Hope Solo's statement

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by Levelos, Oct 13, 2007.

  1. Dogbreath

    Dogbreath New Member

    Sep 10, 2007
    Maui
    The bottom line in this whole affair is that the USSF went with the cheapest coach who applied and they got what they paid for, crap coaching. From his game management, player management, preparation, strategy, media sense, ad infinitum, he showed why he was the cheap date. The whole pre and post match conduct v Brazil was appalling. Here's how to lose a game. First, pull your keeper who, though not perfect, has made the saves to keep you in games that you might have lost or tied. Next, make statements in the press that the opponent is dirty and unskilled. Then when you lose and the keep makes a statement, spin it so it looks like she is the culprit. The whole thing is probably the worst job of coaching I have ever seen. He must be dating Sunil's daughter.
     
  2. htide

    htide Member

    Jul 28, 2007
    I think Hope just moved into checkmate. She has done all she can, now the ball is in the others court. Are they going to be petty catty bi-ches, is ryan going to let hope back into her spot. She took the high road at the right time and I think she is the one who comes out looking good.
     
  3. russ

    russ Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Canton,NY
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Take the last line out and it's perfect ,really.
     
  4. Plxix

    Plxix BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Mar 13, 2006
    Finally, someone with a brain.
     
  5. Bolo

    Bolo New Member

    Jan 16, 2007
    Ok, I'm all for making the best of a situation but you can't be serious. This wasn't some brilliant tactical stroke "Checkmate" it was a simple acknowledgment and apology for her obvious mistakes.

    I will agree she has now taken the high road and hope things work out well for her. I disagree about the right time, the My Space posting would have been the right time. I don't blame Hope for that snafu, someone who cares about her should have given her better counsel telling her the "I'm sorry you all misunderstood and took my video statements out of context" would not get the job done.

    Anyway, I hope this apology puts this sorry situation to bed and the team can focus on the future.
     
  6. lynne

    lynne Member+

    Oct 11, 2003
    Do all the players' contracts run out at the end of this year? Or just the coach?
     
  7. htide

    htide Member

    Jul 28, 2007
    lynne the players are contracted by games or series of games. After the mexico game none of them have a contract, except i think they are already contracted to show up for camp in january.
     
  8. Kqql

    Kqql Member

    Sep 22, 2003
    When are the LOSERS RYAN, SCURRY, LILLY AND ABBy going says sorry for being Soroity
    A$$

    I cann't belief SOLO is being blamed for everything.

    US Soccer is run by MORONS
     
  9. Plxix

    Plxix BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Mar 13, 2006
    Basically the team have set the precedence for the first time that they are bunch of losers. They are not like other teams which spent much less $$$ yet accomplished more. The coach is the laughing stock of the world. Third place is defining. The team is united - sorority style.

    Hey look at the bright side: they made history at the WC, didn't they?

    So did the coach.
     
  10. Bolo

    Bolo New Member

    Jan 16, 2007
    Plxix, so by coming in third in the world they are a bunch of losers?

    Do you think we have some god given right to win every world cup?

    I honestly believe you need to take a step back and get some perspective. The womens national team has performed at a extremely high level for a long time, they deserve better than this.

    I guess we can assume every team you ever played for went undefeated in every tournament you played or are you a looser too?

    You people who will never sniff the kind of success these women continue to enjoy make me laugh.
     
  11. Plxix

    Plxix BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Mar 13, 2006
    I see low expectations are becoming contagious.
     
  12. UWHusky

    UWHusky New Member

    Aug 27, 2001
    Seattle, WA
    I see the USSF being SATISFIED that the USWNT was not playing for gold.
     
  13. oman

    oman Member

    Jan 7, 2000
    South of Frisconsin
    Or anything about health care or midgets.
     
  14. Lloyd Heilbrunn

    Lloyd Heilbrunn Member+

    Feb 11, 2002
    Jupiter, Fl.
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The USSF is great at spin. Soccer?? Not so much.....

    Ryan hasn't been fired yet??
     
  15. oman

    oman Member

    Jan 7, 2000
    South of Frisconsin
    She'll come out "looking good" because she is a young good player, not because of her statements. This was a small step back for her, obviously.

    The fact the immaturity is endemic on this team will be forgotten as the coaching and playing become more sophisticated to meet the challenges of a more competitive international arena.


    Anybody who gives a ******** about whether anyone will be a bitch or not obviously is focused on the cult of personality and not soccer.
     
  16. taocpa

    taocpa Member

    Mar 12, 2005
    Bowie, MD USA
    If you call third place success after dominating the game for so long, then your perspective is a lot different than some of us.

    Here's why some of us are bothered: the rest of the world has treated women's soccer as a red-headed stepchild while we put it on the map. Our teams played great for a long time. But over the last 8 years, they have slipped into a coma. Better teams started coming along and the team and coaching staff failed to make adjustments to contend with the stiffer competition.

    The only competitions that matter for the women's game are the Women's World Cup and the Olympics. Everything else pales by comparison. So now we decide, well we can't win the World Cup, so let's shoot for Olympic gold and we will feel better? Please.

    The WWC 2007 had only 16 teams. Okay, we lost one and tied one game, but it's how we lost that should be troublesome. Lousy player management, stupid comments by a coach, terrible use of bench and terrible tactics are the reason we lost and the only way to fix that is to start with firing Ryan.
     
  17. Plxix

    Plxix BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Mar 13, 2006
    Now now taocpa, we came in 3rd, you know. Kick ass. Pass the word.
     
  18. Bolo

    Bolo New Member

    Jan 16, 2007
    No it's just that I have perspective and know that sometimes you win sometimes you loose, that's the nature of competition.

    The good teams don't overreact to either.

    I also think its a awful cynical approach to call the players bad names and try to couch that kind of behavior as some proof of having high expectations.

    People like Plxix are a great example of the kind of "fan" I want to always be on the opposite side of the discussion from, ugly behavior at people who compete to the best of their ability.

    Unlike many here, I realize many more countries take the womens game serious now. The USA can't just show up and win anymore so when they loose while disappointing it's not a commentary on life or an excuse for being the ugly American.
     
  19. lynne

    lynne Member+

    Oct 11, 2003
    Oh God, patronize much? Those people like Plxix here are what are known as 'fans'. You know, short for 'fanatics'? They tend to exist in every sport. The WC is famous for them -- the men's usually but now the women's too.

    The US women didn't play particularly well. Not to their ability. You said you were expecting them to lose and that's why you didn't care whether Ryan was fired now or ever. Did you expect the US to lose because a) the players weren't as good as Brazil's, or b) the coaching wasn't as good, or c) the play wasn't as advanced, or d) the bone-headed coach decided to replace the goal keeper with a sub who hadn't played in 3 months, or e) all of the above?

    All of those factors can be blamed on Greg Ryan (have been blamed on him in fact). Old players who are not upgraded, a style of play that's too easy to defend against, subs that aren't used properly, a lame & mind-bogglingly stupid replacement of Hope Solo with Brianna Scurry.

    If all that was fixed or hadn't happened then probably even Plxix would say 'the best team won' if the US came in 3rd. But none of that is fixed. Or going to be fixed, apparently.

    So yeah, the idea that this is the best we should shoot for is something I disagree with too.
     
  20. Charles

    Charles Member

    Oct 4, 2000
    Idaho
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    After watching this whole sad thing unfold, mostly without posting, I'm quoting your entire post because it exactly expresses what I thought when I first heard Hope Solo's comments, and in fact what I ASSUMED the coach would in fact do. Her actual comments, taken in context, were the passionate statements of an intense but frustrated competitor who had been denied a chance to play by a truly idiotic coaching decision. Emminently predictable response from your starting goalie after watching the team go down in flames at least PARTLY because of poor play in the back and easily dealt with for any coach who has the slightest insight into his team's chemistry or player personalities.

    It was only after Ryan took the easy way out and used her comments to avoid his own responsibility that Solo's quote was portrayed as whiny back-stabbing sore-loserism directed at a fellow teammate.

    I'm a little surpised nobody's mentioned the possibility of Ryan secretly hoping that Solo would "go off" after the match, believing that this would give him a way to avoid the heat; of course we'll never know, but why else would he now just allow, but encourage by his comments, such a focus of attention on a player (who didn't play) after the biggest match of his career?
     
  21. kcguru

    kcguru Member

    Jun 16, 2007
    Wisconsin
    I'm not real sure what we all thought would happen. Ryan's contract is up at the end of this year, it doesn't make sense to fire him and attract even more bad press to the situatin when they can just not renew his contract and he slithers away into the night. Until then, actually, other than the fans, Hope, Ryan and the USSF are getting what they want. Hope is probably realizing that while she was justified in being pissed, she could've reacted better. She is young and she wants to be on this team so she is doing whatever it takes to get back on and get back in the good graces of the team. You can't fault her for that. If you screwed up and jeopardized your career at something you love, would you not move heaven and earth to fix that mistake? I sure would. So she came forward, apologized, and just wants to move on. In doing so, she takes the heat off Ryan, again. He no longer has to deal with the pressure of playing her or whether he was right or wrong because she admitted she was wrong. So he's thinking he's dodged the bullet and in a way, he has. He may not get rehired but he won't walk out with another huge debacle on his hands. The USSF is happy because the player is admitting she's wrong, the coach is all gracious in accepting her apology, the team gets their best goalie back and the press is now on how well everyone is reconciling. So if and when Ryan leaves, it's not going to get the headlines it would've right after the WWC. While I would love for Ryan to have been fired for all the coaching mistakes he has made, in and leading up to the WWC, I didn't really think it would happen. If I'm actually honest with myself, this is the sort of thing I did expect to happen. Solo apologizes, again, takes the heat off Ryan, takes herself out of the equation for the duration of the next three games so the focus is back on the team, not her, earning herself points with the team, and it returns to a wait and see situation.
     
  22. Bolo

    Bolo New Member

    Jan 16, 2007
    Would it be too much to ask that you don't attribute thing to me I didn't say? I said the better team won. I didn't realize they were the better team until I watched the game and realized it was a fair result based on the skills I observed. The fact that I didn't "expect" them to loose makes the rest of your questions non applicable.

    Again, stop doing that, please show me anywhere ever I have said that was the best we should shoot for. Never ever did I say that or anything like that and basing a argument on a point I never made is silly at best and dishonest at worst.

    What I did say was calling players awful names in the name of high expectations or being a fan is a cynical outlook. Now if you want to argue the point I actually made, feel free.
     
  23. Kim-GoBeat!

    Kim-GoBeat! New Member

    Jun 21, 2001
    Thugsville, USA
    I'm gonna go with E) all of the above! What do I win?

    I just wonder if Ryan knows what a mistake he made in not handling this incident any better?? How the team is feeling...if any of them feel guilty over how roughly Solo was treated...these are things I guess we'll never know, but I'd feel better about all of them if they had at least a little remorse.

    Bring on Sundhage and get back to playing some real soccer! I look forward to seeing some new faces and some better attitudes for the Olympics. If not, we may be looking at bronze.
     
  24. noorwell

    noorwell Member

    Sep 15, 2003
    brooklyn,ny
    Because the game with Brazil was lost doesn't mean if there have been someone else in goal we would lost also... only the soccer Gods know's... Stop the B@ll Sh@ll...
     
  25. lynne

    lynne Member+

    Oct 11, 2003
    Gee, I'd be happy to argue, but what exactly is your point? Other than that good people don't get upset about losing (or 'loosing' either apparently!):)

    Good luck with that on BS. Maybe some day all the forums will be one, and the National team supporters will all get together after one of their teams is eliminated and chuckle about the bad calls, hand balls, atrocious off-sides, dives......until then there's the USWNT forum to rant in after the US plays dismally and winds up in 3rd place.
     

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