Greg Ryan fired

Greg Ryan, coach of the US Women's National Team, was let go today.

Any thoughts on that?
Specifically, any thoughts on what direction the US team should take, and who should succeed Ryan?

That is huge news Geezer. I read the transcript of the annoucement on US Soccer.com. He can spin it all he wants...but its pretty obvious that Sunil Gulati thought Coach Ryan's keeper change was the wrong decision and was ultimately detrimental to the team's success. The China syndrome was the cause of his (non-renewal)...let just call it firing.

I have a feeling the new coach might have recent player roots.....Foudy? Fawcett? Chastain? Hamm? Personally, of the 4...I'd like to see Foudy coach the team. I think she'll add a different dynamic to the player-coach relationship that the US team hasn't had before...more open and informal interactions? We'll see? They don't have much time to prepare till the Olympics! Are they going to start over and audition different players...keep the same team intact? The next couple of months is going to be very very interesting!

Actually, I'm hoping that the Hope Solo thing wasn't the reason. Although a coach is supposed to position his team to best advantage for a match, Ryan seemed to sabotage the squad before its biggest game. It's almost like he panicked,

But I hope the real reason is that Gulati thinks that the US team hasn't been playing very smart soccer for 6 or 8 years, now. That was Tiffeny's beef when she said she couldn't play for April, and I think it's still true.

We seem to depend on being the better athletes rather than the smarter players. Creativity, rather than being rewarded, is actually discouraged.

The whole offense seems to be to pound the ball into the box hoping for a set piece to come out of the try, and hoping our players were stronger than the opposition.. With the exception of one or two games, I see very little offensive "Style" to the US games.

They could use a coach like Jerry Smith to show them how to build a team. I wonder if he's had enough of college ball? I think if they took the current athletes and showed them Santa Clara/ Portland style ball, they'd be a lot better force on the field.

Mia Hamm is on the Three member committee, so we'll probably see more North Carolina ball.