Mark Franek shares his story Yanks on a Roll (adapted from Chapter 19 of American Soccer Nation) in The Blizzard, the acclaimed long-form quarterly founded by Jonathan Wilson in 2011. Yanks on a Roll examines the USMNT’s performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Lionel Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami, the continued expansion of MLS, and the buildup to the 2026 World Cup.
YANKS ON A ROLL
“I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan. I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
– Kobe Bryant
IN A BOOK ABOUT the history of U.S. soccer it would be remiss not to mention a corpulent Yank known in FIFA circles as “Mr. Ten Percent.” Back in 1990, Chuck Blazer slipped an outrageous provision into his original contract as CONCACAF’s general secretary, entitling him to a one-tenth cut of all future media deals. For over two decades, Blazer broadly interpreted and vigorously applied this provision, with impunity. Blazer, together with his slithy Trinidadian compatriot, Jack Warner, CONCACAF president (1990 to 2011), used their FIFA power and connections to bilk the soccer world out of millions of dollars.
During the FIFA gravy train, Blazer maintained CONCACAF’s main office and two private apartments in New York City’s Trump Tower. Blazer, according to friends, was often content to roll out of bed and conduct Fifa business in his underwear instead of taking the elevator to the office. The only eyewitnesses to the crimes piling up were Chuck’s cats, which lounged in their own adjacent apartment. Never was an expansive view of Central Park—and an accommodating maid for all the torpid occupants —less appreciated. FIFA, of course, picked up all the bills. The Blazer-Warner suction machine purred along for nearly two decades until the FBI started digging, eventually catching Blazer for income tax evasion. It’s hard to imagine a more pathetic and morally corrupt duo in world football.”
