Gulati backs Klinsmann after MLS dispute

By Simon Evans
U.S. national soccer team coach Juergen Klinsmann answers a question during a news conference at the team's training center in Sao Paulo, June 27, 2014. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

By Simon Evans BRIDGETOWN Barbados (Reuters) - Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation, has given his backing to head coach Juergen Klinsmann after the row over American players returning to MLS. Klinsmann's comments expressing concern over the form of players, such as Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey, who have left European clubs to come back to MLS, brought a sharp rebuke from MLS commissioner Don Garber last week. On Wednesday, Garber said in an interview with Reuters that there was no rift between the two and nothing personal in the disagreement and Gulati says he agrees that both the league and the federation will continue to work closely together. “Juergen is our coach and technical director, and I fully expect that to be the case through to the 2018 World Cup. "We made that decision before this year's World Cup and have full confidence in him in those roles," he told the Washington Post. "None of this is personal," Gulati said. "Some things could have been phrased differently because the actual opinions of the two guys -- and me and the leadership at MLS and U.S. Soccer -- is actually closely aligned with where we see the game going." Gulati said the close working relationship between the league and the federation in the U.S. is actually better than in many countries. "There are very few situations where the national team program or a federation is as aligned as closely with their first division as we have got in the United States," he added. Klinsmann had described the debate around his comments as "pretty cool" noting that such arguments were common in football worldwide but Garber has indicated it is time for the discussion to move out of the public domain. Gulati agreed. "I don’t think there is anything wrong with discussion, dialogue and disagreement. Most of that is better handled in a private way. Having these sorts of discussions are fine, but we need to have the tone of all of this brought down a little bit." (Edited by Mike Collett)