2:51 PM Wed, Jan 09, 2008 | Permalink |
So, is she right or wrong? Are you for or against?
I sat down for an extended interview with soccer goalie Hope Solo last week. Tonight our first news story based on that interview will run on KING5. This is the "Moving Forward" story, tracking where she's headed after a controversial and tumultuous World Cup last year during which she alienated many people in the soccer world, the sports world, and especially the "I've-got-kids-in-little-league-and-that-was-just-wrong" world.
She got benched, criticized her coach in public, made her teammates mad, got banned from the sideline and sent home on her own. It was not a good stretch for Hope Solo and she admits she probably should have handled the whole thing differently.
So Hope Solo is focusing ahead, trying to make amends with her teammates on the National team while also saying she has no regrets. She also has her eye on earning the right to be the starting goal-keeper when the Beijing Olympics roll around.
She's already back on the national team and her World Cup coach Greg Ryan is now the ex-coach. He hadn't taken more than two steps off the plane from the World Cup before he got the sack. Gone in a flash after what was widely seen as an unnecessary and rattling decision to sit one of the best keepers in the world and go with a veteran against Brazil (a talented, experienecd veteran) who hadn't seen the field in quite a while. To be fair, the USA team played like they were asleep against Brazil, and were beaten like rented ponies. Goalie Brianna Scurry doesn't deserve the whole blame for that 4-0 blowout. Her players were outplayed and overmatched.
So was Solo right to air her opinions after the switch? Is it OK that she has been welcomed back to the team? I'm curious to hear what others think.
It's 211 days until opening ceremonies...
Maybe she could have handled it differently, but maybe then, the necessary changes including getting rid of a coach unqualified for the position in the first place would have never happened. Hope spoke from her heart. Yes she will have to live with her words, but I am not going to criticize her for voicing the truth. She is still the best U.S. keeper if not the best in the world right now. She should be playing and she should be starting. Any suggestion that she should not be playing because she spoke publically is foolish. I respect Hope for coming through this crisis (most of which she had to do alone), and it all just makes me like the girl more. I have only one jersey for the U.S. national team and that’s #18 Hope Solo’s which I bought AFTER the 07 WWC. I have no doubt there remains great things in her future.