Hope Solo thought the same thing that many athletes do on a regular basis – what the hell was the coach thinking? The only difference, she said them on camera. Hope Solo was benched in favor of the other goal keeper, Brianna Scurry, for the semi-final game against Brazil, resulting in a 4-0 rout.
Video of Hope Solo during the match in question showed she was absolutely despondent about being benched (she had played very well up to that point) and the outcome unfolding on the soccer field. After the match, Solo took her frustrations to the media saying straight out that Coach Greg Ryan made the “wrong decision.” Hope Solo said she would have made “those saves” and definitely gave the team a better chance to win.
The decision to kick Hope Solo off the team was a universal one, as Coach Ryan said, that he made with the support of the other 20 players on the team. Hope Solo apologized to the team in a meeting following the comments and said on her Myspace page that she didn’t mean to put down Scurry. She stands by her opinion that benching her was the wrong decision throughout.
Teammates have said this event has drawn more attention than their 4 unbeaten games in the World Cup prior to this incident. Coach Ryan said the process of reconcile will be a slow one in regards to Hope Solo and her comments. The women’s team had went 51 straight games with a loss before the Brazil match and now the future of Coach Greg Ryan is in question.
Hope Solo will not be in attendance for the final U.S. Women’s Soccer game against Norway, but is still in China to get a flight home with the team. Here is Hope Solo’s comments after the Brazil match:
“It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. … You have to live in the present. And you can’t live by big names. You can’t live in the past.”
