make more of their own chances (in Brazil and otherwise).
The larger question, and likely narrative, which came with MLS (and Colorado Rapids) firing Rapids beat writer Chris Bianchi without consulting his staff, and with Bruce Arena, the long-time manager who led the USA to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002, getting fined on $20K (when manager salaries are only in the $100,000-$1M range) will be "who questions the MLS dictatorship?" If Klinsmann really does get fired, the prevailing narrative will be that just his statements supporting massive changes that undo the MLS "business model" did him in. Given that "costlessdom of speech" is valued, almost to a fault, in the USA (court of law), he may be able to earn something in a lawsuit. He could have easily been sacked for the USA's performances alone. (Remark: Even though it was "the group of death," Portugal have been underwhelming since the World Cup, and Germany is struggling to find cohesion despite the talent at its disposal once Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose, and others from the 2006 generation retire.)
The battle between Klinsmann, Arena, and the MLS suits, has emboldened pundits and better journalism willing to attack the league's Putin-esque dictatorship and bullishness on keeping to a business model that has tired out US soccer fans for generations (and certainly through 19 years of MLS existence). The saga has yet to play out in full, and it could already be the most important in US Soccer history, approximately on the level between the amateur associations competing in the US Open Cup, USSF, and the suits of the original American Soccer League. The only thing to be said is...stay tuned. There will be more episodes of this telenovela coming.