Saturday, September 29, 2007

Official fallout

Well, it has become official. Hope Solo is off the World Cup team for her comments.

I find that sad, but not surprising. Greg Ryan is still the coach, and he could not be happy about what Solo said.

With so much of the spin going in the direction that Solo insulted Briana Scurry, and with Julie Foudy's comments urging that interpretation on, how were Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach, who were part of that team in 2004 when Scurry saved their butts, supposed to react?

Sure enough, the establishment has closed ranks.

I frankly feel that Solo is off the national team now, but she should see about going to Sweden and playing there. It could be that other coaches might consider her trouble, though. That's a shame, because that's never been her track record at all.

So the goalkeeper best suited to lead the team in the Olympics is probably not even going to make the team, unless a new coach comes along with a fresh perspective and an open mind.

14 comments:

bcnjake said...

That's a shame. The wrong person lost their job over that game. Hopefully Solo comes back after Ryan gets canned. You think the "20 players who rallied around each other" (as the press release says) will still do that when Bri coughs up the 3rd place game? All respect to Scurry and her outstanding career, but at this moment, Hope Solo is better and only said what everyone else knows.

You didn't see Bob Bradley reaching deep into his bag of tricks and pulling out Brad Friedel for the Gold Cup final, even if he did beat Mexico at WC '02.

A.C. said...

Brad Friedel would have made more sense. He's been playing well and regularly with Blackburn Rovers all this time.

I think the press release was more than a little skewed to the fact that the U.S. press people feel that Solo got away from them and their spin machine of publicity.

Of course, her comments generated more press for the team than all their years off effort to package them as Stepford soccer stars did.

L.B. said...

I feel bad for Hope Solo and how she has been essentially ostracized by US soccer. It's like you can't say anything bad about the team or else this stuff happens.

I hope this doesn't ruin her and doesn't hold her career back any, but if she's burned bridges beyond Greg Ryan, it seems illogical to think she'd be a part of any future World Cups, assuming she'd want to go of course.

She should just focus on club soccer, though, and put her nose to the grindstone there wherever she can get an opportunity. Yeah, the national team would be alluring and profitable of course, but the U.S. national team shouldn't define her career, let alone her existence.

So she said something she may have regretted. We've all done that. Her problem, unfortunately, is that at least one person with power is touchy and can't handle criticism and now she's had the door slammed in her face for speaking up.

Honestly, though, if that's how things are there, who wants to be a part of that? I certainly hope she doesn't.

Anonymous said...

In a nutshell, the coach should be canned. He created friction where none existed previously, and now not only does #1 ranked USA get to compete for no higher than third place, but we'll all get to second-guess the 2007 WWC now and forever. Thanks, buddy.

Also the comparisons between Hope Solo and T.O. aren't accurate, because no matter how much he runs his mouth he keeps his starting job. I'm really disappointed in this whole mess. Ugh.

Thanks, Sideline Views for your coverage. I'm fairly new to the blog, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Anonymous said...

Way overboard. Players call each match in the big tournaments scapegoat games, because of the media (present company excluded of course) tendency to pick one person to focus on if they lose.

It would have been Bri, then Ryan from sounder minds. Ryan just turned it into Solo. Does this save his skin or make it worse for him.

And no I don't think any man breathing and still useful to the team would be excluded from anything with as much money on the line as the World Cup while the tournament was still going on. At least not for anything short of incarceration or mayhem -- actually mayhem seems to be fairly acceptable amongst the boys...

A.C. said...

Roy Keane, diane.

Roy Keane.

Although in the case of Keane, in 2002 he was repeatedly challenging the manager and practically all this decisions and criticizing the federation as well.

Anonymous said...

lol how could I forget -- although I still consider much of what Roy Keane says to actually be mayhem. I agree with his rantings about FIFA though, and also what Solo said about Ryan.

James said...

how quickly did her teammates turn their backs on her. That sucks.

This part is hillarious, from the story on US Soccer: "Ryan made the decision in consultation with his team, sighting the disruption caused by Solo's comments..."

What about the distraction cause by his switching goalkeepers heading into the semis? It's amazing how this guy still has a job.

Coaches can be replaced, but replacing quality players is hard to do. Hope will be back in China for the Olympics, the same can't be said about Ryan. I Hope I'm right.

Anonymous said...

I doubt the banning of Hope Solo is for her remarks about Ryan's decision, but more for her remarks against Brianna Scurry. This team appeared to be a close group and whether she ment to or not, her comments were interpreted as an attack on Scurry who did nothing to deserve it. It was Ryan's decision, not Scurry's. She played as well as she could against Brazil, which was obviously not enough.

What also disappoints me is that when Hope realized that this was how her comments were being interpreted she should have issued a public statement to clear things up and to publically apology to Brianna (even though she had already apoligized to her and the team). Instead, she decided to post a statement on MySpace? Come on. If you're "man" enough to pubically critize your coach's decision (which I don't have a problem with) and throw your teammate under the bus (which I do have a problem with ang which is why I believed she is banned), than be "man" enough to issue your apology in public also, not on MySpace. It just looks unprofessional and childish

A.C. said...

No one knows that she didn't apologize to Scurry. On the other hand, if Scurry wasn't the intended target of her comments, then there wasn't really a need to apologize. Other people mistook Solo's meaning - they extrapolated all these insults to Scurry that simply weren't there. To say that three years have passed is not a denouncing of Scurry's skills. It's pointing out that Ryan should have valued the players that were in current top form.
Also, reports state that Solo did apologize to the entire team at some point, but they decided to oust her anyway.

Apparently you think honesty is a childish trait. Myself, I value clear and reasoned individual opinions.

What I thought was childish was the reaction where it wasn't left at "let's agree to disagree" but instead became, let's launch a vendetta against a player who speaks her mind.

Anonymous said...

Honesty is not a childish trait. Posting your apology on MySpace is.

Look, Hope has the right to say what she wants. However, the team has the right to respond in the way it see fit. How is it that we celebrate when someone speaks their mind, but are outraged when they have to deal with the consequences of their actions. You can come out and publically critize your boss, but then don't be surprised when your boss fires you.

A.C. said...

Public apologies are often considered the most sincere because a person doesn't hide their apology to only the offended person - they let the world at large know how they feel. You don't get much more public than MySpace these days.
Or should Solo have called a press conference, like Ryan did? Was it childish of them to post thier banishment of Solo on the U.S. soccer website? How is the internet an inherantly immature vehicle for explanation.

A.C. said...

Also, many bosses respect when employees point out mistakes that adversely affect the company. Why should anyone with integrity cover up something they feel is wrong? You'd rather all employees were like Rose Mary Woods?

Anonymous said...

Yes, it would have been more professional if instead of posting her apology on MySpace, she read her statement to the press. This incident has become the main story of the woman's world cup. Why? because of all the media attention it has gotten. So the impact of an apology carries more weight on t.v. than on MySpace. Besides, I highly doubt that many of the higher ups in US Soccer frequent MySpace.

Hope's banishment was posted on the US Soccer website, but it was announced by Coach Ryan first at the press conference and it was discussed briefly by both Lilly and Wambach.

I don't know if she was given the oppourtunity or not to make such an apology. However, I'm sure if Hope approached US Soccer, Coach Ryan and the team and said that she wanted to make a public apology to Brianna, she would be allowed.

You are right that many bosses respect when an employee points out mistakes, but how many employees point out the mistakes in the media? Not many I imagine, most of it is done behind close doors. However, it still doesn't take away the fact that the boss retains the right to resolves issues in a manner that he see fit.

Like I said Hope had every right to say what she said, and I agree with everyone that it was the wrong decision by Ryan, but doesen't US Soccer have the right to do what it feels is best for the team? Their actions may not be popular, but as Hope's employer, it's still their right to make the decision.