NEWS: SEARCH BEGINS FOR NEW COACHGreg Ryan is finished as the U.S. women's soccer coach.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said on Monday that Ryan's contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year.
"I'm not going to point to any one factor or one individual decision," Gulati said. "Obviously, coaches' decisions impact games. All that was weighed in."
Gulati, U.S. Soccer secretary general Dan Flynn and retired star Mia Hamm will form the search committee. Gulati expects to a hire Ryan’s replacement in the next month-and-half.
The squad will not play any more matches in 2007 and is set to resume training in January, with the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the horizon.
Ryan was 45-1-9 since taking over in early 2005, but that one loss — in his only major tournament — overshadowed the rest of his tenure.
(Compiled from AP and Chicago Trib reports)
FPS ANALYSIS: Greg Ryan’s problem was that his only loss as head coach was not only on the World stage, but was memorable. The Americans were favored to with their third World Cup and had advanced to the semifinals. Then things went awry for Ryan.
Before their match with Brazil, Ryan decided to make a change in goal, replacing Hope Solo with veteran Briana Scurry. Solo had a shutout string of nearly 300 minutes going, Scurry had previous successes against Brazil but hadn’t played a full match in three months. The rest is history. The Americans had to settle for third place.
U.S. soccer is making the right move. FPS said this should have happened after the semifinal match. Now, if Scurry and the U.S. team won the Brazil match, Ryan would not be in this position. Instead of looking like a genius, the coach looked like a bonehead. There’s no room for mistakes in a sport that has one big event every four years. Justice has been served.
Blogger’s Note: United States women's national soccer team coach Greg Ryan answers questions during a press conference in this Sept. 28, 2007 file photo from Shanghai, China. Ryan is out as the U.S. women's soccer coach. Photo courtesy of AP Photo – Julie Jacobson
4 comments:
Blame this one on the lone ranger, AKA Hope Solo. I gaurantee that if that woman does not spout off, Ryan still has a job. Are you kidding me 45-1-9!!!!! One loss will not get anyone fired (outside the Iraqi soccer team during Sadam's regime who were "fired upon" after losing in the Olympics).
That said, Ryan getting canned is the necessary move to bring respectablity back to the program. The coach made a boneheaded decision that would have affected the entire squad for years to come. By firing Ryan, the public doesn't have a scapegoat (yet) for the next US loss, whenever that may be.
I agree with the B man on this one. It's tough to fire a guy who leads a team to that kind of record, but he did lay his balls right there on the chopping block with his decision to leave Hope on the bench for the Brazil game. It's one of those Les Miles situations, only Ryan's decision didn't pay off like the most recent ridiculous decision of the LSU football coach.
Balls on the chopping block. Nick, that's not a pretty picture. Somewhat Pulp Fiction-esque if you ask me, and not in a good way.
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