On Yahoo Sports, former USA national team members expressed their disapproval regarding decisions made by coach Greg Ryan and comments about Hope Solo.
Both Chastain and Fowdy criticized Greg Ryan about his tactical decisions (especially during the semi-final match vs. Brazil), inability to communicate and prepare with his players and even called for his firing. They go as far as saying Ryan is to blame for this major setback to USA soccer. I could not disagree more with their comments. They tend to forget that this is not the same team that they played on. Their teams won because they were so much more talented with the likes of Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, and the others. This team is not as good as they were back in the 90s. Its unfair to compare their results. Plus, lets face it the world has caught up to the USA in terms of talented players. Just ask the last few NBA Dream Teams about that. Its easy to criticize tactical decisions when you get destroyed 4-0 in any match. I do not agree that the goalie switch would have made much of a different nor would a different strategy have made a difference. This current USA team did not have the talent OR experience of teams of past World Cups with Chastain and Fowdy. It showed in their performance. A socre of 1-0 or 2-0, thats a close game. 4-0 is a whipping in soccer.
As for Hope Solo comments, I have to agree with both Chastain and Fowdy here. You never call out a teammate, especially someone who has accomplished so much more than you have in their career in Briana Scurry. I do feel for Solo as this was her World Cup to shine. She has been the top goalie for the USA since the 2004 Olympics and she definitely deserved to start the game against Brazil with her performances in the previous matches. Nonetheless, the coach makes those decisions and not the players. It may have looked like Scury played poorly, but really it wass those terrible USA defenders that allowed the Brazilians such easy scoring opportunities. Solo should spare us the damage control response on her myspace page by saying she would never callout a teammate. She clearly did that and I hope she can look to the future and re-establish herself as a leader and the top goalie for Team USA because they need her if they want to get back to being World Cup and Olympic champions.
If Chastain and Fowdy are so concerned about the US national team program, their comments criticizing the coach and US soccer officials is not helping the cause and in fact making matters worse. Winning World Cups and Olympic gold medals is not all about talent and great coaching. I think a lot of luck is also involved and I think they were just unlucky in the semi-final game vs. Brazil as they ran into a red-hot and super talented Brazilian team that simply was not going to be stopped.
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2 Responses for "Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy give stamp of disapproval"
By trying to see all sides and be so middle of the wishy washy road …you exemplify what is wrong with our futbol in this country….it was not luck that defeated them…they were extremely out played by N. Korea….struggled against Nigeria and were lucky more than once with England….come on guy…with Brazil the luck ran out…the USA women’s program is going the way of the men’s….the Fact the Ryan believes patient on the ground style soccer is asking to get ”Slaughtered” show just how ignorant he is…kicking the ball long time after time after time to the work horse Wamback is not style its ugly, ignorant and will never win on the odds with a good team…Unless the girls magcially come together and the midfield plays the ball with an organized fashion…very doubtful…Norway will take them apart too…unless of course Wamback saves the day!!
Everyone who criticizes Hope’s comments by arguing that Brazil would have stomped on the US with or without her, is not seeing the bigger picture. The US team played horribly during that match and yes Brazil ran circles around them. But a huge reason that the team played so poorly was because they were distracted by Ryan’s decision to shake up the team dynamic. They may not have been confident in Scurry’s abilities thus making them feel more pressure. They (and most people watching the game, including the announcers and anyone else who criticized Ryan) thought it was a horrible decision, and how could they trust the decisions of a man who made such an awful decision. The US may have won or lost with Solo in the goal, but I think they would have played a much better game with her in, as they trusted her in goal, her confidence would have reflected in the team dynamic on the field. Everyone forgets that the whole reason the team was in this predicament in the first place was because of Ryan’s universally controversial decision.
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