since u are comparing solo to Yao, i dont follow girl sports, but is Solo the team's franchise player? if she aint than she has no right to say those things about her coach.
Because of the success of the women team, Brazil's Football Association decided to set up a national league there. Marta is only 21. Looks like they will dominate the sport for next decade! http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/234298/Brazilian_women_fighting_prejudice_with_football
The reason Greg Ryan gave is that Scurry is better at quick, reaction-type saves, which he thought would be necessary against a team that plays like Brazil. And, as you suspected: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070926...p_us_brazil;_ylt=AmSa7hovEDeG_jZkCEhVBwl2yLQF
It was a coaching blunder of epic proportions. If Scurry was going to play, the coach should have gotten her some run in the other games. The US was outclassed, and Scurry, stunk. DD
That may be the reason he gave to the public, but he did it because she was 12-0 career against Brazil. "The Brazil Stopper" Besides, aren't ALL shots stopped because of quick, reaction-type saves? If Scurry was honestly quicker with better reaction (and with just as much size as Hope), why wasn't she the #1 GK? Fact is, she's washed up and Ryan made an major blunder. Not just in handicapping the keeper spot (2 of those goals were stoppable), but dosing the team chemistry with ice water. The starters had really jelled, and Solo was not the only one who hated the decision. A lot of commenters remarked on the entire team looking dull and lifeless. Evan
Perhaps "right" is the wrong wording. I'll rather say that her reaction is both understandable and not worth chastizement or retaliation given the circumstances. Should she have said it? Probably not. Would I have done the same thing in her shoes? Probably. I have nothing against Scurry. I'm just saying I would understand if Solo did. If this is truly supposed to be about the TEAM and not a single person, then Scurry should have spoken up and said that Solo deserved the nod instead of her. I don't know if I'd call her a "franchise" player, but it's pretty hard to win a game without an outstanding goalkeeper. Often the goalkeeper is the "coach" on the field, so the importance of the position extends beyond pure athleticism.
Like someone else said, this ain't baseball. You don't have specialists in soccer. Either a keeper is better or not. Solo was clearly better. Who cares what Scurry's career record is against Brazil. Her good years are long gone. I saw the highlights. They weren't great goals, except for Marta's last one (that was world class). The own goal could have been prevented. The second goal was completely save-able. A quicker keeper (solo) would have made that save.
Scurry had this quote about the own goal. Two things I don't like about that, they both amount to the same thing. That isn't the defender's area, that is the keeper's area. Anything in the box is the keeper's area, if you can't call her off (I don't even think she tried) then knock her out of the way. The own goal is a result of the keeper and defense not communicating.
Shots per se are often stopped for that reason, without question, but there are a lot of other elements to goalkeeping - distribution, communication, size/leaping ability/aggressiveness to snag corners and crosses before they even become shots, knowing when not to go after those crosses that you aren't going to get to, hanging on to the ball after you save it....
Damn - I never thought a thread on freaking women's soccer would get to 3 pages. And the thing is most of the posts are actual serious discussions about the game instead of posting random pics of the various players!!
i would make passionate love to #14. In related news, Hope was exiled. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/09/29/solo.women.ap/ September 29, 2007 -- Updated 1017 GMT (1817 HKT) Solo exiled by U.S. after outburstStory Highlights SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Outspoken goalkeeper Hope Solo will not be with the United States team for Sunday's third-place playoff against Norway in the Women's World Cup. Hope Solo watches from the U.S. bench after being dropped for the 4-0 defeat by Brazil. Coach Greg Ryan announced the decision just two days after Solo went public and criticized him for benching her for the semifinal defeat by Brazil. Ryan replaced Solo -- who had started every match -- with 36-year-old veteran Briana Scurry, but Brazil still overwhelmed the top-ranked Americans 4-0. "We have moved forward with 20 players who have stood by each other, who have battled for each other," Ryan said. "And when the hard times came -- and the Brazil game was a hard time -- they stood strong. Now it's the 20 who have stuck together who will be ready to go out and compete against Norway." Defending champions Germany will later face Brazil in Sunday's final. The Brazil loss marked the second straight time the United States has fallen in the semifinals of a Women's World Cup, failing to repeat titles of 1991 and 1999. Solo, 25, in a widely-seen interview, said Ryan had made the "wrong decision" by benching her. Don't Miss USA and Germany march into semis U.S. make last-eight England date Wambach's double lifts U.S. women U.S. held by North Korea in opener She also said she would have made the saves, an open criticism of Scurry who led the United States to the 1999 title and gold in the 2004 Olympics -- and who will again start against Norway. Captain Kristine Lilly and star striker Abby Wambach said Solo apologized at a team meeting. And on her myspace Web site page, Solo said she did not mean to criticize Scurry. However, she maintained Ryan's decision was wrong. The goalkeeping flap has turned an otherwise placid World Cup into one spiced with controversy, boosting its visibility in the United States. The third-place game also takes on more significance. "This is our chance to get back on the field and show our country and our fans how we can play soccer," Lilly said. "That's really what's important for this group right now." Wambach, who has four goals in the World Cup, called the controversy "uncharted territory" for the U.S. women, who were unbeaten in their first four games: a draw with North Korea, and wins over Sweden, Nigeria and England. "It just goes to show you have to be professional all the time and you have to watch what you say," Wambach said. Ryan said Solo would not be in the squad to face Norway, and would not attend the game. Team officials said Saturday she remained in China, making it likely she will return with the team. Ryan said he made the decision to leave Solo off the team after meeting with "team leaders." "The circumstance that happened and her going public has affected the whole group," said Lilly, the 36-year-old striker who is playing in a record fifth World Cup. "And having her with us would still be a distraction." Ryan and Wambach said Solo may still have a future with the U.S. team, but Ryan has suggested the position is deep with young players coming up. "Everybody has a potential to have a future with this team," Ryan said. "I think what's got to occur is reconciliation and that is a very slow process." "She's made a mistake and she knows that," Ryan added. "Believe me, I've made a tons of mistakes in my life -- bigger than Hope's." In her interview after Thursday's loss, Solo said: "It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. ... You have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past." Ryan's future is also up in the air. The United States were unbeaten in 51 straight games before the Brazil loss, but the lopsided defeat and Ryan's decision to switch keepers -- Solo had not allowed a goal in almost 300 minutes -- makes it unclear if he will be retained. Sunil Gulati, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said on Saturday that Ryan's contract was up at the end of the year. He did not say if Ryan would coach the team in next year's Beijing Olympics. "In all events like this ... we do a pretty quick analysis of what's happened; what's gone well, what's not gone well," Gulati said. "That will happen even more quickly in this case," he added. "We'll analyze this situation after tomorrow. We've already starting analyzing it." E-mail to a friend
