making people care

i love soccer. anyone who knows me knows that about me. i play on two teams, i have coached in the past, i had season tickets to our local team, and try to watch on tv when i get some free time. tomorrow morning, the women's world championship of joga bonito will be played on the other side of the world... and the american side will not be in it. the americans will play norway in the consolation game, but american starting goalkeeper hope solo will not be playing with them. in fact, hope solo will not even be dressed or in attendance, even though she has been at the helm of this winning team through much of their recent success.

hope solo was benched 48 hours prior to the americans' 0-4 semifinals drubbing at the hands of marta and the brazilian women's national team. before she was benched, she had shut out her opponents for just under 300 minutes-- over three full games in a row.

now, i was not in the locker room, so i can't speak to why she was benched just before the semis. she's younger, quicker, and fresher than veteran keeper briana scurry, who was the replacement netminder for the brutal loss to brazil. briana has been a solid member of the u.s. women's national team for some years, and i have enjoyed watching her-- but her veteran-ness is perhaps the problem. she's 36. most of the other players of her class (mia hamm, julie foudy, brandi chastain, etc.) have retired-- because they're not at the top of their games anymore. in fact, the only other one left on the team is captain kristine lilly, who is also 36 but will likely be on her way out after sunday's consolation game.

back to hope, though. coach greg ryan (who has not really capitalized on all of the talent he acquired when he took over) benches hope, and then kicks her off the team when she shows some frustration with what turns out to be a very poor line-up choice. the pundits will say it's because hope lambasted briana's play on a public stage (she said she would have made the saves that briana did not), which, granted, was not the smartest thing to do. it was likely more about the frustration of the coaching choice, not frustration at briana. (i have to say, though, i saw the game... and three of the four goals should have been stopped. plus, oy vey, an own goal. we're talking about the goalkeeper on a world-class team here, and three of the four were well in reach of a player of that caliber. that being said, that still leaves one goal, and a 0-1 loss is still a loss.)

it's amazing how many people are chiming in about this whole business. (look, it's even gotten me a little riled.) past players are both calling for coach ryan's job and skewering hope solo for having a voice. it's not all peaches and sunshine in USWNT-land, clearly. articles about the situation even made the front page of yahoo. (not espn, though.)

is this what it takes to make americans care about soccer?