R yan sets soccer record straight
José E. Garcia
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 19, 2007 06:25 PM
Greg R yan looked right at home at a Phoenix soccer facility, about three months after losing his job as the U.S. women's national soccer team coach.
Barry Van Patten, director of coaching for the Valley's all-girls Pinnacle Soccer Academy, invited R yan to visit his club after the World Cup in September. If R yan had declined Van Patten's offer, Van Patten probably would have understood.
R yan was verbally flogged by critics and his goalkeeper Hope Solo after R yan decided to replace Solo with veteran goalkeeper Briana Scurry for the World Cup semifinal match against Brazil. Brazil won the match 4-0, then the drama that defined the U.S. in this past World Cup unfolded.
In his final game, R yan coached the U.S. to a third-place World Cup finish with a 4-1 win over Norway. The loss to Brazil was R yan's only blemish (45-1-9 record) in two and a half years as U.S. coach, but that match may have ultimately cost him his job with a program that expects World Cup t itles.
During his two-day training session that ended Tuesday with the Pinnacle Soccer Academy, R yan talked to The Republic about what happened behind the scenes with Solo and Scurry.
Why didn't you take a long break after what happened during the World Cup?
"There's just something great about working with young people. They are so eager and enthusiastic, and it's a chance to give back to the game. I think when you get a chance to coach the national team and you get the benefits of coaching at that level you want to be able to go back to the youth game and say, 'How can I help?' I took a little bit of time, but I thought it was important to not let something like that . . . first of all I feel good about what we accomplished with a young team. I just felt like it was important to get back on your feet and get out there and enjoy life, so that's what I'm doing."
Do you want to coach again?
"I spoke with one of the general managers of the new (women's USA) league (that starts in 2009). They aren't looking to hire until the summer time, so it gives you another six months or so to look around and make sure you're doing what you want to do. You just never know. Coaching has been my life. I've been coaching womens teams for 20 years. I enjoy it, and it probably won't be too long before I'm back at it. I've also been asked to work with another national foreign team as an assistant coach or in a scout-type position. (He declined to say which national team.)"
Would you have done anything different during the World Cup?
"I think at the time, based on what I what seeing, I did what I thought was best for the team. Let's say if I had stayed with Hope in goal, I don't think it would change the result of the Brazil game. I think Brazil was just better on that night, and we got some bit of unlucky scoring with an own goal on ourselves and got a red card on one of our players who didn't foul another player. I look back on it now, and the decision got a lot of publicity, but I don't think it would have changed the result of that game. So in the end, no, I probably would have done the same thing, because as a coach I saw Briana outperforming Hope. I didn't see Hope looking prepared to play against Brazil from what I was seeing from her on the training grounds. As a coach you got to go with what you see."
Were you hurt by the comments Solo made (to ESPN after the Brazil match)?
"Not really. I was disappointed, but I wasn't hurt because I told her when I was a pro player I got suspended for two games for yelling at my coach in the middle of a game and I didn't go to the press, but I was angry. I told her I know what it's like to make mistakes, and Hope knew she made a mistake. And she was sorry she made a mistake."
Did Hope violate any rules? If she did, what were they?
"Missing a team meal on the day we played England, which was the game before Brazil. She was out of the hotel and at another hotel, not with the team. Those kind of things aren't good things, but I don't think in themselves it would keep a player out of the lineup."
Why didn't you bring up the rule violations during the World Cup, especially after Solo blasted you in the press?
"I talked to her about that. I said, 'Hope, you know if they ask me I'll have to be honest about it. But you know I'm not here to make you look bad. I'm just here to help this team be successful.' So we left it at that. I think now enough time has passed by where (I can talk about it) and it's not going to cause more of a problem. The ideal thing in that situation, of course Hope was upset about not playing, but it would have been preferred to keep it within the team and that didn't happen. The players knew what was going on and they supported my decision."
Did you decide not to start Solo against Brazil because she violated team rules?
"You can always deal with rules and violations later. If Hope was on top of her game I would have played her. It was really that Briana looked significantly better than Hope, and I think breaking the rules probably contributed to that. If you are out late at night you are not going to look good training in the morning."
Do you think the goalkeeper decision ultimately cost you your job? And do you think the United States Soccer Federation sided with Solo?
"I knew . . . that the expectations were to win the World Cup. So when they didn't renew my contract, I was disappointed, but I knew it was within their right as a federation to say, 'Hey, if we don't win the final, we can look for a new coach.' So I don't think that (the federation) sided with Hope."
So, knowing what happened, would you have made the same decisions?
"When you look back and say, 'Life would have been a lot easier if I had just let Hope fail against Brazil.' Because I think that's what would have happened. I think we actually would have given up more goals with Hope in there than Briana. And looking back I think for me that would have been the best decision. Because then you don't get all the media scrutiny and all that stuff, and you just get a young goalie who wasn't performing well. But I don't think it would have changed any of the results. I still think we would have finished third and would have beaten Norway in the third place game. But it would have made my life a lot easier. But I've never been a coach to make decisions based on picking the safest thing. I've always picked players on performance, and I felt Briana was performing better than Hope."
So no regrets?
"I can't say there are no regrets. I think the result of all of it is that I've got the best record of any coach ever, but I'm still not employed, so I regret that. But I don't think I would have done it any different."
What did you see during practice that made you decide that Solo wasn't ready for Brazil?
"We played small sided games to big goals, where we were going to get a lot of chances like Brazil would get, dribbling in or around the penalty box. On that day, of the 30 or 40 shots, Hope was giving up three times the number of goals Briana was giving up.
Briana was saving them in the top corners. Hope was letting them go right through her hands, and this was two days before the Brazil game. It was so bad that I brought my assistants down to watch and said, 'Look at this.' Now looking back, correlating the late nights and whatever, maybe it makes a little bit more sense."
Did you or the team talk to Solo about her staying out late?
"A lot of it I didn't find out until the very end. I talked to her after she had blown up in the press, talked about it to her the next day. I told her, 'Hope you know I can go public with this stuff.' But I choose not to."
The team was criticized for playing the long ball too much. Is there some merit to that assessment?
"I think it's fair. We had a young team, and I think we got nervous. And I think our reaction was to play a bunch of long balls instead of just passing the ball. I was constantly on the sidelines trying to calm the team down to play shorter passing, to keep the ball at the back and not to lump it forward, but I think that under the pressure, I think some of the players struggled with it. For a lot of them it was their first World Cup. I knew it was going to be difficult for them because there were so many young players."
What lessons do you walk away from the World Cup experience and your two and a half years as U.S. coach?
"I think the thing I take away is that I did, I always did what I believed what right. And when you walk away, no matter who thinks what, you always know that you did what you believe is right. And you can do anything in life as long as you have that kind of an attitude; doesn't win you every game, but you live with yourself a lot easier."
José E. Garcia
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 19, 2007 06:25 PM
Greg R yan looked right at home at a Phoenix soccer facility, about three months after losing his job as the U.S. women's national soccer team coach.
Barry Van Patten, director of coaching for the Valley's all-girls Pinnacle Soccer Academy, invited R yan to visit his club after the World Cup in September. If R yan had declined Van Patten's offer, Van Patten probably would have understood.
R yan was verbally flogged by critics and his goalkeeper Hope Solo after R yan decided to replace Solo with veteran goalkeeper Briana Scurry for the World Cup semifinal match against Brazil. Brazil won the match 4-0, then the drama that defined the U.S. in this past World Cup unfolded.
In his final game, R yan coached the U.S. to a third-place World Cup finish with a 4-1 win over Norway. The loss to Brazil was R yan's only blemish (45-1-9 record) in two and a half years as U.S. coach, but that match may have ultimately cost him his job with a program that expects World Cup t itles.
During his two-day training session that ended Tuesday with the Pinnacle Soccer Academy, R yan talked to The Republic about what happened behind the scenes with Solo and Scurry.
Why didn't you take a long break after what happened during the World Cup?
"There's just something great about working with young people. They are so eager and enthusiastic, and it's a chance to give back to the game. I think when you get a chance to coach the national team and you get the benefits of coaching at that level you want to be able to go back to the youth game and say, 'How can I help?' I took a little bit of time, but I thought it was important to not let something like that . . . first of all I feel good about what we accomplished with a young team. I just felt like it was important to get back on your feet and get out there and enjoy life, so that's what I'm doing."
Do you want to coach again?
"I spoke with one of the general managers of the new (women's USA) league (that starts in 2009). They aren't looking to hire until the summer time, so it gives you another six months or so to look around and make sure you're doing what you want to do. You just never know. Coaching has been my life. I've been coaching womens teams for 20 years. I enjoy it, and it probably won't be too long before I'm back at it. I've also been asked to work with another national foreign team as an assistant coach or in a scout-type position. (He declined to say which national team.)"
Would you have done anything different during the World Cup?
"I think at the time, based on what I what seeing, I did what I thought was best for the team. Let's say if I had stayed with Hope in goal, I don't think it would change the result of the Brazil game. I think Brazil was just better on that night, and we got some bit of unlucky scoring with an own goal on ourselves and got a red card on one of our players who didn't foul another player. I look back on it now, and the decision got a lot of publicity, but I don't think it would have changed the result of that game. So in the end, no, I probably would have done the same thing, because as a coach I saw Briana outperforming Hope. I didn't see Hope looking prepared to play against Brazil from what I was seeing from her on the training grounds. As a coach you got to go with what you see."
Were you hurt by the comments Solo made (to ESPN after the Brazil match)?
"Not really. I was disappointed, but I wasn't hurt because I told her when I was a pro player I got suspended for two games for yelling at my coach in the middle of a game and I didn't go to the press, but I was angry. I told her I know what it's like to make mistakes, and Hope knew she made a mistake. And she was sorry she made a mistake."
Did Hope violate any rules? If she did, what were they?
"Missing a team meal on the day we played England, which was the game before Brazil. She was out of the hotel and at another hotel, not with the team. Those kind of things aren't good things, but I don't think in themselves it would keep a player out of the lineup."
Why didn't you bring up the rule violations during the World Cup, especially after Solo blasted you in the press?
"I talked to her about that. I said, 'Hope, you know if they ask me I'll have to be honest about it. But you know I'm not here to make you look bad. I'm just here to help this team be successful.' So we left it at that. I think now enough time has passed by where (I can talk about it) and it's not going to cause more of a problem. The ideal thing in that situation, of course Hope was upset about not playing, but it would have been preferred to keep it within the team and that didn't happen. The players knew what was going on and they supported my decision."
Did you decide not to start Solo against Brazil because she violated team rules?
"You can always deal with rules and violations later. If Hope was on top of her game I would have played her. It was really that Briana looked significantly better than Hope, and I think breaking the rules probably contributed to that. If you are out late at night you are not going to look good training in the morning."
Do you think the goalkeeper decision ultimately cost you your job? And do you think the United States Soccer Federation sided with Solo?
"I knew . . . that the expectations were to win the World Cup. So when they didn't renew my contract, I was disappointed, but I knew it was within their right as a federation to say, 'Hey, if we don't win the final, we can look for a new coach.' So I don't think that (the federation) sided with Hope."
So, knowing what happened, would you have made the same decisions?
"When you look back and say, 'Life would have been a lot easier if I had just let Hope fail against Brazil.' Because I think that's what would have happened. I think we actually would have given up more goals with Hope in there than Briana. And looking back I think for me that would have been the best decision. Because then you don't get all the media scrutiny and all that stuff, and you just get a young goalie who wasn't performing well. But I don't think it would have changed any of the results. I still think we would have finished third and would have beaten Norway in the third place game. But it would have made my life a lot easier. But I've never been a coach to make decisions based on picking the safest thing. I've always picked players on performance, and I felt Briana was performing better than Hope."
So no regrets?
"I can't say there are no regrets. I think the result of all of it is that I've got the best record of any coach ever, but I'm still not employed, so I regret that. But I don't think I would have done it any different."
What did you see during practice that made you decide that Solo wasn't ready for Brazil?
"We played small sided games to big goals, where we were going to get a lot of chances like Brazil would get, dribbling in or around the penalty box. On that day, of the 30 or 40 shots, Hope was giving up three times the number of goals Briana was giving up.
Briana was saving them in the top corners. Hope was letting them go right through her hands, and this was two days before the Brazil game. It was so bad that I brought my assistants down to watch and said, 'Look at this.' Now looking back, correlating the late nights and whatever, maybe it makes a little bit more sense."
Did you or the team talk to Solo about her staying out late?
"A lot of it I didn't find out until the very end. I talked to her after she had blown up in the press, talked about it to her the next day. I told her, 'Hope you know I can go public with this stuff.' But I choose not to."
The team was criticized for playing the long ball too much. Is there some merit to that assessment?
"I think it's fair. We had a young team, and I think we got nervous. And I think our reaction was to play a bunch of long balls instead of just passing the ball. I was constantly on the sidelines trying to calm the team down to play shorter passing, to keep the ball at the back and not to lump it forward, but I think that under the pressure, I think some of the players struggled with it. For a lot of them it was their first World Cup. I knew it was going to be difficult for them because there were so many young players."
What lessons do you walk away from the World Cup experience and your two and a half years as U.S. coach?
"I think the thing I take away is that I did, I always did what I believed what right. And when you walk away, no matter who thinks what, you always know that you did what you believe is right. And you can do anything in life as long as you have that kind of an attitude; doesn't win you every game, but you live with yourself a lot easier."
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