The most eventful era of American soccer will come to an end Aug. 22 when Alan Rothenberg relinquishes his presidency of the United States Soccer Federation, an office he has held for eight years. In 1990, Rothenberg arrived at the U.S. Soccer Federation AGM with the opening line of “Hi, I’m Alan. Let’s party.” Throughout his eight-year tenure, the smooth Southern California lawyer impressed some, and rankled others. His career has been pockmarked with lawsuits — notably, a lengthy (and unsuccessful) suit by former supporter Michael Hogue — and accusations of nepotism (World Cup jobs for his kids) and greed (a $7 million World Cup bonus). The other side of the coin is that Rothenberg delivered two things that none of his predecessors ever could: a successful World Cup and the launch of a (thus far) durable professional soccer league. In 1991, when the World Cup effort was in danger of going down the tubes, Rothenberg took decisive action, firing then-CEO Chuck Cale and taking on the responsibility of USA ’94 himself. Rothenberg’s reward for pulling off the World Cup was a bitterly contested reelection campaign. His reelection assured, he used what he claimed was his “confluence of interests” to launch Major League Soccer, initially a 10-team league that was 12 months late getting out of the gate. Now his time at U.S. Soccer is up. It’s impossible to imagine that anyone — be it Bob Contiguglia or Larry Monaco — will ever wield, or be allowed to wield, so much power over the sport in future. History may not paint such a rosy picture of the Rothenberg regime, but ask yourself this: Was the World Cup and MLS worth the price of having the man around? All he asked for was a little publicity — all right a lot of publicity — a ton of money and an MLS team of his own. It still seems a small sacrifice. FANS: LET’S HEAR YOUR VIEW Is this the end of a golden era in U.S. Soccer’s history? Click here to log onto (Soccer) American Graffiti. Then click on the topic entitled “Your View: The end of an era” and respond to Duncan Irving in 200 words or less. Don’t hold nothin’ back! Best responses will be reprinted in Soccer America Magazine. If YOUR View is selected, we’ll send you a cool t-shirt and pin… Because You’re FANATIC.