o.k. i'll take your word for it, altho i don't see any indication in her history that she can. after she retired as an active player: '99-'01 - she was head coach of the swedish u19 women's team and won one european championship. '03 - she was head coach of the boston breakers and lost in the semifinals '04? - she was head coach of kolbotn in norway. no championships as far as i can tell. (i need more info here) '04-'06? - she was head coach of kif obrero in sweden. again, no championships as far as i can find out. (also more info needed) '07 - she was assistant coach for the chinese team which had a dissapointing performance as the home team in the wwc. but she's new so we're putting our faith in her, and she's a euro so that carries with it some unknown value.
OTOH, she took a team that finished sixth out of eight the previous season to the regular season championship.
good point. yet, it's not a top notch achievement. and, the skills that help you coach a team thru the long haul of a league season don't necessarily transfer to national team coaching.
These are good points .. but had the same scrutiny been applied to Mr. Ryan, would he have been hired, do you think? Watching the transformation of the Breakers under Pia's tutelage was pretty remarkable ... and that season was about the same length as the run-up to the Olympics will be ... so I'm hoping for some repeat magic. Also, after the demise of the WUSA a number of Breakers players - including Kristine Lilly and Kate Sobrero (back then) and maybe some others - went overseas specifically to play for her. Of course there's no predicting how experience will translate from one venue to another, but it seems that we're on the right track with Pia.
maybe not. but then assuming ryan was a bad hire, (i do not believe that - he had the best record against the same teams that previous coaches played against, but he made a big mistake at the end), it suggests that we should not make the same mistake just because she's a euro. this is a great point. hopefully we see - like you said - the same kind of magic.