Brianna Scurry has terrible form for a goalkeeper. I would not tolerate it from a HS player, college player, let alone a pro. She got away with it and looked decent in the peak of her career due to athleticism and lack of quality opponents. She is on the team now due to her past, not the present or future. Hope Solo has very good form and has played quality games with clean sheets in the time the womens game has evolved. So I agree with everything that Hope Solo said after the match. I will never understand why Greg Ryan made this terrible move. Scurry may have played awfully, but Ryan is the one who chose her for the squad and decided to play her in such an important match. So my vote for LVP (Least Valuable Person) is still Greg Ryan.
Abbreviated Match Analysis of Scurry (this is what I do for a living some of the year- my analysis is way too lengthy to post here so I will keep it to GK and coaching main points): Minute 7- misses badly on a lobbed free kick, lucky US is not down 0-1 at this point as Brazil shot over an empty net. This sets the tone for the entire match, the US can not play with confidence or numbers going forward at this point on. First corner sequence- Scurry stays on line instead of taking two steps and using her HANDS to make a catch on the cross. Leads to second corner- Scurry yells "mine" way late. Should have yelled "away" or "keeper" as soon as it was read (which she did way too late). Osbourne had to make an effort as she has no idea what is going on behind her. Second goal- Scurry leaves room at near post and gets beaten there. She should not ever get beaten near post from that distance and dives toward the goal trying to make the save instead of toward the ball, making the angle more difficult and lessening the chance to make an EASY save. Third goal- She was still thinking of second goal and probably told by Ryan at the half not to leave the near post open. She was way out of position again- was almost beyond the near post when shot was taken and dove backwards again. Poor form and poor positioning. Fourth goal- In position to make the stop, yet dove backwards instead of toward the ball AGAIN! Attacking the ball and diving forward- hands first instead of feet first is the only way to make a save of this distance (and good form overall). Saves she made: Early ball into middle (lob off another free kick)- caught the ball in the air but needed to catch it off her chest instead of with hands (poor form again). Save from close distance in second half that looked good to naked eye- lucky it didnt become another goal- led with her feet forward and hands toward her goal. Through ball in second half- came out strong, yet led with her feet again and her hands toward the goal. If stronger pressure was there it would have been another goal. Overall- On a scale of 1-10, maybe a 3, which is what I would expect from a good club or college keeper, not a national team player. Result: The early deficit was too much to come back from. The team played long ball due to the possible problems of building it up. If they build up and lose ball they get Scurry in trouble again. If they play long ball they either get a scoring chance or have more time to defend as a team. When they were down a man (woman) they still brought in a defensive sub (Elliston) for an offensive player (O'Reilly) to man mark Marta due to no trust in Scurry. Ryan did not want to bring in Solo, or he would lose face. By trying to contain Marta he ended up playing defensively while down instead of offensively. He was trying to minimalize the loss instead of trying to steal the game. As a result he ended up giving more chances and losing worse than necessary. Yes Ryan made a bad choice, it would be too easy to blame the player. If Ryan spent any time in training watching Scurry play he would know she was not the choice. Scurry has always had bad form but he still chose her without any effort to change the form or get the help to do so. Or he did and it did not work, which makes the decision even worse. If Ryan keeps Solo as GK the team comes out looser, plays their brand of soccer without worrying about what is going on behind them. It changed the entire complexity of the game start to finish. His decisions during the game afterwards did not help his cause. If he wanted to man mark Marta he should have done it from the start or once she started to make an impact- with a starting defender, not one off the bench. Game adjustments are not that difficult.
"I would have made those saves." "Anyone who knows about soccer..." Whether or not she is right, I think it is unacceptable for Hope Solo to be making these sorts of statements in public. There are some rules for team sports that include not bagging your team mates or your coach. If any one of my Under 16 girls had said this sort of thing after a defeat, they'd be off the team. Urall cloolis - good analysis, however I disagree with your assessment of the third and fourth goals. In the third, Christiane was unmarked 10 yards out with only the keeper in front of her, and she placed it beautifully in the corner. Not the keeper's fault - no-one could have saved it. Similarly, the fourth had Marta about 7 yards out, having already beaten three defenders. Scurry had no chance and no time to fully react. Also, Australia came from 2-0 down against Brazil in the QF, so the US wasn't out of it if they had changed their approach. The sending off didn't help, but even up to that point their play was one dimensional. I have trouble getting my players to go in between the sticks, so the last thing we need is everyone blaming the keeper for conceding goals. I tell them every week that it has to get past 10 others before it comes to the keeper. Simplistic, maybe, but in the game I watched last night, the US progressively lost the midfield, then their attack, and finally their defence. The rot didn't start with the player wearing Number 1.
owl- I agree on the defending on third and fourth goals- my analysis was only on the Goalkeeping / Coaching decision. I agree that the defense should have never given up the yardage and space to make the shots happen. I will still stick to my asessment that Solo would have had a better chance to make each of those saves and that Brianna was out of position on the third and dove backwards instead of toward the ball, cutting off the angle on the fourth. Brilliant play by Marta to set it up and finish. I am not blaming Scurry- just stating reasons why she should not have been in at all (COACHING ERROR) through my analysis. Owl- again- I like the fact and preach it- that GKs at youth level should be encouraged, not broken down. But we are talking World Cup, not youth. The analysis provided was more for SpoFi to understand why the decision was poor and how it effected the teams performance overall, other than "well, they didnt score so it doesnt matter" attitude of many SpoFi posters. I do like hearing other coaches/players viewpoints and unlike Ryan try to pick up even the slightest bit of info that could help me or a team in the future. Cheers!
I still think Solo was correct in her statement. Trolley had a great link earlier on the circumstances in which the comments were made. While she threw Scurry under the bus, I do not think that was her intention. I think she was trying to say why the decision was bad, even if it came out worse. By the press manager saying she is not allowed to comment since she didnt play pissed her off and helped her make the comment more than anything else. She will probably be suspended for the 3rd place game as a result, but it needed to be said and may open the USSF up to accountability on their coaching choices. But that is one of the traits that makes a good goalkeeper...headstrong and the belief that they can stop anything, it only increases my belief that Solo is the right goalkeeper for the US Womens Team.
I still think Solo was correct in her statement. Do you think she should have made it though? It seemed like a lack of maturity on her part, to be that visibly upset in front of a camera. I completely understand why she was upset, but in the long term she's hurt herself as a teammate and there's no team she can beat without 10 other people.
I don't think there was really anything to be gained by Solo making that statement in public. I wonder, though, if she'd already said the same things privately and more diplomatically and been blown off. I think it was still a mistake to vent in public -- the past is past, and as for the future, I'm sure that all the people who would influence future decisions on coaching and strategy already knew what the deal was without having to hear Solo tell it. But Solo might not have understood that. In any case, sounds like Ryan's trying to kiss and make up.
Do you think she should have made it though? That is a tough call. If the situation was handled properly the comments would have never been made, and probably shouldn't have been. But I definitely understand why the comments were made and that it was the truth. Being visibly upset, it is the coaching staffs responsibility to recognize this and to handle it promptly. I have no problem going to a player or team and admit any mistakes that I have made, before anything snowballs. Ryan should have went to Solo immediately after the match or in its waning moments and told her, "I fucked up, lets talk about it at the hotel". Instead Ryan still claims he made the right decision, refusing to accept any responsibility for the loss. That being said, I also believe that Solo owes Scurry an apology about how it came out.
I wonder, though, if she'd already said the same things privately and more diplomatically and been blown off. Ah, good point. At that age, in that scenario, I would have done and said far worse.
Hope Solo is very hot, and is probably a better player as well, even though Scurry's prime was better than Solo altogether. You have to remember Scurry wong the World Cup, and Solo has not. Scurry will probably start Sunday, and they will lose. Hope Solo shoul not be so andry, even though she has a right to be to some degree. I hope Solo does not yank that ridiculous ring out of her nose. The nose ring goves one point to Briana for professionalism.
You have to remember Scurry wong the World Cup, and Solo has not. It's pretty hard to win the World Cup when you don't even start.
Thanks for the video link. btw, the Marta goal was the best of any of the highlights of the US v Brazil match. The defenders looked slow, as did Brianna. The US own goal was bad defending. Why go for a header when a boot would've been easier and safer? Plus, defender on the line and keeper could've called for it. Just amateurish. The Boxx red card was a total travesty. I don't know how you can red card someone when they get elbowed in the back. And effing Cristiane goes running off cheering the decision should;ve got a yellow card for misconduct -- but didn't. TWO BAD CALLS. They should suspend the ref, fer crying out loud -- they did the same thing to an EPL ref who gave a penalty kick in a Liverpool v Chelsea match when a Chelsea player went flying even tho nobody had touched him. Video review proved it. The ref apologized. And he was suspended for a few matches. Too bad the result stood, but fair enough acknowledgement. Woulda been cool if they fined the player, too. Is there any investigation of this red card incident? The rest of the goals were cheap. Seems like the US players were running scared, more than anything. And again, Marta totally PWN3D the US defender with the flick-and-turn.
Hope Solo is very hot The only part of this discussion that I feel qualified to fully agree with :-) The video clips of her with that pouty/pissed look on the bench made her look more hot, too. :-)
Solo has a stake in this team, it's future, and her own career. The coach made a terrible, highly questionable decision that cost this team a great deal, not just in world ranking, but also in sporting bra ad contracts. I don't blame her for speaking out at all, especially if a private conversation didn't get anywhere. What I can't believe is that not a single spofier has asked how much money Ryan had on this match.
