News travels fast these days, but I must admit that I was out of the loop on the ousting of MLS deputy commissioner Sunil Gulati. I was on vacation with my family in Cancun, Mexico, when I came across a day-old Esto, the Mexico City sports daily. It is a testament to Gulati’s influence internationally that Esto devoted six inches, with a photo, to the ouster of the No. 2 man in an American league. Indeed, Gulati is an important figure internationally. There is probably no soccer executive in the world today as young as the 39-year-old Gulati who has wielded as much power. But it was at the grassroots of American soccer that Gulati’s most important work was (and is) being done. He was Project-40. MLS already is seeing the fruits of Gulati’s efforts — elsewhere in this issue we present the Changing of the Guard — but it’s now facing competition. Young Americans are being presented with options potentially far more lucrative than those MLS can offer. Gulati, whose background is in education (Columbia University economics department), had been reluctant to get into a bidding war for them. The last time I saw him, at the unveiling of Project 2010, his latest master plan, he admitted he was particularly uneasy about tempting U-17 star Nelson Akwari, a very good student, to sign with MLS and potentially pass up an Ivy League education. For all intents and purposes, Gulati is now gone from the MLS picture, but it remains an issue that all the best young players must be convinced to join MLS. The young league needs them if it is to ever produce the superstars needed to raise itself to the status of a major league in more than name only. FANS: LET’S HEAR YOUR VIEW Can MLS lure America’s best and brightest without Sunil Gulati? Click here to log onto (Soccer) American Graffiti. Then click on the topic entitled “YOUR VIEW: The unique rivalry” and respond to Paul Kennedy in 200 words or less. Don’t hold nothin’ back! Best responses may 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.