How would you handle this?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:28 amForgive me for putting this on the football board, but this obviously gets the most traffic.
I'm a huge soccer fan. I've been watching the women's World Cup, and as I detailed on the Other Sports board, former SMU coach Greg Ryan is screwing up the best women's team in the world, largely because he's a crappy coach. All that aside, here's the deal:
His goalkeeper, Hope Solo, has been on fire in the World Cup, giving up ZERO goals in more than 300 minutes. So Coach Genius benches her for the semifinal match against Brazil in favor of Briana Scurry  a very talented player in her own right, but one who hadn't played a full match in THREE MONTHS. Not surprisingly, she came in and didn't have it. Her timing was off, her reactions were slow, and Brazil destroyed the U.S., 4-0.
After the game, Solo (as you might imagine) was pissed. She comes out and says it was the wrong decision and that she had no doubt she would have made the saves Scurry didn't. I'm a little uneasy with public announcements about superiority over teammates (even if it's blatantly true), but she said what she said, and called out the coach for being a moron (also blatantly true).
Now the Americans have to play a consolation game Saturday. Who does Ryan play? The out-of-sync vet who gave her all but couldn't stop anything and therefore might have zero confidence at the moment? Or the superior player who pointed out just what an idiot her coach is? There's a story out this morning that quotes him saying players have the right to say what's on their minds, and this is a hurdle that he and Solo will work to get past, but there is serious damage here. Players undoubtedly are divided on the subject. Some might side with each goalie, and some surely think Solo was out of line for saying what she did to the press.
If it was my team, I put Solo back in and publicly  in front of the team, in front of the press  admit that I screwed up, and I cost the country a chance at the World Cup title. If Scurry doesn't like it, and surely she wouldn't, that's too bad. She's a good player, but she's nowhere near Solo's level right now. Ryan owes Solo more than a start, and he owes the rest of the team that he robbed of a chance to compete.
Say this was Schellas Hyndman and Bruno Guarda called him out like this? Or Matt Doherty and Derrick Roberts? Or Phil Bennett and Justin Willis? Or Rhonda Rompola and Janielle Dodds? What would they do?
What would you do?
I'm a huge soccer fan. I've been watching the women's World Cup, and as I detailed on the Other Sports board, former SMU coach Greg Ryan is screwing up the best women's team in the world, largely because he's a crappy coach. All that aside, here's the deal:
His goalkeeper, Hope Solo, has been on fire in the World Cup, giving up ZERO goals in more than 300 minutes. So Coach Genius benches her for the semifinal match against Brazil in favor of Briana Scurry  a very talented player in her own right, but one who hadn't played a full match in THREE MONTHS. Not surprisingly, she came in and didn't have it. Her timing was off, her reactions were slow, and Brazil destroyed the U.S., 4-0.
After the game, Solo (as you might imagine) was pissed. She comes out and says it was the wrong decision and that she had no doubt she would have made the saves Scurry didn't. I'm a little uneasy with public announcements about superiority over teammates (even if it's blatantly true), but she said what she said, and called out the coach for being a moron (also blatantly true).
Now the Americans have to play a consolation game Saturday. Who does Ryan play? The out-of-sync vet who gave her all but couldn't stop anything and therefore might have zero confidence at the moment? Or the superior player who pointed out just what an idiot her coach is? There's a story out this morning that quotes him saying players have the right to say what's on their minds, and this is a hurdle that he and Solo will work to get past, but there is serious damage here. Players undoubtedly are divided on the subject. Some might side with each goalie, and some surely think Solo was out of line for saying what she did to the press.
If it was my team, I put Solo back in and publicly  in front of the team, in front of the press  admit that I screwed up, and I cost the country a chance at the World Cup title. If Scurry doesn't like it, and surely she wouldn't, that's too bad. She's a good player, but she's nowhere near Solo's level right now. Ryan owes Solo more than a start, and he owes the rest of the team that he robbed of a chance to compete.
Say this was Schellas Hyndman and Bruno Guarda called him out like this? Or Matt Doherty and Derrick Roberts? Or Phil Bennett and Justin Willis? Or Rhonda Rompola and Janielle Dodds? What would they do?
What would you do?