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Carlos Cordeiro Elected United States Soccer Federation President

Published

8 years ago

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With 68.6% of the vote, Carlos Cordeiro has been elected the new president of the United States Soccer Federation in a record attendance at the 102nd National Council Meeting at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld.

“Obviously, it’s a true honor to be here and occupying this seat. I’m very, very excited for what I’m looking out at — a huge numbers of opportunities,” Cordeiro said. “Maybe I’ll start by thanking the seven other candidates. This was a very spirited campaign, lots of good issues were surfaced. The membership was more engaged than in any time in contemporary history.

“I think we are at an inflection point in soccer history in this country. I think we have an opportunity to really transform it into a number one sport — there’s a reason why millennials really identify with soccer.”

One of the hot topics coming into the election was the number of candidates. Questions were asked if it was too many and if that would take away from the two favorites — Kathy Carter and Cordeiro — but, despite losing, Hope Solo thought the exact opposite.

“At the end of the day it was a good thing to have eight candidates in the race,” Solo said. “Many people thought that perhaps it would pull votes in different directions but I think what you saw throughout the last couple of weeks is people get educated and all we can do now is have a wake-up call.”

In his speech before the voting began, the former vice president tried to adhere to the change movement. “We are all here for the same reason and we need to come together. U.S. soccer needs to change.” Cordeiro also said that the U.S. Soccer budget needs to increase so that it matches that of the biggest soccer countries in the world.

The most important thing is for everyone to come together, but he also said that it is vital that the U.S. wins the bid for the World Cup. As for the World Cup bid, Sunil Gulati talked before the voting about it, saying that we need to be unified to win it. According to Gulati, the only reason why the World Cup should not go to North America is because of the perceptions of the country, naming political reasons. He cited issues such as trouble obtaining visas and the wall, but Cordeiro was confident that the joint North American bid will win it.

“Our priority as a federation is securing the World Cup in 2026,” the new president said. “We start with a meeting on Tuesday morning with Canada and Mexico and we will be planning out the remaining 120 days of that campaign.”

Eric Wynalda, who spoke before Cordeiro, said much of the same. He said that we “need to stop fighting with each other and fight together [in order to become a] soccer nation. We all want the same thing. We only have a future if we do it together.” Wynalda and Paul Caligiuri were the only candidates who did not speak to media after the election.

Cordeiro also talked about the need for the country to become more inclusive and said he will work on creating a soccer country that has equal treatment between the men and women, as well as improving the grassroots program.

When the vote started there was complete silence. Then, after a few seconds, a murmur went out among the crowd as there was some difficulty with the voting. Voters placed their votes but their keypads still told them to place their vote. Before the first round of voting was finished there had to be a reset because only 411 of the 507 votes were in. To some boos, a second voting for the first ballot took place and there was no winner.

Carter and Cordeiro led with 35% and 36%, respectively. Getting less than one percent of the votes, Caligiuri dropped out after the first round. After the first round of voting, most of the candidates were surprised at how it was going.

After the second round of voting it was the same story. Carter and Cordeiro led, with Cordeiro gaining up to 42% of the votes. Michael Winograd dropped out of the race after he failed to receive a single vote in the second round, and Steve Gans also dropped out.

The third round of voting was all it took and Cordeiro became the new president with almost 69% of the vote.

“There’s a valid victor,” said Gans after the election. “We were a little surprised at how it went but those are the numbers.” He added that he was disappointed that the Athlete Council threw all its support as a bloc to Cordeiro.

Following the election was “For the Good of the Game,” where anybody could come up and take the mic. What then came was many thanks to Gulati for everything that he has done. While it was certainly Gulati’s time to leave, he has done a tremendous job in his work as president. The United States women’s team is the best in the world, MLS has grown, the NWSL is stable, a World Cup is about to (hopefully) come to the U.S. and soccer in this country has grown since he took office. There were also plenty of wishes of congratulations to the new president and good luck wishes to him.

“The tough thing about politics is that the unthinkable can happen,” Kyle Martino said. “What we wanted was unity and, even if the vote wasn’t what people were hoping for, we saw a lot of unity.”

All of the losing candidates were disappointed that they did not win, but reactions differed from each candidate. Solo was upset with the process but not surprised by the results. She called out members of the Athlete Council for voting as a bloc and called Brad Guzan and Jonathan Spector out by name for not showing up at all (both had preseason games with their MLS teams today). In total, 12 of the 20 members were present.

“I’m not surprised. I knew it was going to be very difficult to overthrow the establishment,” Solo said. “We’re here to stay. Obviously I filed the complaint and that’s not going away any time soon. With Carlos at the helm, he knows we have a very serious complaint and it could go all the way to federal courts.

“I am very disappointed in the Athlete’s Council. I think all of us are, especially Paul Caligiuri, who sat on the Athlete’s Council. But I’m not surprised because they’re under pressure and some athletes time and time and time again crack under pressure. With the bloc vote from the Athlete Council it was very disheartening.”

Stu Holden defended the athletes, though. He said all the candidates engaged in conversation last night either in person or on a conference call. Holden also said that the athletes only had three candidates that they were seriously looking at. Although he wouldn’t say who the three candidates were, he did say that the candidates that he personally liked best were Carter, Martino, and Cordeiro.

“I think that it was more important than ever to show that as an Athletes Council we were united. It just felt that at this moment in time that Carlos was the most qualified across the board,” said Holden. “This is the largest turnout that the athletes ever had. I see that Brad Guzan and Jonathan Spector are catching some flak; both of them had commitments to their club and can’t dictate to their employer when they are available.”

Spector was busy helping Orlando City to a 4-1 win against Minnesota United.

Carter was upset she did not win but was happy overall with the result. She said “the game won today” and is looking forward to all the positive changes that are about to take place.

“We are going to get behind Carlos as our next president and I think our game is going to evolve,” said Carter. “[Cordeiro] is going to be great for the game and I think we have to put soccer back and make U.S. soccer even better.”

While there are many questions following the election, one that needs to be addressed rather quickly is who will be the next vice president, as a VP must be in position by the next National Council Meeting. Many candidates were asked if they would be interested in the position but only one sees it as an option.

“I enjoyed this. I got involved to help make U.S. soccer better. I think this election brought to light a lot of the issues,” said Winograd. “I hope to be involved going forward, to continue to make this game better. I’m not declaring for the VP race [yet], we’ll have to see how things shake out, but I would definitely like to be involved.”

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

4 days ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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