U.S. Women’s Soccer Coach Greg Ryan benches goalie Hope Solo
Most people seem to think this was a boneheaded move, and so do we. You have goalie Hope Solo, who hasn’t allowed a goal in like 300 minutes in this tournament (and only 2 goals in 4 games), and then you have Brianna Scurry, who hasn’t played a full game in 3 months. So who does Coach Greg Ryan start against Brazil? Scurry, of course! Well, the U.S. got blasted by Brazil 4-0, and the coaching decision to start Scurry looked horrible. Apparently he thought Scurry would be a better fit for the Brazil match, but it just ended up creating controversy and bad blood between Solo and Ryan. Ryan is trying to reconcile, but Solo is still fired up and believes she would have made those saves. Ouch.
UPDATE — 10/15/07 — Upon further analysis, Solo was the bigger bonehead in the criticism of her coach, who took it amazingly well. On Saturday night, she issued an apology and decided not to dress up for the opener.
