Obama felicitates US women’s soccer team at the White House.
By Sreekanth Nair
US President Barack Obama praised Sunil Gulati, the President of the US Soccer Federation (USSF), while welcoming the World Cup winning US women’s soccer team at the White House.
The US women’s team won the World Cup beating Japan, this past July.
“I want to recognize a lot of people who made these incredibly talented women — put them in a position to be able to showcase their talent so effectively. First of all, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. Please give him a big round of applause,” Obama said, according to a press release.
Gulati, a senior lecturer in the economics department of Columbia University, was born in Allahabad, India. His family moved to Connecticut when he was five years old.
In March, 2014, Gulati was unanimously re-elected to a record third four-year term as USSF president; having been elected initially in 2006 and re-elected again in 2010. On April 19, 2013, he was also elected to a four-year term on the FIFA Executive Committee.
Obama congratulated the women’s team for their tremendous effort.
“These champions deserve all the attention that they’ve been getting. After 16 long years, too many heartbreaks, they flew north to put America back on top of the soccer world. And they did it in style. It was a victory that took all 23 players. It took Christie Rampone’s leadership, Alex Morgan’s playmaking, Heather O’Reilly’s game face. It took Becky Sauerbrunn’s quiet dominance. And Abby Wambach’s not-so-quiet dominance,” said Obama.
Obama also praised team coach Jill Ellis, calling him ‘outstanding coach.’