Less than 48 hours from now, we will know whether the U.S. bid for the 2022 World Cup was a success or a failure.  In Zurich the U.S. delegation is counting votes, firming up yeses and feeling out no votes.  One advantage the U.S. has is star power, something a country like Qatar has to import or hire.  It may be hard for a delegate to shake the hand of a famous movie star or politician and turn down the United States.

The official presentation on December 2 will be done by a four-man committee: US Bid chair Sunil Gulati, Landan Donovan, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, and actor Morgan Freeman.  That’s the official presentation; but who should the U.S. have in Zurich right now to lobby these delegates and secure votes?  Below are the people I think would be the U.S.’s most effective spokespeople and who should be in Zurich for the rest of the week.  Some of these are no-brainers and some are possibly unrealistic and outside-the-box.  But if I were U.S. Bid president, these people would be my first call:

Bill Clinton – The former president is a global icon.  Besides being personally popular with many world leaders, he is the head of a huge global foundation aimed at alleviating poverty and disease.  He’s smooth and an expert at wooing reticent votes, and signing him up for this bid was Gulati’s best decision.

Michael Jordan – Another global sports icon, Jordan is world renowned as being the best player in the world’s fastest growing game.  Jordan would show that the American sports scene is united behind the World Cup as well as the sports business community.  Plus he would be a different face before FIFA and could be a genuine ace-in-the-hole to impress delegates.

Barack Obama – I know, this backfired spectacularly when the U.S. was bidding for the Olympics.  However, there is one major difference between the World Cup and Chicago Olympics.  A medium risk in the U.S. bid analysis was government support, and what better way to show that the U.S. government will give full support and resources to the World Cup than the face of the government, who by the way is popular internationally.  Although he will not be president in 2022, he can guarantee the delegates that his administration will begin preparing for the World Cup now and build it into any deficit plan his administration may pursue.

Steve Jobs – Europe has a bad history with Microsoft, ruling out Bill Gates, and is now bringing suit against Google as a monopoly.  But Steve Jobs’ Apple is universally admired, and his iPod and its technological brethren are universally used.  He could share information about American technological prowess and counteract Japan’s best claim to the Cup, that it will have a truly unique and technologically advanced World Cup.

Brad Pitt – There may be more popular actors worldwide, and maybe more beautiful people, but few possess the charm and positive ratings that the actor has.  In a delegation full of political and sports stars, Pitt would add a little Hollywood glitz and glamor to the lobbying effort, and convey how the media and popular culture can help build support for soccer in America.

Landon Donovan – The delegation has to have a soccer player, and who is more associated with U.S. soccer than Donovan.

Who do you think would be the most effective spokesperson for the U.S. bid in Zurich?

As part of his second state of the union at halftime of the MLS Cup, Don Garber revealed that MLS would be considering shifting the season from spring-to-fall to the FIFA-endorsed fall-to-spring schedule.  While this is not the first time MLS has considered shifting its schedule, Garber said that the rethink was pushed by FIFA and was tied into the U.S. World Cup bid.  It’s no secret that FIFA has long been disappointed that MLS is not in-sync with most of the rest of the soccer world and they have pressured MLS to conform to everyone else.  But if FIFA gives the U.S. an ultimatum to change the schedule or else, the US stand up to FIFA and tell them no.

This scenario is not out of the realm of possibility.  In 1994, FIFA made establishing a permanent outdoor league a contingency for hosting.  While I think the U.S. right now is the leader in the 2022 race, if it is close or becomes close in the next week, the scheduling issue could become a pressure point for the U.S.  FIFA conceivably come to the U.S. and say change the schedule or enjoy the Qatar World Cup.

So if it comes down to scheduling, should the US abandon its spring-to-fall schedule for the World Cup?  No, MLS and U.S. Soccer should stand its ground on this one if it needs to.  The arguments for spring-to-fall are well-known and they are incredibly valid.  The MLS should not open its season overshadowed by all four major U.S. sports and crown its champions overshadowed by the beginning of baseball and the NCAA basketball championship.  In addition, the majority of the season would be played in the winter, which would be miserable for most teams north of Kansas City.  Having the MLS mainly in the summer allows American soccer to receive more attention from the media, especially when its only major competition is baseball.

Moving to a FIFA-approved schedule would fundamentally alter the essence of MLS.  Immediately American soccer would be another soccer league competing directly with other international leagues, and if ESPN/FSC numbers are any indication, that’s a losing proposition.  Everyone but the most hardcore MLS fans would ignore the league.  And as anyone who watches Sportscenter knows, which honestly and unfortunately dictates the American sports conversation, September through February is all NFL.  Any hope of standing out and attracting attention from the casual sports fan is lost, and MLS would have to hope to attract European soccer fans.  But with their own leagues running concurrently, that is another losing proposition.

Lost amid other American sports and other leagues, MLS would simply be a niche sport like Major League Lacrosse.  And the ability to attract big-name international stars would decrease.  Think it’s a hard decision for Landon Donovan now to play in the EPL?  Imagine if he had to choose between Everton and the Galaxy and could only pick one.  Same for a Ronaldinho, who would wait until he was absolutely out of options in Europe before moving the U.S.  The big-name designated players would be older and closer to retirement than they are now.

The World Cup is an exciting thing, something that can bring immense international attention and money to the United States, as well as make even casual sports fans pay attention to soccer.  But the cost to MLS if they had to compromise on their schedule would be huge.  MLS has to decide if it wants to become just another league in a sea of soccer leagues around the world, or if it wants to establish its own niche in the world and continue to grow.

Today, the US returns to the country where four months ago they experienced greatness and disappointment, and are once again being led there by Bob Bradley.  This time the stakes are much lower, as the team is playing a midweek friendly with their B- or C-team.  On its face, this match should only merit passing mention before focusing on the MLS Cup this weekend and the newly-announced Chilean friendly next January.  But this is an important match for a number of reasons, and the US does have a bar to clear for this trip to be deemed a success.

The most obvious subplot is the political one.  The vote counting is beginning, and despite having a lead in the 2022 World Cup race, the U.S. needs to lock up some votes and have the US Bid leaders spend quality time with African delegates.  So the main point of this match is obviously political.

But Bob Bradley has some scouting to do during this match.  As has been noted here, he has a very young squad with six players playing in their first U.S. match.  The average age of the squad overall is 24 years old, so this is not an experienced team.  But the experienced players, who themselves were inexperienced players during the World Cup, now have the chance to prove their leadership ability.  Bob Bradley will be looking at players like Clarence Goodson to see if they can lead by example off and on the pitch; for the players it’s a chance to show not only their talent but their intangibles, the kind of intangibles that can help them make the 2011 team over youngsters.

Some of the players are looking for redemption or a second chance to impress.  Robbie Findley is the most experienced forward on the team and could earn the start today.  If so, it would be his chance to improve his play from the World Cup, which was less than impressive.  MLS players like Eddie Gaven and Nat Borchers have a chance to impress and show they do have a role on this team going forward, despite not playing in the World Cup or being pressured by younger, more hyped players.

And of course all attention will be on the Rookie Six.  While the four dual-nationality players chose to play for the U.S., they are not officially capped until they play in a qualifier.  So this match is a chance for them to spend time with Bradley’s staff and the team, get a feel for the atmosphere, and hopefully cement their decision to represent the U.S.  It’s also the opportunity for them to begin positioning themselves for playing time in the near future; a guy like Juan Agudelo fills a position of need on the team and could seriously challenge for minutes in 2014, if not 2012.  And of course, it’s a good first chance to prove they are not high-profile busts, a Freddy Adu type that comes in excessively hyped but falls out of favor with the staff.

So don’t discount this match as a pointless friendly, and keep an eye on the players today as they face South Africa.

As everyone is well aware, Chicago’s hopes of landing the 2016 Summer Olympic Games came crashing back to Earth last week with a thud. You can place the blame wherever you please, many people are, but you can’t deny that it comes as a blow to our collective sporting ego. It’s at this time that we must accept the fact that Rio simply put forth a superior bid and redouble our efforts to land the World Cup — the world’s largest sporting event — in either 2018 or 2022.

In 1994 the United States, a nation which was still very much in it’s soccer infancy, hosted the most profitable and most attended World Cup of all-time, a pair of record which still stand in October 2009. In 1994 we lacked many adequate stadia to host the event and FIFA bent it’s rules to allow certain venues to host matches, this is a problem we no longer have to worry about, in fact, we have a plethora of world-class venues capable of hosting World Cup football, and with the boom in construction of soccer-specific stadia, many cities are blessed with superb training venues.

While the loss of a potential Olympics in Chicago comes as a blow, it’s not a complete loss. Hosting the Olympics is often a money-losing endeavor, while the 1994 World Cup proved to be the opposite and injected over $4 billion into the nation’s economy, including roughly $500 million in Greater L.A. — site of the final — alone, along with creating thousands of temporary jobs in the hospitality and service industries. With this in mind it should come as no surprise that twenty-seven cities (thirty-two stadiums) have come forth in declaring their interest to host matches should an American bid be successful. Among those cities are Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Nashville, cities that would’ve never dreamed of hosting matches in 1994 are hungry to be involved in a future bid, and indeed the stadiums in Charlotte and Nashville were built with that exact goal in mind.

So, while some of us may upset at Chicago’s loss, and some may be celebrating it, it’s time that band together as a nation and put together a national show we can be proud of, and that’s exactly what a successful World Cup bid would be.

Major League Soccer

A common complaint about Major League Soccer is its failure or unwillingness to observe FIFA International breaks. As recently as this month we have seen MLS matches played at the same time as crucial World Cup Qualifiers involving the United States National Team, this despite earlier indications from MLS that the League was going to pay closer attention to these FIFA breaks during the 2009 season. While frustrating, this attitude by MLS towards the FIFA breaks is not surprising since, historically, MLS does not suspend its season during the World Cup finals.

Today there was finally some good news for those of us who have criticized MLS and its stubbornness when it comes to the FIFA breaks, MLS has announced that it would suspend its 2010 season during the two week group stage portion of the 2010 World Cup finals. Additionally, MLS will not schedule any matches on the same days that the South Africa 2010 semifinals and finals will be played. While this is not a total victory for those of us that would prefer to see MLS suspend all league action during the World Cup finals, it is a positive, and realistic, step forward for the League, which was criticized earlier this year by FIFA President Sepp Blatter for not following the traditional European club schedule of a fall-winter-spring season.

Admittedly, suspending the league season through the entire World Cup finals would affect the match fitness of MLS players not playing on the US National Team, and would create scheduling headaches for MLS clubs that share their stadiums with high school, college, and/or professional thowball teams.

If marketed right by MLS and ESPN, the league hiatus could work to the League’s advantage in attracting newly minted football fans. The first two weeks of the World Cup finals are an utter football orgy, but the number of daily matches starts to drop after the knockout stage. New fans looking to learn more about the game might be more willing to seek out their local MLS side or MLS matches on ESPN2 or Fox Soccer Channel once the group and knockout stages have taken place. Additionally, after the group stage the possibility of MLS matches conflicting with U.S. National Team matches drops exponentially. Should the U.S. National Team go on a shocking run, there won’t be any conflicts during the semifinals and finals.

Finally, this acknowledgement of the World Cup finals is a smart move by MLS in the sense of supporting the United States’ bid to bring the World Cup finals back to the States in 2018 or 2022. The last thing the bid committee needs to deal with is having its competition argue that the U.S. does not deserve to host the finals since its Top Flight League’s schedule plays on as if the World Cup finals are not occurring.

The other important news coming out of MLS headquarters today is that, for the first time in MLS’s short history, the 2010 season will be a balanced season. Each team will play 30 matches in 2010, meaning one home and one away match against every other team in the League. This move is another step that should satisfy football purists and followers of the European leagues who have previously ridiculed the MLS season as not really counting since it wasn’t balanced.

I for one applaud MLS for making these scheduling moves. These are small steps, but it is by making such small steps that MLS manages to improve its product and survive financially.

- As a follow up to a recent article I posted here regarding Vincenzo Bernardo, MLS’s transfer window has closed without seeing the young Italian-American sign on with an MLS club; however, there has been some chatter lately about the possibility of Bernardo joining the expansion side Philadelphia Union for the 2010 season. This would be a good move for both the new side and the New Jersey native. Signing Bernardo would give the Union good press in regards to obtaining the services of a young American who has trained in Europe and would create an immediate connection to the strong football fan base in New Jersey.