SHANGHAI, China -- Outspoken U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo will
not be with the team for Sunday's third-place game against Norway
in the Women's World Cup.
Coach Greg Ryan announced the decision 24 hours before the game
and just two days after Solo went public and criticized him for
benching her for the semifinal with Brazil. Ryan went with
36-year-old veteran Briana Scurry, but it didn't matter. Brazil
overwhelmed the top-ranked Americans 4-0, superior in every phase
of the game.
Ryan said Solo would not play against Norway, and would not
attend the game. Team officials said Saturday she remained in China
making it likely she will return with the team.
Scurry will now start against Norway.
"We have moved forward with 20 players who have stood by each
other, who have battled for each other," Ryan said on Saturday.
"And when the hard times came -- and the Brazil game was a hard
time -- they stood strong. Now it's the 20 who have stuck together
who will be ready to go out and compete against Norway."
Defending champion Germany will face Brazil in Sunday's
championship game. The Brazil loss marked the second straight time
the United States has fallen in the semifinals of a Women's World
Cup, failing to repeat titles of 1991 and '99.
Solo, 25, in a widely seen interview, said Ryan had made the
"wrong decision" by benching her. She also said she would have
made the saves, an open criticism of Scurry who led the United
States to the '99 title and gold in the 2004 Olympics.
Captain Kristine Lilly and star striker Abby Wambach said Solo
apologized at a team meeting. And on her myspace page, Solo said
she did not mean to criticize Scurry. However, she maintained
Ryan's decision was wrong.
Ryan said he made
the decision to leave Solo off the team after meeting with "team
leaders."
"The circumstance that happened and her going public has
affected the whole group," said Lilly, the 36-year-old striker who
is playing in a record fifth World Cup. "And having her with us
would still be a distraction."
Wambach, who has four goals in the World Cup, called the
controversy "uncharted territory" for the U.S. women, who were
unbeaten in their first four games: a tie with North Korea, and
wins over Sweden, Nigeria and England.
"It just goes to show you have to be professional all the time
and you have to watch what you say," Wambach said.
The goalkeeping flap has turned an otherwise placid World Cup
into one spiced with controversy, boosting its visibility in the
United States.
The third-place game also takes on more significance.
"This is our chance to get back on the field and show our
country and our fans how we can play soccer," Lilly said. "That's
really what's important for this group right now."
Ryan and Wambach said Solo may still have a future with the U.S.
team, but Ryan has suggested the position is deep with young
players coming up.
"Everybody has a potential to have a future with this team,"
Ryan said. "I think what's got to occur is reconciliation and that
is a very slow process."
"She's made a mistake and she knows that," Ryan added.
"Believe me, I've made a tons of mistakes in my life -- bigger than
Hope's."
In her interview after Thursday's loss, Solo said: "It was the
wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the
game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made
those saves. ... You have to live in the present. And you can't
live by big names. You can't live in the past."
Ryan's future is also up in the air.
The United States was unbeaten in 51 straight games before the
Brazil loss, but the lopsided defeat and Ryan's decision to switch
keepers -- Solo had not allowed a goal in almost 300 minutes -- makes
it unclear if he will be retained.
Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer
Federation, said Saturday that Ryan's contract was up at the end of
the year. He did not say if Ryan would coach the team in next
year's Beijing Olympics.
"In all events like this ... we do a pretty quick analysis of
what's happened; what's gone well, what's not gone well," Gulati
said.
"That will happen even more quickly in this case," he added.
"We'll analyze this situation after tomorrow [Sunday]. We've
already starting analyzing it."
