IMO the USSF got this one right! They couldn't have found/hired a better person for this job!! Well done USSF! Congrats Pia!!
this is great news. a good coach. now we have to clear out the teammates that need to go, due to the stupidity of China
Think this was probably booked before the meltdown. Womens World Cup Coach to Speak at Elite Club Seminar Greg Ryan, U.S. Women's National Team Coach, 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, will join the list featured presenters from the USA and Europe at the Third Annual Elite Club Seminar dedicated to Elite Girls and Women's Soccer. The 2005 and 2006 seminars have attracted over 200 Directors of coaching to debate best practices in club, staff and player development for youth soccer North America and Europe. The 2007 Seminar will take place in again Raleigh, NC, December 12-14, 2007 and has been approved as a Continuing Education (CE) event by the United States Soccer Federation. Four (4) CE units will be awarded to all 'A' Licensed Coaches who attend. Raleigh, N.C. (PRWEB) November 20, 2007 -- Greg Ryan, U.S. Women's National Team Coach, 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, will join the list featured presenters from the USA and Europe at the Third Annual Elite Club Seminar dedicated to Elite Girls and Women's Soccer. In his first presentation since the World Cup Greg will highlight the challenges involved in identifying, developing and coaching elite national team female players.
England lost out on a spot in the European Championships last night, with help from their 22 year old goalkeeper, earning his first cap in the decisive qualifier with the starter for every other match sitting on the bench. He gave up an AWFUL first goal, and they lost. Coach fired this morning. So maybe the idea that Ryan was somehow the worst coach ever, yadda yadda could be put in perspective . . . eventually?
Glad to see I wasn't the only one making the connection between Ryan and McLaren. What a coaching choke job. Makes MLS happy though, they won't have to let Beckham go for a portion of next summer.
we are always wise after the fact, but i did think of ryan when skysports announced that mclaren was going to change his experienced goalkeeper for a crucial do or die match. i do think that mls would have preferred to have england in the tournament next summer provided that becks was on the team. it would continue to raise the profile of mls.
The difference being that no English 'keeper has distinguished themselves recently (at least, for anything positive). Solo's detractors on the "soft" goal v N. Korea are noticeably silent when discussing her command of the area and shot-stopping later in the same match. . I'm no fan of McClaren, but Robinson had given England ample reason to replace him (personally, I thought he was awful at WC '06 and should have been replaced before now). It's not as if England were riding a long unbeaten streak. Also, and again, not to let McClaren off the hook, but he had also lost several key players to injury. Finally, Carson has been getting regular work at the club level and playing impressively. His resume didn't have to reach back 3.5 years. Even some of McLaren's biggest detractors on BS admit that a keeper fumble like Carson's isn't something you can put on McClaren. Besides, in an apparent rare moment of awareness and decisiveness by the FA (I haven't seen the announcement of Macca's sacking), the FA have already acted. I didn't see any post-match reports of Macca denying responsibility for the result, nor any reports of on-air gag orders issued by the English PR corps leading to an on-camera tirade by Robinson. Neither will the team have any opportunity to publicly shun one of their own, while Macca hides behind his "team leaders". Nope, in every respect, Ryan's blunder continues to stand out as the colossal achievement it was. No question about it.
Yeah, it's way smarter to throw in an inexperienced rookie for the biggest game in a two year qualifying cycle. Especially compared to an alternate with however many caps and experience on the biggest stage . . . and of course Ryan was totally calling the shots for the US Soccer pr machine . . . No question Happy Thanksgiving
Yes, no doubt Robinson's earlier "big stage experience" against that same Croatia would have helped immensely...can't imagine what Macca could have been thinking... http://www.searchforvideo.com/watch...Fsports%2Fsoccer%2Fplayers%2Fpaul-robinson%2F Fortunately, after Croatia, Robinson got that out of his system... http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Gog0Owms4o just ask Germany. I'll be the last to say that Macca deserved to keep his job. But let's put this in perspective. Far more damning for MacLaren was to play, in effect, a 4-5-1 with Crouch unsupported up front. If you're going to play Route-1 ball, wouldn't it help to have someone there to scoop up the balls that Crouch knocks down? Instead, Macca caves in to, once again, go by player popularity in pairing Lampard and Gerrard in midfield. This provided neither much-needed defensive stability (due to the defense being injury-depleted) nor adequate support up front to justify the Route-1 to Crouch approach. It was those kinds of tactical errors, repeated ad nauseum by Macca, that ultimately cost England Euro qualification and Macca his job. As to his decision to start a rookie? Let's take a look at the performances of England's #1 over the past year. WC '06 - Robinson's lack of command of the penalty area resulted in a disorganized and poorly communicating defense against against Sweden, the only quality competition England faced in the group stage. Robinson looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. The freak goal v. Croatia? Just that, but still...in a Euro qualifier? Against the same team England now faced in a tie or die situation? Putting Robinson in again is certainly not an automatic. Finally, Robison's play against a Germany "B" side at Wembley last spring? Awful. Poor positioning, poor match awareness...no excuse. For whatever reason, Robinson does not inspire confidence by either his individual play nor in his ability to organize and calm his defense. Frankly, he should have been dropped before now. Icing on the cake? Even Spurs fans weren't exactly howling in protest over Robinson's omission based on his recent club form. That speaks volumes as to Robinson's mental fitness for Croatia. Putting a demonstrably shaky Robinson back there in front of a weakened defense would not have been a move that showed any leadership on Macca's part. The gamble didn't pay off, and Carson made Macca look even worse than he already did. But again, it wasn't as though Paul Robinson was making anyone forget Gordon Banks. Indeed, Carson's good club form arguably may have inspired more confidence in him by the defense than they had in Robinson...and confidence counts for a lot, as Ryan found out the hard way. Neither you nor I can say how England's players felt about Carson pre-match, but it's a safe bet they hadn't forgotten Robinson's gem in Zagreb. Harsh? You bet. Unfounded? Not by a long shot (no pun intended). ;-)
Re: Sermanni Fed First Choice?? poached from ooosasoccer.com: http://www.smh.com.au/news/football...rmanni-overseas/2007/11/22/1195321949825.html Interesting.... "Sermanni, who coached in the now-defunct US women's professional league with San Jose and New York, was believed to be first choice of the US federation after Greg Ryan was sacked following the World Cup, where the two-time world and Olympic champions finished third. But two weeks ago, Sermanni rejected the offer, and the US last week appointed Swede Pia Sundhage. "It was a decision I had to consider very seriously," Sermanni said. "When I weighed it all up, I was fairly indecisive when I got made the offer, and I think that's because of what's happening here. The way the game is going here, there's a lot of growth left in this team. I just felt the timing was just not right. It got to the stage where they wanted to bring me across to America to talk about it, and that's when I made up my mind."
Re: Sermanni Fed First Choice?? The first paragraph sounds like he had an offer but the second sounds like he never came over to interview. The rest of the article states they hadn't discussed money which is my mind means there was no offer. What's the consensus? Are we buying that he was the first choice and rejected an offer or that the Australian news is overstating this a little.
Re: Sermanni Fed First Choice?? Most of the articles, interviews, speculation, etc indicated that Pia was the top choice from the get go but unless someone from the Fed gives us the real scoop, we'll probably never know. I will agree that it doesn't really sound real concrete. Who knows, it might have gone something like "Hey, how'd you like to coach the US WNT?" He might've replied, "Really? Well, what's the deal?" to which the Fed said "You make a good showing at the Olympics and we'll keep ya on. If you tank, you're gone! What do you think? You wanna come over and talk about it?" to which Tom replied "Gee, as great as that sounds, I think I kinda got something going on here with the Aussie's. Thanks for thinking of me though!" Next thing we know... ring ring "Hello? Pia? Hey, it's the USSF? How'd you like to coach the WNT?"
Re: Sermanni Fed First Choice?? The wording is very confusing, but it sounds to me like, in the end, he had the offer of an interview and, having thought it all through, decided at that point to not step into the process any further. Hard to imagine that they'd have offered the job and THEN asked him to come to the States to do an interview.
Re: Sermanni Fed First Choice?? Seems reasonable, and IIRC Pia said to Swedish media that she was one of four called to an interview, and when they announced her I think they said she was one of three persons interviewed for the job.