Finally, a semblance of reality has a chance to penetrate the US Women’s National Team. Head Coach Greg Ryan’s contract will NOT be renewed.
it certainly isn’t just about one loss or one particular coaching decision. In this case, after looking closely at the last six weeks and the team’s performance at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, we have made a decision to change leadership of the U.S. Women’s National Team.
I haven’t found a single individual among the many male coaches and players I talk to that agreed with or supported the way things went down in China. I have yet to hear from any of the girls or women but I’d love to know your thoughts. For me personally, it soured me enough that I have not been interested in covering the ladies, including their recent game in St Louis.
The new coach will have his or her hands full dealing with the ‘team’ mentality that seemed to be more focused on shutting out Hope Solo then the realities of running a team that is built on competition. I’ll update this story with pointers as they begin to appear.
Project 20?? - When Ryan says that he can’t play possession football despite having a player advantage nonexistent on the men’s side, it reveals real limitations in both Ryan and the coaches he trained our women as they were growing up. Much of the time these are some of the same coaches training our boys at the club level.
He continues with I’ve seen the commercial where they demand to be treated like athletes; I always do so. But the door swings both ways. You can’t demand to be treated like an athlete when it suits you and act like you are all big sisters in a sorority when it suits you.
My Soccer Blog - The lack of a quality league has also stunted the growth of the women’s game. This has limited the player pool to those that Ryan and company think to make the cut as well as decreased the time players have to develop.
Post a Comment