U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati reponded to comments by Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid in the
Gulati told Avi Creditor: “Sigi’s comments are completely inappropriate and frankly quiteoffensive. The fact that you lose a few coin flips in a row, that can happen, and that’s what’s happened here. To imply any kind of conspiracy against Seattle or in favor of D.C. or Kansas City isnonsense.
“In the same set of comments, Sigi points out that he’s been a part of three finals when he hosted a game, including the last two in Seattle. It’s nonsense.”
Schmidstirred the pot by offering that there is not enough transparency in the coin flip process to determine host sites, a new wrinkle in the tournament this year after teams previously bid for the rightto host Open Cup matches.