Solo Gets Screwed

[tjac]

ESPNsoccernet - Women's World Cup - Ryan looking to reconcile with outspoken Solo

This story is boggling. It makes me think something dirty is going on with the coach.

Also, the coach has suggested that Solo "[broke] an unwritten team code by speaking out openly." So if you're the best female goalie in the world, and your coach indefensibly benches you in your sport's biggest tournament, you're just supposed to suck it down? I feel really bad for Solo. Her situation is so screwy it's surreal.

[lendarios]

The coach deserves all the heat for benching the best goalkeeper he had in favor of an old one. The US goalkeeper was awful in the game. If i where Solo and the coach asked me to play for third place i will say to him, I'm sorry i turned my hamstring in the shower i don't think ill be able to play. Third place games in football cups are irrelevant.
You made your bed, coach, now sleep on it.

[Blumpster]

Being a night owl I've been watching most of the WWC matches on ESPN. I was pretty bewildered with the decision to take out Solo. Strange thing to do, she does all the work to get you to a certain point and then you bench her and put in your backup goal keeper? He can talk about Solo breaking some unwritten code or being a bad teammate, but she got fucked by the coach and a move like that will disrupt the fusion of a team more than Solo's words. As far as a "good track record" against a certain team...well, that doesn't mean jack shit. Look at the Mariners, all they have are players with "experience" and decent track records, and they fucking blow. Play your young stars, not your crusty poo nugget hangers. Plus Solo's pretty hot so saying she did something wrong is hard to do! I feel an apology coming from her soon though, she basically called her teammate and coach incompetent.

Oh, and the coach is done, I can guarantee that.

Edit: Marta is fucking ridiculous. Someone give that bitch a shoe line or something, probably the best female athlete in any sport.

[MorinkhanMT]

Oh, and the coach is done, I can guarantee that.

Let's not get too crazy now hehe. The team is still 19–1–4 with him as the coach. Yes, it was a terrible decision to bench Solo, and he's taking a pile of heat for it. But giving the boot to a coach with a .792 winning pct (and a 0.042 losing pct) over one bad decision would be stupid.

[kegkilla]

honestly if i was solo i would walk away and never return to play until that coach gets the axe - its complete bullshit what he did and completely inexcusable. i was a hockey goaltender for a number of years and if a goalie is hot then hes hot and thats that hes gonna play.

some people might be saying "well, they lost 4-0 anyway it probably wouldn't have made a difference either way." not true. momentum plays a huge part in soccer and once you get down 1-0 its exponentially harder to score for your side because the opposing side changes their defensive strategy to protect the lead, and the losing team has to loosen up their defense to give a bit more to the offense making them more vulnerable to more goals and what not. come from behind victories are much more rare in soccer than in other sports. if solo played its very likely she could have held off brazil until the US was able to put one and it would be a different story. on the other hand marta is friggin insane so maybe not, who knows, who cares? its only womens soccer.

[tjac]

Originally Posted by kegkilla

who cares? its only womens soccer.

Yeah, sadly I think this is the way it goes. What's one of the biggest sports injustices around doesn't really matter because it's only women's soccer =/ Still, they're our nation's best. Relatively, they put our men to shame. And Solo is a dedicated athlete at the top of her world-wide sport. Very sorry it happened to her -- it's what she works for.

[Akileese]

He'll be sacked at the end of the tournament. Why on earth you would take out the BEST female goalie in the world right now because your backup was good on the Olympics 3 years go is beyond me.

[Amahk]

I'm confused...let me get this straight, the coach of the WNT selected his starting team for the semifinals and it didn't include Hope Solo. After the game she makes some comments to the press about why his decision sucked and how she could've done it better than Briana Scurry.

This seems so straightforward to me. You didn't get picked, suck it up! Seriously though, it's not the player's decision to make team selections. The coach is the tactician here, he/she makes the call on who plays the game. It's entirely up to him. Yea you fume or you huff and puff but in the end when speaking to the press you reaffirm your support in the coach and say you hope that next time you can convince your coach of why you should have that starting position. Speaking out and criticizing your coach typically would end in a fine. You can't demand anything, you're a player. Did I miss something??

Edit: By all means all the heat is on the coach to justify his selection however Hope Solo shouldn't have a voice in this issue. I could site waaaay too many examples in National Leagues or Country selections to even waste time siting them lol. You all know it's happened countless times before.

[Rush]

Hope is on the team, had played a fantastic tournament, some of the best goaltending in women's soccer ever. The US is about to face Brazil in the semifinals and he yanks Solo, throws in this other chick who puts forth an average goaltending effort and the US loses. Ya, I guess she shouldn't be able to say what a bad decision it was and how she would have made a difference in the game. I think her speaking out shows how passionate she is about the game.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by tjac

Yeah, sadly I think this is the way it goes. What's one of the biggest sports injustices around doesn't really matter because it's only women's soccer =/ Still, they're our nation's best. Relatively, they put our men to shame. And Solo is a dedicated athlete at the top of her world-wide sport. Very sorry it happened to her -- it's what she works for.

Women's Soccer is the only soccer I will watch. I actually respect women's soccer athletes but not male soccer athletes.

[Amahk]

Originally Posted by Rush

The US is about to face Brazil in the semifinals and he yanks Solo, throws in this other chick who puts forth an average goaltending effort and the US loses.

This 'other chick' has won 2 Olympic medals and a World Cup with the USA. It's not like she doesn't have pedigree and even if age is a question, goalkeepers tend to break that mold quite often as they older they get the better to a point. Schmeichel, Lehmann, Kahn etc etc have all played into their 40's. Granted she hasn't played for 3 months or whatever it was aka an extended period of time.

Even if it's water under the bridge now, I'm still willing to bet, the USA still had a slim chance no matter who was between the goalposts. The rest of the world has caught up with the USA(maybe not Ghana hehe) on the women's football scene. And at least 2 countries have surpassed them I'd say, Brazil being one of them and the others being Germany and maybe even China.

As an aside, what exactly don't you respect about men's football??

[Jadaki]

Originally Posted by Rush

Women's Soccer is the only soccer I will watch. I actually respect women's soccer athletes but not male soccer athletes.

I love internet arm chair quarterbacks who spew shit like soccer players aren't athletes while sitting around watching Nascar.

[Jadaki]

Originally Posted by Amahk

Edit: By all means all the heat is on the coach to justify his selection however Hope Solo shouldn't have a voice in this issue. I could site waaaay too many examples in National Leagues or Country selections to even waste time siting them lol. You all know it's happened countless times before.

No coach has ever pulled a goaltender out in the middle of the world cup semifinals that has a 300 minute scoreless streak going.

That said, US loses the game no matter who is in goal this game. The own goal would not have been stopped by Solo, and Marta puts away at least 1 of the 2 goals she scored against Solo as well. US was screwed by losing the player to the horrible red card call, and Solo would have kept it closer but they still would have lost.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by Jadaki

I love internet arm chair quarterbacks who spew shit like soccer players aren't athletes while sitting around watching Nascar.

You're right, I've never played a real sport ever. I didn't play football in the Big Ten. Soccer players have athletic talent, I just have no respect for them or their sport. Jackass.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by Amahk

This 'other chick' has won 2 Olympic medals and a World Cup with the USA. It's not like she doesn't have pedigree and even if age is a question, goalkeepers tend to break that mold quite often as they older they get the better to a point. Schmeichel, Lehmann, Kahn etc etc have all played into their 40's. Granted she hasn't played for 3 months or whatever it was aka an extended period of time.

Even if it's water under the bridge now, I'm still willing to bet, the USA still had a slim chance no matter who was between the goalposts. The rest of the world has caught up with the USA(maybe not Ghana hehe) on the women's football scene. And at least 2 countries have surpassed them I'd say, Brazil being one of them and the others being Germany and maybe even China.

As an aside, what exactly don't you respect about men's football??

Yes, the other chick has won 2 Olympic Medals, but in athletics there is a phrase that pretty much shows how brutal the sports can be, What have you done for me lately? Hope had thrown up 300 scoreless minutes, the "other chick" had sat on the bench for 3 months.