Our own Paul Gardner has said often enough that U.S. soccer must better exploit the potential of the country’s huge Latin American population. Now, writes Rob Hughes, the U.S. Soccer Federation has a president in Sunil Gulati who has realized that if soccer in the United States wants to reach a higher level, “it must draw on its Hispanic and African populations.”
Hugo Perez, Tab Ramos and Claudio Reyna have been “the best creative players” on the national team in recent decades as the U.S. has risen in stature to take part in five successive World Cups. And these are the kind of players the country will need if it wants to progress beyond “the type of muscular, athletic soccer pioneered by the English and made to look unimaginative by both teams [England and the U.S.] at Wembley on Wednesday.”
When the U.S. plays Spain (Wednesday) and Argentina (Saturday), it will boast no Hispanic player with the qualities of the above three players. Perhaps the current team’s only player in their class, Landon Donovan, developed his early game on a Latino team. Playing such high-caliber opposition could again demonstrate that Gulati’s stated preference for appointing a Latino to the still vacant position of technical director indicates the best direction for the U.S. game. “Long term,” Hughes says, “the skill of Latinos and the physical attributes of Americans could be a world power.” But to expect such a team in time for the 2010 World Cup “is way too soon.”