IMOTGP Commentary: Why you need to root against the U.S. women's team lawsuit!

It has made international news that the U.S. women's team is filing a wage-discrimination complaint against the U.S. soccer federation for equal pay.  Carli Lloyd has eloquently laid out her argument in the above essay, saying the team has won three World Cups and generated $17.7 million of revenue for the federation.

The official position of the IMOTGP blog is that the U.S. women are right in that there needs to be fairer pay for them as far as appearances, matches, etc. etc. But that doesn't mean that we want the U.S. women to win the lawsuit. That's far from the case. Why?

Folks, there's a looming threat here in the United States as far as football and it is evident to us all - Jurgen Klinsmann is sinking the men's team to horrific depths.Why does this matter for the women?

Well there's an obvious point here. Klinsmann is signed as the coach through the 2018 World Cup and is also the technical director. USSF tax returns show that Klinsmann makes nearly $2.5 million. In comparison, women's coach Jill Ellis has an annual base salary of somewhere between $185,000 and $225,000. In fact, Klinsmann's top assistant may make more than the women's coach. But again, why does this matter?

It matters because we have a pressing appointment this summer for the men in Copa Centenario while the women play in the Rio Olympics later on. The U.S. is a horrible team that has to face Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay. The expectation from most football experts is that the U.S. men will embarrass themselves on home soil. Meanwhile, the U.S. women will probably win gold in football-mad Brazil to further prove their point.

As big as club football is in the United States, the men's team has a very high profile to even non-football fans and a flop in the summer would hurt the sport here. It will be obvious that the women deserve higher payments - which should be the case. That also means that it will be very difficult for the federation to buy out Klinsmann's remaining two years - don't believe the laughable rumors that he'll somehow coach Everton, this is our problem.. Which means we are stuck with him through the 2018 World Cup, where you can expect another abject display in which opponents shoot 20-25 times at our goal per match.

It all adds up to an awful situation if these coaches' salaries come up in the discussion. It's why the IMOTGP blog is siding with the federation over the U.S. women so we can get rid of our biggest enemy - Jurgen Klinsmann!

This has been an IMOTGP commentary. The views expressed here are solely that of this blog and are not endorsed by Google.