How would you handle this?

[HorsePower]

Forgive 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?

[MustangIcon]

What would you do?

Watch a men's sport that is actually popular in America.

[Red+BlueDude]

That's why he put in the last paragraph with the other sports: football, basketball, etc.

I'm not sure the comparison applies to basketball. If Coach Doherty or Coach Rompola benched their best players, those players are going to sub in and out during the game, anyway. In soccer and football, though, you want your best player on the field from start to finish, unless the game is a rout.

If I'm the coach who does something that stupid, I'd hand in my letter of resignation. He quit at SMU, and surely US Soccer will demand that he resign his current job. He's an embarrassment.

[jtstang]

What would you do?

Watch a men's sport that is actually popular in America.

A.

[mustangnation]

Hope Solo is hot!!!!

[Caballo]

The US has a Women's soccer team?

Go figure.

[MustangStealth]

Hope Solo is hot!!!!

That would be sweet if she has a brother named Han.

[smu diamond m]

Hope Solo is hot!!!!

Agreed

[jkflamebo]

obviously the moron thought it was a right move. he would not purposely put our team in a position to lose the game, it was a major misjudgment on his part. there is no way he should come out and apologize to the world. he was attempting to pull a strategic coaching move that severely backfired on him. solo was indeed pissed and she should be. getting benched in the world cup after playing all the games? it's ludicrous. she is smoking hott too

[Corso]

Yes, she's extremely hot.

The names aren't as famous as Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain, but we still have the most talented women's national team on the planet. Anyone who thought benching a hot (in the sporting sense, not the appearance sense) goalkeeper would be a "strategic move" has no business coaching a team of any kind, let alone our national team.

If I'm running USSoccer, Ryan is unemployed before he gets on the plane after the consolation game.

[SMU Football Blog]

Hope Solo?

I thought Obi-wan was our only hope.

[QuikSStang]

like everyone else, i thought this move was ridiculous. and i still think it was. this is how it was explained to me for those who dont follow womens soccer, or soccer for that matter:

the goalie that replaced the one who had been playing was the hero from the 1999 world cup when we won. i guess the coach felt that experience was more important than skill/hotstreak. this is just like when the patriots turned to tom brady when bledsoe got hurt in 2001. it would be just like belicheck pulling brady from the afc championship game for bledsoe because of his leadership and experience. yes, bad call to pull the hot hand.

if he would have stuck with the same team who had been unbeaten in 51 matches, maybe the coach would still have a job

[MustangStealth]

If I'm running USSoccer, Ryan is unemployed before he gets on the plane after the consolation game.

Keep in mind, this brings his career loss total to 1.