As I mentioned in my last post, I am proud of Hope Solo.
I am disgusted, however, with her coach's decision to not let her suit up for the final game, and also with her teammates.
Her coach talks of sticking together and putting the 20 best players out on the field who've stuck together through thick and thin. What a bunch of bullshit.
Solo should be happy she is not on this team anymore. This is a team of cowards. They are afraid to speak their mind, to voice their opinions, to let their coach know what they're feeling. Why didn't the U.S. captains speak up to the coach after his decision to bench Solo? Solo shouldn't even have had to make the remarks she did because the team should have stuck behind Solo. The team should have stuck with the best goalie. The team should have stuck with the one who was with them through the thick and thin of the 2007 World Cup. But they didn't. Cowards.
And now, after Solo has apologized to Scurry, her coach has benched her, which chances are has effectively ended her run as U.S. goalkeeper. What a brilliant public relations move by Greg Ryan. With one move he has moved all the attention off himself for making possibly the worst decision in U.S. women's soccer history by kicking Solo off the team. He frames Solo as being the distraction and not the team player. Who was really the distraction here? How about the coach who benched the starting goalie in a semifinal match for someone who hadn't played in 3 months? Why isn't he the biggest distraction? And her teammates? Team players? Not one came to Solo's defense, even though they agreed with her.
Run and hide, Team USA. Leave Solo out in the cold. But don't give me this bullshit about sticking together through "thick and thin" and having the best players out on the field when not two days ago you did none of it.
Fucking ridiculous. I applaud you still, Hope Solo.
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3 comments:
I could not agree more . . . but only add that Julie's comments were just as unprofessional. She is much too close to that team to be butting her opinions into an already unstable situation.
Coach Ryan deserves to lose his job. Benching Solo in the Brazil game was indefensibly stupid. Hope Solo has every right to be angry. I would be fucking pissed if I was her.
What you can't do is throw your teammates and your coach under the bus, even if they deserve it. To blast the team in an interview like that was wrong. Solo knows it, and that's why she apoligized. An appropriate punishment would be to bench her for the Norway game as well. Kicking her off the team is completly absurd.
I don't think it's fair to call the rest of the team cowards. I'm sure that they did talk to coach Ryan. But in the end, it was Ryan's decision to bench Solo, and once that decision is final, it's the player's duty to support that decison, no matter how much they disagree with it.
I will call them cowards because I believe they are.
If I were playing, I'd want the best player out there. Hope Solo was the best, not Scurry. If those players look me in the eye and tell me otherwise, they'd be lying.
It was an absurd move on Ryan's part to put Scurry in. The backup QB over the star. In that case, the leaders needed to be vocal and demanding, and they weren't. I understand it was the coach's decision, but when it was so blatantly wrong, you have to put your foot down.
I agree that Solo should not have said what she said about Scurry. I am glad she appologized for it though. She was emotional at the time, and she shouldn't have said it. The fact that none of her teammates realized this and came to her defense (about getting kicked off the team) just shows me more of this group's character.
All for one? This team has no backbone. They are cowards in my eyes, I'm sorry.
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