It's old news by now that Greg Ryan is the new head coach of women's soccer at University of Michigan. He officially accepted that position on Friday. What you might not know is at that he is in Vancouver this week helping Even Pellerud and Team Canada prepare for the Olympics.

I talked with Greg about the work he is doing for Canada, his new job at Michigan and though I've pretty much managed to stay out of the "he said/she said" of the World Cup aftermath, I had a few questions about how he handled things that I hoped he could clarify.

How did it come about that you are in Vancouver working with Even Pellerud and the Canadian National Team as they prepare for Olympic Qualifying?

Even and I have a great relationship from the time that I started working. We’re peers and colleagues and friends. When I would come to Vancouver to scout his teams, he would take me to dinner. When he came to scout, I would take him to dinner. I know his assistant coach and the general manager very well from being at events all over the world. He contacted me about coming in and helping out. We haven’t established whether that will be just now and again or a little more consistent. We’re just working together this week and seeing how things go. He’s kind of organizing his staff for the Olympics.

What’s the scope of the work you are doing with them?

This week I’ve been watching and learning what they do and seeing where I can fit in to helping them whether it would be a scouting assignment or an extra set of eyes from another international coach or in actually being more hands on in training. As you know, I’ve just taken on the University of Michigan job so I have my hands full there as well.

How will that fit in with your job at Michigan? I assume you are a little behind the game in recruiting, having just taken over.

Recruiting for this year is already over. The kids that the past coach recruited signed today. This year that’s done. Obviously we do need to get to work on the next couple of years in terms of recruiting, but you know you can only get so much done in 24 hours.

At Michigan, we are really looking at a pretty long-term plan in terms of getting the right players into the program and trying to raise the standard. Right now, we have the players we have and they’re working very hard and they have great attitudes, but clearly, my ability to recruit both domestically and internationally will need to work for us to really be able to take it up another notch or two.

You met your team this past weekend. How did that go?

It went great. It was fun and I think they are excited about the change. We’ve had some training sessions this week. My assistant coach, Dean Duerst, is also a U-18 National Team coach for the U.S. and he’s an assistant for the U-23 team. He worked with them this week while I was in Vancouver and then he’s in Spain next week with the U-23’s and I’ll be working with the team. We’re off to a good start. We know we have a long ways to go. This isn’t the U.S. National Team. I don’t think I will only lose one game in three years, but that’s okay.

How are you feeling about moving back into college coaching and specifically the Big Ten?

I feel good about it. I love coaching. I knew that as soon as my job was up with U.S. Soccer that I would land somewhere coaching. I’m excited about it. I love working with players. I love helping players develop and grow. I feel like I had that same situation at a different level with the U.S. team in that we had so many young players come through our program that had opportunities to step up. I think Michigan is similar, just not on the same level. They’re still young kids. It’s a very young team with a lot of maturing and growing to do. I like that process.

Has your experience with the National Team made you a better coach?
Definitely. Both as an assistant coach with April, I think I learned and grew a lot. You know, the NCAA puts a lot of limits on your coaching in terms of number of days. I feel like in the last five years, I’ve probably coached more than most coaches coach in ten years at the college level, especially with the residency programs - three out of four years when I was with the National Team. Any time you’re out there on the field every day training and traveling the world scouting, it’s just a fantastic developmental opportunity.

Without doing a whole rehash of the World Cup drama, I have a couple questions going back to China. Do you feel like you had the team prepared for the World Cup?

As well as we could be. Given that many of the young players had never been in that environment with the number of people in the stands, with the pressure, with the media, with the sponsors clamoring for their attention. I think as much as we could be prepared, we were prepared.

What kind of responsibility do you feel for how they played in China and for the loss to Brazil?

I look at it like we played 55 games and we had one stinker. In that game, we scored an own goal and had a red card by half time. That’s just soccer. Anybody that knows the game understands that when you have a red card early in the game that things aren’t going your way and you score an own goal on yourself early, things aren’t going your way. And to be honest, I thought Brazil was just better, not only because of those circumstances. So as a coach, your job is to put a team on the field that you think can beat your opponent and it’s up to them to try and do that. On that night, Brazil was just better. I feel great about what I did. They’ll never have another coach that plays 55 games and loses once. I’m serious. Wait and see.

Even before Brazil, you and the team were taking hits in the media for the style of play. It wasn’t pretty enough and so forth.

The level of opponents in our group throughout the tournament was much, much higher. If you look at being able to possess the ball better … I mean certainly, our style of play that we’ve played over the last few years was not kick and run game, but I think we got into that in the World Cup because of the pressure that certain players felt. I think Aly Wagner’s injury took a player off that might have been able to help us settle down and hold the ball. I look back and say everything we were trying to do was to get our team to settle down and play, but the level of opponent and the pressure of the event got to some of them. It’s a game of 11and if all 11 aren’t in sync, it doesn’t look very good. I even look back in Greece in the Olympics. I tell you, I only think we played one good game the entire tournament and that was against Germany in the semi-final. I didn’t think it was very pretty. I think we played very poorly in most games. Japan was an okay game, but other than that I thought the team was sub-par.

You did an interview for the FIFA website and you made a comment that your detractors have rallied around. You said, "Back then, you could get away with playing little passes all over the field and have success doing it. But in the modern game, a team that just knocks the ball around the middle of the park is going to get killed doing it.” It seems that from that comment you’ve gotten a reputation of not valuing possession soccer. Is that a fair assessment of you coaching philosophy?

That’s people that don’t actually understand the game. What I meant by that was, in the old days, because many of the teams were subpar you could play five and 10 yard balls all day without stretching the opponent and play through them. Anywhere in the modern game around the world you’re going to see teams that are using the long ball to play behind a flat back four to be able to stretch the defense back, not only to create more chances, but to create more space in front of the defense. You’ve got to have a more varied attack. That includes some long passing and some short play. We worked on those things for three years straight and had great success with it. I don’t think anyone would have typified our game as a long ball game going into the World Cup.

Of course not everyone who has an opinion about it now was watching before the World Cup.

That’s fair. We don’t live in a soccer culture. We don’t have people who have grown up with the game and most of the people that comment on it don’t actually understand it.

At the time everything kind of imploded, you were quiet about what had been going on behind the scenes, but then you came out in December with more information about what led to the goalie switch. Why?

Initially, when everything blew up, if I go public with the stuff Hope does then I’m putting Hope in a very bad light right there in front of the whole world. At the time I talked to her and said we’re just going to manage the best we can. We’ve got the Norway game and we’re still playing for a bronze medal and it wasn’t the time or place for a coach to go after one of his players in front of the world media. That was the initial timing. After that, I wanted to be able to clear the record and I wasn’t able to do that. The timing of my comments on Fox Soccer Channel and an article that was published in Arizona allowed me the chance, after my contract was up, to clear the record. Perhaps it was at a better time because things had settled down and it allowed the team to move on a little bit.

Were you concerned at all that it would open things up for the team, who now answer to a new boss, and put them in an awkward situation having to answer questions about your comments?

The fact that I was actually honest about it was probably helping the team because it was their same opinion and they got hammered for it in the press. The press looked at it as vindictive but I looked at it as standing up for what was right. If nothing else it brought to light some things that people didn’t know about it. I said at the time, “Look, I believe my players have this right and the rest of the world can say what they want.” If you have a player that was doing the things that Hope was doing and training the way Hope was training and saying the things about her teammates that Hope was saying and the players stand against it, I’m sorry they’re right and I back them.
What do you take away from the whole National Team experience?

I had a great time. I love my players. Even though I pushed them quite a bit, I always loved my players. I back them and I’m excited about their future. I’ll follow them and I told them I’ll be their biggest fan except of course now I’m working with Canada. (Laughs.)

Yeah, I wonder how that’s going to go over.

I emailed all of them and Pia and I’ve let them know many times, how much I think of them and how I appreciate how much they gave to the team and to me. I just walk away with a fantastic experience and a record that no U.S. National Team coach has ever achieved and to me, I just look back and say it was fantastic.

With the record in mind, is it difficult how things ended?

It’s disappointing but when you take a National Team job, you know what your last day’s going to be like. I knew it going in. I never had any illusions that I would get what I wanted or things would be the way I thought they should be. It’s not a secure position and it’s not my choice as to whether I coach the team. It’s someone else’s. When you’re a pro, you understand that every day you’re out training could be your last day. In the end, I had a great experience. I’m thankful for it and I’m excited about where I’m going. How’s that for the right thing to say?

Greg Ryan confirmed that he accepted the women's head coach postion at University of Michigan today. Check back in a day or two for for an interview with Greg.

The Michigan Daily is reporting that former USWNT coach, Greg Ryan, will be named head women's coach at the University of Michigan. We haven't been able to confirm this yet, but will keep you posted.

Christie Welsh has been so close to being a core member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. She’s been an Olympic alternate and been one of the last handful cut right before a big event more than once. In 2005 she was the team’s leading scorer and seemed a shoo-in for the 2007 World Cup. Then in 2006 without much of an explanation she fell off the radar. She wasn’t with the team again until late April of 2007 and was one of the last three cuts from Greg Ryan’s World Cup roster. She’s been invited in to the February mega-camp and is looking forward to another chance to prove she belongs.

Welsh talked candidly with Fair Game about the ups and downs of her National Team career a few days before heading to California to try and prove herself again.

You gave me a little hint in Baltimore that you had been talking with Pia, and you’ve officially been called into the Feb 1 camp, I guess we can talk about it now.

Basically they are bringing a large group in and there’s two groups and I’m part of the larger group that’s, I guess you could say, battling it out in the first week to try and get to stay for the second. There are 37 people total.

Let’s talk about your career as a whole. You’ve been in and out since 2000 with a lot of ups and downs. Back in 2005, you were on fire, you were the leading scorer and then 2006 you were kind of off the radar again.

I have been doing this since 2000 and it’s been up and down the entire time. Looking at this camp right now, I’m extremely excited to go in. As you get older and after you’ve been in and had the experience, all you want is a chance again. Every time you go in you think, “Alright, this is it.” I thought last spring when I went in was it. I thought, “If I don’t do this now this is it.” And I thought the year before this is it. Every time you go in, you have to make the most of it because you never know when it’s going to be over.

With that, as you go in and you’re let go, all you want is another chance. It’s been up and down. I think back in 2000, I was extremely young and I had no idea what was going on. I think I played well during that time because, my expectations on my self are always high, but the expectations of others was low so you just went out and played. You didn’t worry and you didn’t even know what was going on. You’re like, “Okay, I get to play more soccer. This is fun. The chance to play in the Olympics, wow. Okay.”

And gradually my expectations became more and the expectations of other people on myself definitely increased. I think 2005 was a great year for me. 2006, I went into residency and had a few injuries. I got diagnosed with spondylothesis, which is like slippage of your vertebrae. I got diagnosed with that and I was having major back issues, which I had never really had before. It slowed me down for a bit and I wasn’t able to regroup. In the eyes of Greg (Ryan), I wasn’t able to regroup and get back to where I was supposed to be. At the end of that year, he released me from contract.

In 2007 I knew that I was basically going to have one chance and that was it. At the beginning of 2007, I had been in touch with Greg all the time saying, “Bring me in. Bring me in. Bring me in.” I went in and I think I played the best that I’ve ever played and basically at the end of it, I was told, “Well it’s too late. You did a great job but I’m pretty solid with what I have.”

I wondered at the time, because it was so late and you hadn’t been in for a while, if you were getting a legitimate shot or if he was strictly brining you in to help prepare the team.

I didn’t know either. He constantly reminded me, “You had a great Algarve Cup in 2005 when I was trying to get the job. You performed great. I know what you are capable of. I need you to play like that.”

That’s all I kept hearing in 2006 as I was kind of slipping off. Sometimes there is kind of a downward spiral with players and coaches. Once you’re not doing well, you kind of fall off the radar and it’s hard to get back on. Especially at that level when there are some great players competing around you. When he moved Tarp (Lindsay Tarpley) up to forward as well, that really hurt me. He made that move at the end of 2006. She was playing great and Natasha Kai coming in, she’s got some qualities that are above and beyond a lot of players. You have to compete.

It just came down to performance. You don’t perform well and you kind of slip off the coach’s radar and it’s hard to get back in there, especially when other people are performing. I don’t think my level dropped that much, I just think that it dropped enough for me to not have that spot. All I thought about last year going into residency again was, “I’ve got to be ready because if I don’t go in there and make a huge impact, it’s not going to matter.” I was pushing as hard as I could to get in early last year but I wasn’t’ asked in until late April. At that point I don’t know if there is much I can do but I just have to work my butt off. I was extremely proud of what I did. It just wasn’t enough.

The difficult thing for me was hearing that last year. Being that close again and knowing I should definitely be there and can be there and proved that I should be there, but it’s too late.

Timing is everything with this game and you see that with players that come in and out. Look at Amy Rodriguez right now. She had a fantastic College Cup and comes in right away with the National Team with Pia being the head coach, there’s a nice transition there. She’s getting a shot that for a long time she hasn’t been able to have. She was in a while ago and she’s always been a great player with fantastic speed and good finishing ability. Maybe this is her time now.

You’ve been an Olympic alternate, one of the last one’s cut right before the big events …

In 2000, technically I was an alternate and 2004, which 2004 I believe was my best in terms of making an impact. In 2000 I’m not sure I was really that close to even be considered an alternate, but in 2004 I should have been on the team if not an alternate. I remember sitting in the meeting with April and I was like, “So that’s it? I’m not even an alternate?” (Laughs.) And that was sort of it.

Having been through the ups and downs, how do you emotionally get yourself up for it when you get the call to come back in?

To be honest, I don’t even have to get myself up for it. I’ve had all this time to sit and stew over everything. When I talk to my mom, she says, “Don’t get your hopes up again.” She takes that approach with me because she’s been on the other end of the phone, so many times when I’ve been bawling my eyes out because my dream has been crushed. She’s got that perspective and I’m thinking, “I’m not going to (excuse my language) half-ass it.” If I’m going in there then I’m going in there 100%.

As soon as I found out that Pia was the coach, I tried to get in touch with her to let her know that I’ve been there and know what it takes. I know the players and I know what I can bring. If nothing else, I can go in there and make players better. I don’t know if that’s what Greg brought me in for last year, but he didn’t communicate that to me. I don’t think many coaches would. The big thing is, as you get to this age and you’re older and you’ve been in, all you want is the honesty. If I’m going to be that role player, please tell me.

I’ve had this time to look at my career and look at everything and we’ve been waiting for this league to start up again. I just want to play. Right now all I’m thinking in my head is how excited I am to be able to go out to LA for one, maybe two weeks, if I get to stay and just play soccer and just worry about that. In all this time in between I’ve had to figure out how to pay health insurance every month and how I’m going to pay rent.

What have you been doing to pay health insurance and rent?

Before last summer I was in constant communication with Greg trying to figure out the best way to get myself ready to go into camp. I spent the beginning of last year and my own money and took myself out to Athletes Performance, which basically runs out of the Home Depot Center. I went out there for about 3 and half weeks in January and February of last year. Then I went to Penn State and trained there. I needed to get in an atmosphere where I could be playing so I moved down to DC in the very first week of April last year and just started training down here with the Freedom and the players that were around. I got myself ready and then I went into residency and then came back and played the rest of the summer with the Freedom.

I actually got a job with National Geographic. I’ve been working with them since late August.

That sounds cool. I seem to recall that you are into nature photography.

I am and it is like my dream job to be a photographer for National Geographic, but right now I’m working in the television department with a show called Wild Chronicles, which is a show that airs on PBS. It’s fantastic. I love it. One of the producers there has a daughter that plays at UVA right now so she completely understands all my soccer goals and where I want to go and how I’m training for the league. They’ve been great. I work by the hour and then I go train. I coach as well. I have a little U-10 team that I coach.

The news week started out with a bang today with the announcement that Kristine Lilly will not be competing in 2008 as she is expecting her first child. Congratulations to the Heavey's.

Lilly's absence opens up a spot on the Olympic roster and means that someone else will be wearing the captains armband. I guess we will find out who when the team takes the field against Canada in the Four Nations Tournament on January 16th.

I've managed to catch the FNT via the internet for the last couple of years and expect to this year as well. I'll post the details when smarter people than I get it figured it out.

Leslie Osborne has launched a slick new website that is worth checking out. If you're a Mac user, open it in Firefox as it doesn't seem to like Safari at the moment.

Expect some news from the women's professional soccer league next week. They will be cluing us into their progress during the NSCAA Annual Convention in Baltimore.

I just listened to Greg Ryan on Fox Fone In. I promised in Issue 10 I was done with the bus and hoped to have written my last word about goaliegate so I'm not going to delve into it again. I will only ask if it is really fair to a team who now answers to a new coach, to put all this out there now when they are looking to move forward?

Pia's staff is starting to come together. Phil Wheddon, has been retained and will coach the 'keepers. Penn State coach, Erica Walsh will serve on a part time basis and Helena Andersson will serve as the team’s Strength and Fitness coach.

The Four Nations roster won't be released until tomorrow.

Finally, we are busy working on Issue 11 and it will be loaded with good stuff. We're exploring the theme of "Serious About Enjoying Soccer" and are looking for some anecdotes along the line of "You Know Your Taking Soccer Too Seriously When ...". So, if you have an hilarious or scary tale about some over the top behavior of a soccer parent, coach or player who clearly needs to lighten up, we want to hear it. Post it on the blog, or email it to me at gayle@fairgamemagazine.com. Be sure to leave youe name and if we use it, we'll give you credit in the magazine.

Greetings and Happy New Year from Orlando, Florida and the Disney Soccer Showcase. There are 197 of the best girls teams in the country competing here in front of a slew of college coaches. Lehigh University’s center back and Fair Game friend Courtney Jackson and I are here promoting the magazine, watching some great soccer and kanoodling with players, parents, coaches and lots of friends.

Former National Teamer Marci Jobson stopped by to say hello and talk to us about her retirement from the National Team and her new job as head coach at Baylor University.

Tell me about your World Cup experience.

It was definitely an awesome experience being at the World Cup. I think even not playing; it was tremendous just being there.

I was going to ask you about that. Greg had you warming up for a really long time in the Norway match. I thought he was going to get you in. What was it like to go and not get to play?

It’s always hard as a player, not playing, but being there representing your country and being a part of that team of unbelievable people and just being part of the experience, I think is something I will never forget. I tried to savor every moment of it and if I was going to get into a game, I knew I was going to do my best. I wanted to be a great support to my teammates and that’s how I played my part.

Your teammates speak very highly of your contribution to the team in that regard.

The thing that I tell the kids that I coach is that at the end of the day, you always have your character and people are going to remember how you were as a teammate. Ten years from now they might not remember if you were the best player in the world (maybe if you were Mia Hamm they will) but they’ll remember how you handled yourself. I’ve learned a lot from some great coaches I’ve had. The one thing they always told me was to just be a good teammate, whatever that may mean, just be a great teammate. That’s what I tried to do. I failed at it sometimes and I accomplished it sometimes.

Tell me about your decision to retire.

I don’t know if it was a decision as much as I’m a pretty spiritual person and I was praying a lot about what my next move was going to be. I didn’t know if I was going to go back with the National Team. I didn’t know if I was going to keep coaching at Northern (Illinois) or what, and the opportunity at Baylor came open and it seemed like a great fit. I knew for me to do a good job at Baylor, a Big 12 team, I would have to dedicate all my time to it. I wanted to go our on my own terms. I didn’t want to go out being cut or being too old or whatever. I wanted to go out on my own terms and it just felt right.

Will you husband Paul join you on the Baylor staff?

Paul is on the staff. Chuck Codd who is Charmaine Hooper’s husband and Bret Hall who was the assistant National Team coach will be a volunteer coach for me. I’m psyched about my staff.

Do you know if Bret is in the mix to be considered for part of Pia’s staff?

I think Bret looked at that opportunity as that was what he wanted to do for that time and I don’t think he was looking past that. I don’t think he’s necessarily trying to be in the mix. I think he’s happy with where he’s at in his life. He’s got a lot of great things going on, so I don’t think he’s really trying to be in the mix.

Let’s talk a little bit about Greg (Ryan). Do you think he’s gotten a fair shake in the World Cup aftermath?

I don’t know what a fair shake is. Crap happens. I don’t know how you want to word that. That’s life. You know, Greg did a great job and I loved playing for Greg. Circumstances played themselves out and U.S. Soccer thought they needed to make a change. Whether they’re right or wrong is not for me to say. That’s why I’m not hired to do that job, thank god. All I can comment on is that I’m very appreciative of what Greg has done for me as a player since I was a young college player and I’m very appreciative of my teammates that I got to play with. They are amazing people. Whether or not he got a fair shake, I don’t know, but I know that I took in the experience and got a lot out of Greg, got a lot out of the girls I played with and I’ll never forget those times.

What will you miss about being on the National Team?

I’ll miss just the girls, the times together. I developed some incredible friendships. Life just gets going crazy and it’s hard to keep up with everybody and I’ll miss just those friendships. The times off the field as well as on the field, we just had a great time together and they are incredible people.

They are going to do great. Pia’s a great coach. Greg was a great coach, but I think Pia has maybe a different approach. Every coach brings something new to a team and I think she’ll do great. Greg did great as well. So, we didn’t’ win the World Cup, but he still did a good job when he was coaching us

What are you looking forward to with the Baylor job?

I’m looking forward to building a program in the Big 12. I think it’s at a place where we can continue to grow the program. We’ve got a lot of room to go up. Baylor’s got a lot to offer young women. It’s an incredible school. Spiritually it’s got a great dimension. The facilities are great. I’m looking forward to getting in there are starting to coach.

Have you met your team yet?

I met them for about an hour and it was great.

We just want to get to work. I’m leaving the Disney Showcase and heading straight to Waco. We bought a house that I looked at for like 20 minutes and said “I gottta buy that one” and that’s that.

Just when we thought it would be a slow news week for women's soccer with it being almost Christmas and all, Hope Solo and Greg Ryan decided to make things interesting by stirring the pot a little.

Read Mark Zeigler's interview with Hope here.

Read Greg Ryan's interview with Jose E. Garcia here.

Some interesting details made public for the first time, but I kind of liked it better when they were both being quiet.

I had a chance to speak with new U.S. Women’s National Team head coach, Pia Sundhage, between matches at the semis of the 2007 NCAA Women’s College Cup last night. I found her to be a warm and candid interview. She hedged on a few things, mostly regarding details of how her coaching staff is shaping up, but was generally forthcoming. I’ll post the interview in Q&A format next week after I get back from College Station, but here are a few tidbits to chew on until then.

As to the mini-camp roster and the World Cup players that aren’t on it:

• Stephanie Lopez is getting married next week. (As a side note, Lindsay Tarpley is also getting married next week, but will participate in some of the camp.)
• Angela Hucles is on a humanitarian aid trip in Africa and will miss the mini-camp with Pia’s blessing.
• Pia joked that Kristine Lilly was old and needed the extra rest. She expects her in the January camp regardless of her plans for 2008. She “absolutely” wants Lilly on this team.
• Marci Jobson has taken the head-coaching job at Baylor University and has officially retired. I am scheduled to talk with her later today.
• Tina Ellerston is expecting her second child. She has not retired and will attempt to come back after her child is born.

Sundhage indicated that we could see a few personnel changes from the Word Cup roster, but that there is not time for a complete overhaul.

Her perspective on the team’s play in the World Cup was that the attack was too direct and one-dimensional. She said there was discussion amongst the international coaches that shutting down Wambach would neutralize the U.S..

Greg Ryan has been very helpful in the transition and has provided insight into the player’s she has inherited. She is getting input from others more familiar with the college ranks and youth players as to who deserves a look.

That’s all for now. Check back next week for the full transcript.

The Hope Solo/Greg Ryan debacle could be the best or the worst thing that has ever happened to women’s soccer. I can’t decide. Women’s soccer has certainly gotten more ink in the last week than it has since Brandi Chastain swung her jersey over her head. Of course, the quality of that ink is debatable. In fact, I can’t recall a situation where so much has been written and said based on so little available information.

The heroes and villains in this drama seem to shift with each passing news cycle. Ryan is the villain for distracting his team with a questionable (questionable is probably the most polite thing that’s been said about it) coaching move. Hope Solo is a villain for throwing Briana Scurry under the bus (I know, the under the bus thing is getting old!) with her criticism of Ryan’s decision. Ryan is a villain for keeping Solo away from the third place match. The team is full of vengeful, spiteful, monstrous villains for supporting Ryan’s decision and not supporting Solo. Solo is a hero for having the courage to speak her mind. It goes on and on with the only constant being Ryan as villain.

In recent days, public opinion seems to have shifted to Solo as saint and the rest of the team, led by Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach, as monsters. Again, this is with very little information available to support an informed opinion.

Let’s review what we know for sure:

• Greg Ryan made a questionable coaching decision to pull his starting keeper from the semi-final match against Brazil and replace her with her back up, a world class keeper in her own right, who hadn’t seen much time in the net since the Olympics and none in this World Cup.
• Solo, the starting keeper, was very upset by this move. We can infer that at least some of her teammates were also upset, but there have been no public statements to support the inference. In fact, the only statement that has been made was that it didn’t divide the team.
• The team, collectively, put in a poor performance and was shelled by a Brazilian team playing the match of their lives.
• Hope Solo gave an emotional, post match interview against advice from her press officer, emphatically stating the coach made the wrong decision, that she would have made the saves that Scurry didn’t and inferring (unintentionally, I suspect) that Scurry was a has been, living on the accomplishments of the past.
• Solo apologized via My Space, to Briana Scurry and to her teammates for her remarks. We don’t know the details of her personal apologies. The public My Space apology reads more along the lines of “I’m sorry I was misunderstood” rather than “I’m sorry for my behavior”. I have a 13-year old son and am very familiar with this genre of apology. It doesn’t usually get him out of trouble either.
• Greg Ryan with input from “team leaders” decided that Solo would not train with the team or suit up for the third place match.
• Team leaders, Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach, characterized the decision as a team decision as the team felt Solo would be a distraction to their preparation for Norway.
• Solo did not participate in the match or the ensuing medal ceremony.
• Solo was not made available to the media during the duration of the China trip.
• Solo did not fly home with the team.
• She hasn’t spoken to media since.

What we don’t know:

• If the team decision was unanimous
• The content of her apology to Scurry and her teammates. Was it humble and sincere or more forgive me, you misunderstood?
• What has gone on behind the scenes between Solo and her teammates before, during and after this conflict.
• How Solo responded to being left off the team for the Norway match.
• Why she didn’t fly home with the team. Was it her choice or theirs?

Without answers to these questions (which may never come), I’m not prepared to sort the villains from the heroes. And, I’m certainly not prepared to vilify women whose good conduct I’ve observed up close and from afar over a period of years. That includes Hope Solo. I’ll wait for the facts to roll in before I make further judgment.

For now, I’ll enjoy the 15 minutes of fame that this story is bringing women’s soccer, while cringing that this is what it takes for this group of quality athletes and women to get noticed. At least they didn’t have to get naked to catch some attention.

The England and U.S. Fair Game staffs have been criss-crossing China, following our respective teams. We have come together in Tianjin for the big showdown. Will it be an epic battle that shifts the balance of power in women’s soccer? I’ll let you know in about 10 hours. Regardless, it promises to be an entertaining match.

The England contingent, while satisfied at making the quarters, are hungry for more and are hoping for an upset. The U.S. crew is not taking England lightly and will confess to being a tiny bit nervous.

We are all hoping for a great match. Much of England will be watching, as the match will be played live at the favorable time of 1:00 pm. A quality match, win or lose, in front of a potentially huge television audience could go a long way towards advancing the sport.

For the U.S., a loss here would be a disaster. Not because it’s England, but because they have never left a major international tournament before the semi-finals. They are, in fact, expected to win every tournament by a significant margin, playing exceptionally beautiful soccer for a full ninety, every time they take the field. It’s a lot to live up to, but I expect our girls are up to the challenge.

Last night, I attended England’s training session with two of my English colleagues. We were hoping to get a hint of Hope Powell’s lineup. England’s press officer jokingly identified me as a “spy” (at least, I think he was joking). Powell did not tip her hand in the slightest. We were hustled off the field promptly at the 15 minute mark, after seeing the team stretch and knock the ball around a bit.

Greg Ryan has been characteristically tight lipped about his plans to contain Kelly Smith and the England squad. That leaves us all to speculate what personnel and formations we will see on the pitch come match time. Ryan has developed a nice rapport with the foreign press, responding with wit and humor to endless questions about game plans and tactics that we all know he isn’t going to answer.

I haven’t had a chance to sneak a peek at the pitch yet, but if it matches the outside of the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium and the training fields, we are definitely in for an improvement.

As for the city … all I can say so far is that this is the first stop over where I’ve been physically aware of China’s famously poor air quality, every time I take a deep breath.

The temperature is up today which could favor the Americans. Playing in hot and smoggy conditions should be nothing new for a team that trains in Los Angeles.

Whoever is not left crying will check in after the match. I hope it’s me!