Grey Ryan drops Hope Solo for Briana Scurry, sows seeds of USA’s World Cup defeat
When Greg Ryan, the MacGyveresque head coach of America’s women, chose to ‘bench’ goalkeeper Hope Solo, who had kept three consecutive clean sheets, he sowed the seeds of his team’s first defeat in three years. You just don’t mess with success, and Ryan’s crazy decision to drop the in-form Solo and bring in veteran Briana Scurry (pictured), was the perfect way to unsettle a settled team.
Ryan’s reasoning that Scurry played a blinder against Brazil several years ago is a classic example of an insecure coach out-thinking himself. The US may not have been in great form, but they were in the semis – there was no tactical masterstroke needed, and Scurry’s inclusion merely served to unsettle the ten players in front of her. Scurry had a poor game too, and should have done better with two of Brazil’s four goals.
Hope Solo (pictured) looked miserable and pissed off throughout the game, and afterwards she ripped into Ryan:
‘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. And the fact of the matter is, it’s not 2004 anymore. It’s not 2004. And it’s 2007 and I think you have to live in the present and you can’t live by big names. You can’t live in the past. It doesn’t matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold-medal game in the Olympics three years ago. Now is what matters.’
Ouch.
I wouldn’t usually condone a player coming out and having a public bitch, but Solo has a valid point – she was in the form of her life, but now she’ll forever wonder if she could have been part of the team that won the 2007 World Cup… tough break and now Ryan should step down.
More on the Women’s World Cup over at Kickster
Hope Solo. Not only one of the finest fillies to guard the sticks but one of the finest names to grace the beautiful game to boot. What was Greg Ryan thinking?
It wouldn’t have made any difference. Brazil dominated the game from start to finish. Maybe the final scoreline would have read 2-0 instead of 4-0, but that’s still a loss. She can bitch all she wants, but the entire team was rather poor, not just the keeper.
Fair point Adam, but perhaps USA would have defended that corner with more confidence with Solo in goal?
Well said Adam. You actually WATCHTED the game. Others did not really watch, they dreamt about Solo.
It was NOT the keeper, it was the whole team. They were totally out played, could not keep up, and the Brazilians were much too skillful on the ball for the defence. Any keeper (Solo included) would be in trouble when the attack cannot be stopped.
The referee made things worse by wrongfully sending off Boxx.
The commentators and others could not go past the keeper switch and thus MISSED what was actually going on on the field.
In the end, I think it’ll do the US women some good. Not having lost for three years has destroyed any sense of perspective from commentators and pundits, and I think most of the keeper discussion is just a knee jerk reaction to actually losing, so they look for a scape goat. And it’s not like Scurry is a bad keeper, like they found some schlep on a corner and threw a green jersey on her.
Ollie -
I can’t say for sure about the corner. My only experience playing football is for my school team, and we didn’t worry so much about who was in goal, we played at pretty much the same level all the time :)
So I can’t really say how much confidence would affect something like that. My intuition would lead me to believe that lack-of-confidence in a keeper would lead to BETTER defending (since you’re trying to make up the slack and are more concentrated), but I really don’t know.
Poor decision, but I wasn’t complaining, I was supporting Brazil all the time.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Brazil go at USA the way they did, USA simply had no answer to a team bombarding them as Brazil did. They seemed totally clueless as to how to proceed against such a relentlessly attacking opposition.
The change in goalie is inadequate for excusing a 4-0 defeat. For example, Scurry’s supposed failure with the final goal came after the USA defence allowed Marta to perform the Nutcracker around them before taking her shot.
A change in keeper definitely affects the team.
It is a position that is unique and not only it affects the confidence of the team, and hence it performance, but the features of the keeper can affect the way the rest of the team should/will play.
Maybe the result was not affected by the change but that is something we will never know.
I personally think that Scurry was to blame for the second goal. She clearly does not have the same response speed she had when she was younger, and she was not closing the angle properly.
I also do not know what the defender that put in the own goal was thinking, but it would be reasonable to believe that she went for that ball because she had no confidence on Scurry being able to get to it.
Whatever might have been the outcome, you just do not make changes to such an important position without a very solid reason and I do not think the US coach gave one.
Anyway, I think the most important factor in that game was the sending off of Boxx for absolutely no reason. At this level we would expect coaches and referees to have a little more common sense.
The goalie switch was a horrendous mistake that opened the flood gates for how Ryan’s team has played all tournament. From the 3-4-3 against NK, to the reluctance to use subs, to the inability to formulate a plan that allowed them to hold the midfield against any team and then to the subbing on of 2 defensive players when down 2 goals including one who only had a single cap before this- Ryan made a mess of it. The crux of the issue is that the US was overly reliant on the long ball up to Abby all tournament and lo and behold in an interview on the FIFA website he talked about how the direct game was the only way to cope with growing parity in the womens game. Ryan was over matched, over thought and he is not going to take this team forward so he should be sacked so someone else can try or at least not crack and make lunatic decisions before important games.
Scurry besides not likely commanding the play on the own goal, actually blanched backwards when the ball went off the defenders head. Is that the reaction of an in form goal keeper?
Reasonable chance tht Solo directs the defense so there is no own goal. The second goal was stopable. So a game goes nil long enough and the second best team has a chance to pull the upset.
A Question
Does the USA have any players on their bench that can create any danger in the midfield or the lower third? If not where are they hiding?
If you needed more evidence that he should be sacked how about leaving Solo off the team for the Norway game? I think it is obvious who gives the team the best opportunity to win the Norway game, but apparently ego is more important than the team win.
I especially enjoyed Ryan’s comment that there is plenty of young talent coming up. There is, her name is Solo. That sure doesn’t stop him from having a retro day three quarters of the way through the tournament. And I am sure there is plenty of young talent coming up in the coaching department.
Jared.
hope solo should try to be more positive. the way those brazilian ladies played, there is no way the us had a chance. before we blast scurry and coach ryan, let us ask ourselves the following questions: where were the us defenders, you cannot leave any goalie, including superman, alone against marta. the us women soccer team got wipped fair and square and neither briana scurry or coach ryan are to blamed. grow up hope solo and stop making this incident a race issue, by assuming that black women cannot play this game. i just love to see all those blonde, blue eyed brazilians play.
^^^Well unless I missed something I didn’t hear Solo mention Scurry’s race so I don’t see why you should bring it up.
Ryan is justified in leaving Solo out of the Norway game on account of her unacceptable and ungracious behaviour both during and after the Brazil match. From what I have read the rest of the team seem to agree with Solo’s suspension.
However, the initial dropping of Solo was lunatic and as such I would expect Ryan to lose his job. Although to blame a 4-0 defeat on one change is really silly. And frankly, even if I am playing with Gary Coleman in my goal, I wouldn’t perform a bellyflop to “defend” a knee high corner.
hope you are a big fat ass as well as a scumbag
HOPE you have a big ass and should go on weigth watchers you stupid slut.
hope you are a racist bitch who is a selfish whore all you think about is yourself.
i am the best goalie of all time you stupid fat ass PIG go back to your cave and never come out you lesbian (HOPE) scumbag bitch.
Removing ‘Choke’ Solo, and the controversy that followed, is a break for all of them…including the soon to be fired Coach Ryan.
The reality is that this US women’s team is a joke. They lack skill, pace and style. They have only 1 player who can claim world class quality (Abby Wamback). They have no leadership on the field. Some of their older players (Lilly, Boxx, Scurry) are well past it. They have no ideas for attack, and they squander those few chances they create. Worst of all, a few of the girls are overweight.
As a result of this, nearly all of these players are too slow for this level. This lack of pace was exposed by an unheralded North Korean side, who ran them off the field. Despite this, the US still could’ve won, if ‘Choke’ Solo had made an extremely easy save. Instead, she gifted the North Koreans a goal.
In fact, this little controversy distracts us from the more serious question: where do we go from here? We can start with a new coach, of course. But what’s more worrying to me is where is the talent that they keep talking about? Except for Abby, we don’t have any. And the Olympics are less than a year away!
With a slew of meaningless victories against poor opposition, this US Women’s Soccer crowd has deluded us into believing that they’re an excellent side. Shame on them! This team is rubbish and boring! And this controversy simply adds to how much these girls have embarrassed their country, both on and off the pitch.
In a year, folks will be saying: “Who was that worthless, whining goalkeeper on that lousy US team that ‘represented us’ in the World Cup?”
PC
IMO, the most grievous of errors made here was, simply, Solo’s interview after the game. I have no problem with a player disagreeing with a coach, but to have done so in such a public manner, and to run down a teammate (hey Hope, look, I spelled “teammate” correctly, unlike on your blog!), well, we as Americans wonder why the rest of the world hates us. In this case, I can’t blame them.
Solo needs to remember that, no matter what sport you play, if you are on an international team, you are not only an ambassador for your sport, but for your team as well, and you should act accordingly.
My guess is that Solo’s name is soon to be forgotten; as an asterisk in the “Game of Life” we all play, that five years from now, someone will say, “Oh yeah, that’s the soccer girl that ran her coach and team over with a steamroller.”
Hope, you created this monster; you will live with the consequences the rest of your life.