“Time’s up Mr. Gulati!” exclaims Paul Gardner in his latest New York Sun column. And he’s right: it’s May already, the month when U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said he would make a decision as to who will coach the U.S. national team-presumably through South Africa 2010. It’s a decision that “has been delayed skillfully” for almost a year now, Gardner says, ever since Gulati fired Bruce Arena last July. Meanwhile, interim manager Bob Bradley has done a fine job, but despite a 3-0-1 record, including a 2-0 win against Mexico and a 3-1 win against Ecuador, Bradley is still the “meanwhile coach,” as Gardner calls him.
Gulati obviously chose May as his choosing month because that’s when the European seasons end and coaches leave their clubs for new ones. To that end, it’s now or never for Gulati to find his dream coach, as the Gold Cup and Copa America are less than two months away. Lyon coach Gerard Houllier and Manchester United assistant coach Carlos Queiroz are the two names that have risen to the top. Of the two, Gardner thinks Houllier the more likely, because his contract with the French champion expires “right about now,” although Lyon insists he’s going nowhere. Queiroz, meanwhile, is a great favorite of United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and could be lining up to succeed him one day. In the end, Gulati will likely be forced to stick with the “meanwhile coach,” who, to be fair, has probably done enough to keep his job, anyway.