As we all had suspected, Greg Ryan is out as USA Women’s soccer coach.  Ryan had a great win/loss record of 45-1-9 with his only loss the beatdown by Brazil in the World Cup.    Ryan obviously did not win the only tournament that matters, the World Cup.

It is unfortunate that Greg Ryan did not get the opportunity to continue as coach at least thru the 2008 Beijing Olympics which is only one year away.  At least we could see how good or bad of a coach he really was.  His predecessor, April Heinrichs did a horrible job in her 6 years losing the 2000 Olympics and 2003 World Cups and got lucky when the team won the 2004 olympics.  Heinrichs had 3 chances to shine and she had the luxury of coaching the veterans including Hamm, Fowdy, Chastain.    Everyone forgets that Greg Ryan is coaching a bunch of young and inexperienced players while the rest of the world has gotten much better.

The USA women’s team has a lot of work to do.  The current players suck and no coach can fix that.  Whether it is Hope Solo or Briana Scurry in goal, it really does not matter.  These players need to get their act together and stop blaming their coach for their failures..  They have a lot to learn….

I would like to congratulate the USA women’s national soccer team on their 3rd place victory in he 2007 Women’s World Cup by defeating Norway this past weekend by a score of 4-1 .  Maybe it is me, but a victory for 3rd place just does not sound like a victory to me.  Does it sound better than 4th place?  I still do not understand its place in sports. 

Last summer, I was fortunate enough to be in Germany during the semi-finals and finals of the 2006 World Cup.  After Germany won the 3rd place match against Portugal, there was a huge celebration and Germans were so proud of their national team and hailed Jurgen Klinsmann a hero.    It was 3rd place!!!!   Should a team feel better about a 3rd place “win” than the team that loses in the finals and finishes 2nd ?? 

This is just another example of how “money talks” in sport as this is the only reason why in both the men’s and women’s World Cups, they still play this meaningless game.  Thank goodness we do not see 5th place, 7th place, and 9th place matches!  There is no place in sports for these meaningless victories.

I just do not understand that 3rd place victory feeling.

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. 

Brianna Scurry or Hope Solo at goal ?  It would not have mattered as there was too much Marta!!  Enough said.  Marta was head-and-shoulders better than anyone on the pitch and she put on a show.    Too much Marta, down to 10 players in the 1st-half on a questionable call…  The End.

Coach Greg Ryan was either going to be a hero for making a great decison if the USA had won or the scapegoat if they lose which is what happened  I give him credit for making a bold decision and going with your gut even thought the decision was not popular.  Hope Solo was playing pretty well after the first match in the pouring rain against North Korea and Scurry hadn’t played a full match in 3 months.   Unfortunately, everyone will blame Ryan for the loss because of the decision instead of the terrible play of his team on the pitch as they all looked terrible!   Marta’s 79th minute goal was incredible and clearly the USA defender does not belong on this team when you get faked out that badly.      That is the real reason why the USA lost.

Anyways, good luck USA in 4 years. 

According to Yahoo Sports, a deal is being finalized to bring Ronaldinho to Chelsea FC for a whopping 70 million euros. 

Wow, if this is true and the deals goes thru, then talk about fireworks at Stamford Bridge!  What a week for Chelsea.  Just when you thought you have seen it all from Abramovich…  You fire your very successful coach and then you sign the best footballer on the planet in Ronaldinho!  

I like the move and it makes perfect sense.  Here is why:

Keep the Faith - Firstly, this move goes a long way in restoring the faith of the the Chelsea faithful who are still furious and confused as hell over the firing of their beloved coach, Jose Mourinho. 

Lampard - Now with Ronaldinho, they have several personnel moves they could make without losing any firepower at midfield.  One option and the most obvious one is to move Michael Ballack and/or Andriy Shevchenko to recoup some money used to sign Ronaldinho.   Neither won have done a damn thing since they arrived at Stamford Bridge.  Another option this gives Chelsea is to let Frank Lampard go.  I know the Enlgish fans would be shocked, but lets not forget that this past off season, Lampard did not sign a contract extension with Chelsea.   I do not recall what his lame excuse was, but essentually he is not sure if he want to play for Chelsea beyond his current contract.  I am sure firing Mourinho does not help matters and neither would a move for Ronaldinho.  Plus, for some reason we have not seen the same Frank Lampard we saw during the 2005-2006 season and his form has also suffered with the national team.   If Lampard does not want to play at Chelsea, let him go sign somewhere else. 

Worldwide Popularity - Ronaldinho is not only the best footballer on the planet, but he is also the most popular.  Lampard and John Terry are not that well-known or that popular outside of England.   Ronaldinho will instantly increase the popularity of Chelsea FC all over the world.  In there last Champions League match, there were only 15,000 fans.  That is ridiculous with all these stars on that team.  Too bad they all lack any excitement.   You could expect more than 15,000 fans at any Champions League game Ronaldinho is playing in. 

Let’s see what happens !!!