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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Hope Solo, U.S. women look for redemption
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Beijing — It was clear by the time Pia Sundhage took over as head coach of the U.S. women’s soccer program that the team had come a long way since its Olympic debut in Atlanta.
They had devolved from smiles and gold medals and inspiring little girls to dropkick their Easy-Bake Ovens to a relatively miserable, sniping existence that led to teammates ostracizing their goalie. Such transitions from joy to drama queens tend to be reserved for instant-messaging 13-year-olds.
“I will say this,” said Sundhage, a former star soccer player and coach in her native Sweden. “It would have been more difficult for me to come in and make changes if everything was fine and the team had won the World Cup. But I think they were ready for a new approach.”
So she sang.
Against the backdrop of a stunning U.S. exit from the World Cup - goalie Hope Solo verbally backhanded her coach in an interview after being benched and created perhaps the greatest female athletic drama since a kneecapped figure skater - Sundhage sang to her players in the first team meeting.
She chose Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” to get across a message.
“I started laughing,” defender Kate Markgraf said.
Hey, that’s a start.
The U.S. women have reached the championship game for the fourth straight Olympics. Their résumé includes two golds, one silver and a highly improbable return to today’s final against Brazil.
The roster is devoid of familiar names (Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy). The team’s best player, Abby Wambach, suffered a broken leg in an exhibition against Brazil last month. Solo, back as the starting goalie, wasn’t even sure she wanted to play soccer again — and certainly didn’t know if anybody wanted her back. But they’re here.
The team allowed a goal 63 seconds into the Olympics and lost to Norway 2-0. But four straight wins have followed and the Americans ironically now face the team Solo never got a chance to play in the World Cup last year. Then-coach Greg Ryan started goalie Briana Scurry (a member of three previous Olympic teams) over Solo (who had been the starter and was coming off three straight shutouts), leading to so much wreckage.
Brazil won 4-0. Solo went ballistic. If she had merely ripped Ryan after the game, few would’ve had a problem. Instead, a 28-second TV interview included shots at Scurry, notably: “I would’ve made those saves,” and, “It doesn’t matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold-medal game three years ago.”
Ryan’s blunder suddenly moved to the background. Solo basically was blackballed. She was told not to come around for team meals or the bronze-medal game. She wasn’t on the team flight from Shanghai.
Ryan was out of a job three months later, but Solo was still deeply depressed. Shortly before the Games, her father died suddenly of heart failure. A close friend was killed in a car accident. Soccer was her refuge until Ryan’s benching.
“I didn’t think I was coming back,” she said following practice Wednesday. “I didn’t think I’d be here. That’s where I find my pleasure today.”
She eventually apologized. Teammates eventually accepted her. Sundhage, the needed fresh voice from the outside, suggested everybody move forward.
“If we didn’t forgive her,” Heather O’Reilly said, “we would be doing the same amount of injustice that some people think she did to us.”
Solo credited Sundhage for healing wounds. “We needed that outside source to come in and shake things up a little bit and give us a new mind-set about everything.
There’s no time to dwell on the past. She came in with this aura of confidence.”
Asked what she had learned since that evening 11 months ago, Solo said, “With every hardship, you learn a lot. I’ve learned a lot about my closest friends and family members and how you really need them in toughest times. I learned a lot about myself, my teammates, about what to say and what not to say, about emotions. I feel better and stronger and more equipped to handle anything in my life.”
Today’s game has several storylines, she said. What’s hers?
“Whether it’s a player or a team, everybody likes a redemption story,” she said.
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