about ryan
are you enjoying the Women's World Cup? If you missed it, there was quite a bit of controversy involving the US v. Brasil match which was played Thursday morning.

The short version is that the US had won their last 51 games in a row, during which Hope Solo was the starting keeper for 40 of them. She had started in all 4 WC games, allowing 2 goals in the first match and then 0 goals in the past 3 matches. Two days prior to the game vs. Brasil, the US coach Greg Ryan, announced that he'd be starting Briana Scurry (36 year old former starter, probably the best keeper ever in the woman's game in her prime) in place of Solo for this match.

The team was thrown into disarray, the media hounded the coach and players for the two days leading up to the game and then Brasil proceeded to demolish a sluggish US side, winning 4-0.

so here's an email I received from Jason earlier today

So, is Greg Ryan as big a dope as he's being made out to be?

Two issues here:

1) The US would most likely have lost that match anyways. Even without the GK controversy and the awful call for a red card on Boxx and the own goal. Brasil didn't just show that they've closed the talent gap, they showed that there's a gap in the other direction at this point. They were amazing.

2) As for mr smartypants, he should be fired immediately after the 3rd place match. The Olympics are next summer and it would be scandalous if he's still coaching them. The last minute goalkeeper change was indefensible. There is not a single scenario in which this was a good idea. It's on par with Steve Sampson (everyone's favorite OKIADB) kicking the serving captain off the US Men's WC team in 1998 and then benching 2 of the veteran defenders en route to a last place finish in France.

In addition to the goalkeeper issue, you have the inexplicable substitution of 2 defensive players when the team is already down 3-0.

And finally you have the fact that Ryan badmouthed the Brasil team days before this match, saying that during a recent game between the two sides that Brasil had just fouled the US the whole time and didn't try to play real soccer. Multiple Brasil players and the head coach cited these comments by Ryan as strong motivation for their team.

So not only did Ryan seemingly choke under the pressure of this match and throw his team into disarray, he also provided prime content for the opponent's locker room, giving them something to rally around.

So yes Jason, despite his success over the past few years with the team, Ryan folded like a paper fan, make a series of inexcusable decisions and is every bit (and more) the dope that he's being made out to be.