No Hope!

Stephen Wade, Sports writer for the Associated Press, reported in an article that “U.S. coach Greg Ryan tossed goalkeeper Hope Solo off the team” (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wwcup-usgoalieflap&prov=ap&type=lgns ). Oddly enough, later in that same article is the statement “Solo hadn't allowed a goal for almost 300 minutes when she was benched.” The removal of Solo from the USA women’s soccer team followed a 4-0 loss to Brazil in which she did not even participate in. She was replaced by the more experienced Brianna Scurry who had success against Brazil a few years back. After the game, Solo said during her press conference that Coach Ryan made “the wrong decision”. This statement is what had her removed. Now, maybe I could understand some type of punishment if Solo was simply criticizing the coach’s decision to bench her, but I still don’t think that she should have been removed from the team. However; in my opinion things change completely when the player making the complaint has such a strong argument. What gives the coach the right to punish a player so harshly for stating her opinion and basically just saying that she would have given the team a better chance to win….especially when the coach has no matter that helps him argue against her point? Solo later included that fact that she was not trying to talk down the performance of her former teammate, only the decision to start her; particularly after Solo had been performing so well in recent games. I feel that, not only Coach Ryan but all coaches are out of line when they punish a player for criticizing the coach’s decision, especially when it seems that the players have a valid point.