Cordeiro admitted he did not review the controversial court documents filed in the equal pay casegetty images
U.S.Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro resigned from his position on Thursday night, effective immediately, following an "intense backlash from players and executives" over a letter written last week regarding equal pay compensation for the USWNT, according to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN.com. The issue "began with court filings in the equal pay lawsuit that disparaged players" on the USWNT. The filings "claimed that the women 'do not perform equal work requiring equal skill (and) effort' to the men." During a conference call Thursday with the USSF BOD, Cordeiro "determined he would resign." He will be replaced by USSF VP Cindy Parlow Cone. Cordeiro "admitted he didn't review the controversial court documents filed by federation attorneys on Monday, and he took responsibility for not doing so." The criticism against Cordeiro and the USSF was "intense, wide-ranging and lasted all week." In the USWNT's match against Japan at the SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday, the team "wore their training gear inside out" to hide the USSF crest. During a postgame interview, USWNT F Megan Rapinoe "blasted USSF's language and approach" (ESPN.com, 3/12).
NOT A GOOD LOOK: In N.Y., Kevin Draper writes the "backlash was furious, and not just from the players." Five of the USSF's biggest sponsors -- Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Budweiser, Visa and Deloitte -- "condemned the federation's legal tactics." Volkswagen said that it was "disgusted" by the positions taken, calling them "simply unacceptable." Three members of USSF's BOD "publicly condemned the organization's comments." MLS Commissioner Don Garber said that he had "personally expressed to Cordeiro 'how unacceptable and offensive I found the statements in that filing to be" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/13). ESPN's Taylor Twellman said Codeiro's resignation "almost seemed ... inevitable" when combining the fractured relationship between the USSF and the USWNT, along with sponsors "coming out to have their way" with the organization. However, he said, "This doesn't mean it's fixed, and that's my biggest concern" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/13).
EMPTY WORDS? In Philadelphia, Jonathan Tannenwald writes from the moment Cordeiro took the job, he "became a public face of U.S. Soccer's defense against the lawsuit." He also was "the face of some good things," such as winning the '26 men's World Cup bid and hiring USSF Sporting Dir Earnie Stewart and USWNT GM Kate Markgraf, but the "lawsuit was the biggest deal." Cordeiro was "regularly booed and heckled by fans" at USWNT games. During the game on Wednesday, he "issued an apology," but fans "didn't buy any of Cordeiro's defenses" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/13).
SHEDDING A LIGHT: SI.com's Grant Wahl wrote Cordeiro's resignation culminated a "historically traumatic week for American soccer." It was an "unconscionably offensive legal strategy for U.S. Soccer to take during the USWNT players' gender-discrimination case against the federation, and it brazenly put into writing for posterity the discrimination that the USWNT had sensed for decades." Cone will have a "stiff challenge ahead." She will "need to arrest the utter dysfunction that has surrounded U.S. Soccer for years now, to say nothing of repairing a relationship with the USWNT that has deteriorated beyond recognition." Wahl wrote it is "important to note that the disaster at U.S. Soccer is not new, and it is not confined to Cordeiro." Wahl: "A culture of misogyny has permeated the U.S. Soccer board of directors for decades now" (SI.com, 3/12). In L.A., Kevin Baxter noted the USWNT's case against the Federation is "one of at least five major legal challenges U.S. Soccer is facing, among them an antitrust claim from soccer promoter Relevent Sports." The Federation also is "operating without a CEO or chief commercial officer following the retirement of Dan Flynn and the resignation of Jay Berhalter." Baxter: "Cone will inherit an organization in disarray" (L.A. TIMES, 3/13).
