USA Soccer To Vote Against Sepp Blatter In FIFA Presidential Election

The United States Soccer Federation is firmly in the “anyone but Sepp Blatter” camp.

U.S. Soccer intends to vote against Blatter in FIFA’s presidential election Friday, according to Sam Borden of the New York Times.

“Gulati will instruct the United States delegate to vote against the longtime incumbent, Sepp Blatter, and vote instead for the only other candidate, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan,” Borden wrote Thursday.

Blatter, 79, is expected to win a fifth term as leader of world soccer’s governing body, despite the arrest of several high-ranking FIFA officials on corruption, bribery and other serious charges.

U.S. Soccer voted for Blatter in the 2011 election, but scandals new and old have convinced Gulati to withdraw the federation’s support and back the underdog al-Hussein.

“We like many of the things he stands for and has done,” Gulati told the New York Times. “Being on the wrong side of an election result -– if that’s what happens –- is not necessarily being on the wrong side. If you are serious about change, you have to be willing to push for it.”