US Soccer Head Carlos Cordeio Mired In Controversy — From The Fight For Equal Pay To Mispronouncing Megan Rapinoe's Name
He's mired in demands for equal pay for the USWNT.
Getty The President of United States Soccer Federation should be on top of the world right now. After all, the U.S. National Women's team just demolished every team in the World Cup on their way to a fourth World Cup Championship. That's definitely worth celebrating. Except there's that whole pesky equal pay thing. The women are basically paid a pittance compared to the men. And the women's team crushes it while the men's team...well, I saw a meme going around that summed it up aptly. It said: "So now it's soccer and men's soccer right?" To be sure, the head of the USSF is between the proverbial rock and hard place. Who is Carlos Cordiero?
1. His background
Carlos Cordeiro was born in Bombay, India to a Colombia mother and an Indo-Portuguese father. He moved to Miami, Florida when he was 15. He got his bachelor's and MBA at Harvard. He was a partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and an independent director at BHP Billiton before joining the USSF in 2007 as an independent director. He became treasurer of the USSF in 2008 and vice president in 2016. Cordeiro did not pay soccer past high school.
2. His speech was drowned out
During his speech Wednesday at the ceremony for the U.S. women's World Cup ticker-tape parade in New York City, Cordeiro congratulated the team and talked about how the U.S. has invested more in women's soccer than any other nation. Oooops. He said, "And we will continue to invest..." and the crowd erupted into boos and started chanting "Equal pay!" "Pay them!" and "Pay gap!" Some of the more fired up spectators yelled, "Get off the stage."
3. He mispronounced Megan Rapinoe's name
So you're head of the USSF and Megan Rapinoe is your biggest star and you can't be bothered to learn how to pronounce her last name correctly? Rapinoe, ever the class act, shrugged it off and started to dance which effectively distracted the riled up crowd from Cordeiro's gaffe.
4. Still, she had his back
After Cordeiro mispronounced her last name, Megan Rapinoe still had his back and did her best to quell the crowd during her speech. She said: “I’m going to stick my neck out there a little bit, I’m going to endorse Carlos. I think he’s with us. I think he’s on the right side of things. I think he’s going to make things right." For what it's worth, Cordeiro echoed that statement, saying: "On behalf of all of us at U.S. Soccer, I want to say, we hear you, we believe in you, and we're committed to doing right by you ... Together, I believe we can get this done."
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.