Hope is Golden and Redeemed

ussoccer
A good coach can make all the difference. A bad coach can ruin your World Cup and stomp on your dreams.

I am truth and I approve this message:

Nick Gholson, Times-Record News (TX): Made in China

They are calling the United States men’s basketball “The Redeem Team.”

Well, Hope Solo is “The Redeem Queen.”

Less than a year ago, this kid was blackballed by her U.S. teammates. They wouldn’t eat with her. They wouldn’t fly on the same airplane with her.

Her sin was telling the truth. – that her coach was an idiot.

Solo had been the U.S. team’s starting goalkeeper for the first four games of the 2007 World Cup. She was unbeaten with three straight shutouts.

So what does coach Greg Ryan do? He benches her in the semifinal game against Brazil. With 36-year-old veteran Briana Scurry minding the net, the U.S. lost 4-0.

After the game, Solo was on her way out the door when a reporter asked her what she thought of the coach’s decision. When a PR guy told the guy to only ask questions to the girls who played in the game, Solo got ticked off and gave this answer:

“It was the wrong decision and I think anybody who knows anything about the game knows that. There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves,” she said “You can’t live in the past. It doesn’t matter what somebody did in a gold medal Olympic game three years ago. Now is what matters.”

Ryan benched Solo again for the third place game. Not long after that, he announced she was no longer on the team. Captain Kristine Lilly explained that it was a team decision made by the group.

And we all know the rest of the sorry story. Congratulations to Hope Solo for triumphing over the coach who made the worst decision in the history of sport.