U.S. goalie Hope Solo gets the boot at Womens World Cup

[judaspriestess]

Well so much for third place. Ba-Bye!! :eyes:



U.S. goalie Hope Solo gets the boot at Women's World Cup

By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer
September 29, 2007

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- The Women's World Cup is taking on some edge for the United States, just as the Americans are getting ready to say goodbye.

U.S. coach Greg Ryan tossed goalkeeper Hope Solo off the team for Sunday's third-place game against Norway. His decision, which has the support of the remaining 20 players, came after he benched Solo for Thursday's semifinal in which Brazil routed the U.S. 4-0.



Solo lashed out in an interview, saying Ryan made the "wrong decision" in dropping her in favor of veteran Briana Scurry against the quick and creative Brazilians.

The 36-year-old Scurry will face Norway on Sunday in a game that precedes the championship between defending champion Germany and Brazil.

Ryan said Solo would not even attend the Norway game. The U.S. practiced Saturday without her, and officials said she remained in China, meaning she probably will return home with the team.

more...........

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wwcup-usgoalieflap&prov=ap&type=lgns

[GOPisEvil]

1. I doubt her teammates wanted her there.

Trashing a teammate is a no go in ANY sport. If she'd just trashed the coach, she might have been ok. It doesn't matter that she might have been right. She cut Briana Scurry off at the knees. In public. Not a smart move.

[judaspriestess]

2. thats what the article states

She apologized but not good enough. I think it was an immature mistake but......
It was not Scurry's fault.

[GOPisEvil]

3. Any goalie would have had issues that night.

They just got whupped, plain and simple. It was a mistake alright, one that might cost her a role on the team - at least for a good, long while. She should have grinded out a "no comment" through clenched teeth instead of running her mouth. Lesson learned, I hope. She's a good player.

[riverdeep]

4. Sorry, but this is a crock

This is totally compounding the mistake made in the Brazil game. I'm also a bit skeptical about how independent the team leaders were in this decision, but if it was their decision alone then they're full of it.

Here's why:

1) What Hope said is not that bad, and was made under frustration.

2) Although it's a third place game, it's not totally meaningless, it's for the tangible result of a $10,000 bonus, and the intangible of scavenging some dignity. So she said something, her comments didn't lose the game. Deal with it for one more game and then do what you're going to do. Hope is objectively still the best goalkeeper here.

3) This has happened before. Only in that case it was Brianna Scurry 'dissing' the starting goalkeeper at the time Siri Mullinix:

"If she (Brianna) had been the starting goalkeeper four years ago in Sydney, the U.S. women's soccer team would have won the gold medal.

``I put myself into that entire game,'' she said. ``And I've always felt -- and I still feel -- that if I were playing, we would have won.''

http://www.usateamhandball.org/11723_22487.htm

I put the dissing in quotes because I don't feel it was wrong then and it's not wrong now. But since the team does feel it's wrong now, what happened back then?



This is Jackass Ryan's decision coming back turning into an avalanche of hurt. This blog entry from a soccer enthusiast sums up my feelings. Here's a snippet:

"It's disappointing for me to hear Foudy, of all people, call Solo out for her honesty and say that she wouldn't want to play in front of her. Foudy was famous for saying all sorts of things, and some of them weren't very nice. She let herself be human and spoke candidly, yet she won't allow the next generation to do the same?"

http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2007/09/playing-cute-card.html

[judaspriestess]

5. I'm with you riverdeep

thats why I posted this story. I don't see why she got booted out. They are being way to over sensitive. Grow a spine people.