Loss of Hope: Did Solo go too far?

HECK YEAH!!! This chick threw her team under the bus. That's no class at all.

She acted and came off as a spoiled brat. It's hard to be a teammate with someone who pouts when adversity comes her way.

Yep. She went way too far on this one.

I found the interview on YouTube since it didn't seem to code properly from ESPN. Hope you don't mind.

If it is a problem, here is the code taken out:

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The fact is, she makes a good point. She handled it wrong and she is now being punished for that. But to tell the public she may possibly find herself out of a job? Is that not now throwing her under a bus. Ryan is using this to cover up the fact that he designed a team to beat Germany and never prepared for Brazil and then he made the ultimate bonehead move and put Scurry in goal. Ryan failed this team more than Solo did but he seems to think she is the only one that has to pay consequences. His contract is up this year and I think you will find that Ryan will be the one on the outside looking in.

Of course she went too far and she feels terrible about it!

The rug was pulled out from under her for NO apparent reason before the biggest game of her life, which would have led to the next biggest game of her life because with the momentum they had from the England game they would have won!

Get off your pedestal & cut the girl some slack! I'd take a competitor like her on my team ANYTIME!

Thanks for stopping by Hope.

Please post some pics of yourself before logging out!

And good luck - go USA!

Coach Ryan threw HER under the bus! Then "some" of her teammates backed the bus up just to make sure the job was done! Three wrongs do NOT make a right! Fire Coach Ryan NOW!

Coach Ryan was wrong...Not Solo.

I think Solo was well justified in her comments much as I feel Mike Gundy was justified in his tirade a week ago.

Solo was on a roll, hadn't allowed a goal in 300 minutes since the opener against North Korea, yet was replaced by someone based on a "reputation" formed years before.

If you are trailing by 6 with 2 minutes to go, do you go pull John Elway out of the stands based on his reputation of leading game winning drives in the waning moments, even though he has been retired for years?

What Solo did that was wrong was dumping Jabba cargo. Oh wait wrong Solo, but she did throw he team under the bus. Even if she is right, you do this in-house.

Didn't Herb Brooks do this kind of stuff all the time with the 1980 team?

Wasn't he later heralded a "genius" after "Miracle on Ice"?

Just wondering...

The fact her nickname is "Solo" says it all.

Making a big deal about what Hope Solo SAID is ridiculous. The only thing that matters is what Greg Ryan DID. Actions speak louder than words, especially in this case. Boo fucking hoo about stupid unwritten rules. Ryan is an idiot who has yet to give an adequate reason as to why he made the switch. There's no question he should be fired and Hope made the number goalie again. If her teammates don't like it, they can go lay under a bus and have it drive over them. Most of her teammates are probably jealous of Hope anyhow. She's a hell of a lot better looking than most of them and girls, whether you, they, or their mothers want to admit it, they get jealous of hotter girls.

This says it all ........

Soccer: U.S. coach should've known not to switch

By Charles F. Gardner Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

So goalkeeper Hope Solo gets thrown overboard after speaking out against Coach Greg Ryan's decision to bench her in the Women's World Cup semifinals. She doesn't join her teammates for the third-place game and is suddenly persona non grata among the team.

Am I missing something here?

The focus is conveniently taken away from Ryan's incredibly stupid decision to replace Solo with Briana Scurry against Brazil. Instead Solo is made out to be the villain because she had the audacity to speak up, even when a U.S. Soccer representative was trying to muzzle her in the mixed zone after the U.S. team's 4-0 semifinal embarrassment against Brazil.

And guess what? Solo was right on with her comments, which plainly were directed at Ryan and not at her teammate, Scurry.

Ryan had no business starting the 36-year-old Scurry against Brazil, after she had not played a minute in the U.S. women's first four World Cup matches. He undercut his team at the most critical time with a wrong-headed choice, and it proved quite costly.

Yes, Brazil dominated the U.S. in the semifinals, and the South Americans might have prevailed with ease even if Ryan had not made the goalkeeper switch.

But consider this: Scurry did not call off midfielder Leslie Osborne on the corner kick serve that resulted in Brazil's first goal, and she was beaten at the near post on the second goal, scored on a sterling individual effort by Marta .

The goalkeeper did not command her penalty area or communicate well with her teammates, and it was no surprise given her lack of recent game experience.

Scurry will always be remembered for her daring save in the penalty kicks shootout against China in the 1999 World Cup final at the Rose Bowl. And she has been the dominant keeper for the U.S. team for a decade, playing in 164 games, including 19 World Cup matches.

But Ryan already had made his decision to go with the 25-year-old Solo, from Richland, Wash., in this tournament. She had started 80 percent of the U.S. team's games over the past 2 1/2 years, and she recorded three straight shutouts (against Sweden, Nigeria and England) before being pulled from the lineup last week.

So when Ryan decided to switch keepers on the eve of the semifinal, it had to raise serious questions and create a confidence crisis for the rest of his team. The bronze-medal victory over Norway yesterday did little to soothe the disappointment over the U.S. performance in China.

Ryan has done a solid job of rebuilding the team with young players, including Brookfield's 24-year-old Osborne, 23-year-old midfielder Lori Chalupny and 21-year-old outside defender Stephanie Lopez . The team did not lose in its first 50 matches under the former University of Wisconsin women's coach, a remarkable record.

But he ruined so much of his good work with his unsettling decision to replace Solo, and it could cost him his position heading into the 2008 Olympics. Even if it doesn't, there is plenty of healing required. He could have taken the first steps in this regard by meeting privately with Solo after the Brazil game, instead of letting the team cast her aside for her honest response to the difficult situation.

Did he expect she would sit silently after being benched in such an important game?

Solo later apologized to her teammates, who were offended that she made remarks critical of Scurry. Instead of owning up to his inexplicable decision, Ryan defended it after the loss to Brazil and said Scurry played a great game.

Come on, Greg. Soccer fans know better than that, and so does your team.

Given Hope's last name, I'm surprised Greg Ryan hasn't acquired a nickname like "Greedo" or "Jabba the Hutt" by now. The latter would probably be more apropos, since he did put Han, er Hope Solo into the sports equivalent of carbon freeze.