I don’t know why I am surprised that the media coverage surrounding the U.S. Women’s National Team’s Gold Medal win over Brazil in soccer is predominantly focused on Hope Solo, but I am. Scores of articles have found their way through cyberspace to my laptop in the last 24 hours and they all seem to be about Solo.

Solo had a good tournament and a great match against Brazil, but to pretend that this was a “solo” effort does a great disservice to the team and the reality of this tournament.

This Olympic Gold Medal was not about one player or even two or three. They never are, but this campaign especially had team written all over it from the beginning.

This Gold Medal was about a team willing to embrace change and play things differently than before even when they were pushed out of their comfort zone.

It was about a team that was dealt a string of injuries leading up to the games including the potential knock out blow of losing their go to girl just days before boarding the plane to Beijing.

It was about 18 players that overcame a disastrous start, a whole lot of doubt, and even some smack talk.

This Gold Medal is about seven U.S. players finding the back of the net.

It is about a veteran player who has been around a long time, but never really in a position to make an impact in a big game, a player who heard the critics question her presence in the lineup replacing an injured star and leading her team in scoring.

It was about young players having the opportunity to contribute because they had a coach and a team that believed in them.

It was about a charismatic forward who found herself on the bench once again, embracing her role and carrying the team out of the quarterfinals with her overtime goal.

This Gold Medal was about a right back who had two World Cups end in injury before they began, finally having a chance to prove to the world that she is more than a pretty face.

It was about a midfielder benched halfway through the World Cup blasting in the game winner not once, but twice.

It was about two players that were sent home and got a second chance to do their part after their teammates were injured.

It was about a coach with a contagious passion for soccer showing them a new way and teaching them to be brave.

This Gold Medal was about a trio of Tar Heels leading the way with their tenacity and work ethic.

It was about a couple of soccer moms charged with leading this team out of it’s darkest days and managing to orchestrate a brilliant defensive effort against the favored Brazilians.

This Gold Medal belongs to a back up goalie that didn’t see a minute of action during the Olympic games, but was a constant presence pushing Solo to be her best.

It was about players on the bench contributing when they were called upon, sitting when they’d rather be playing, and cheering on their team through every frantic second.

And yes, this Gold Medal belongs to a goalie that had something to prove. She did and I’m sure she would be the first to tell you that she wasn’t out there alone.

Congratulations to the 18, to the coaching staff, to the wounded, and the players who came in and out of camp this year and pushed this team to Gold. It’s your Medal too.

Authors note - Since I was being all creative and didn't mention the players by name, there is a free Dare to Dream video for the first poster who "fills in the blanks" . List the players I refer to in order in the comments section along with a contact email and we'll be in touch to find out how to get you your DVD.

Photo by Brad Smith/isiphotos.com

The pit that settled in my stomach after Norway's goal in the second minute of Wednesday's clash dissipated in the opening moments of the USWNT's contest with Japan this morning. The U.S. came out fired up, yet composed, pinging the ball around the field nicely and putting Japan immediately on their heels. This was a team I recognized, unlike the one that took the field on Wednesday.

The midfield looked much stronger today and the team did a good job of getting the ball out wide to Heather O'Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley. It was another strong outing for O'Reilly, who was singled out for kudos, along with first time Olympic starter Amy Rodriguez, by coach Pia Sundhage.

"I am very happy about our performance today against a very technical, talented Japan team," said Sundhage. "Besides a great goal by Carli Lloyd, I am very happy about our tactics with a fast player up top, Amy Rodriguez, and the way Heather O'Reilly played on the right side. But the bottom line is that the team that won today."

Rodriguez will need to do a better job of finishing her chances going forward, but her combination of speed and savvy made for an overall impressive performance up top and I expect we will see more of her as a starter.

The match's only goal was a nice team effort. Tarpley won the ball and played Stephanie Lopez in. Lopez did well to run the ball down at the end line and get the cross off. For a split second it appeared that her effort was wasted as the ball sailed just over the head of Rodriguez. It skipped to the top of the box where Carli Lloyd cracked her half volley into the back of the net.

“It happened so quickly. It kind of came off of a cross, " said Lloyd. "Amy Rodriguez tried to go for it and it came over her head and my eyes lit up. I was at the top of the box and just made sure I hit a nice smooth stroke.”

The team defended well and Hope Solo came up with a couple of big saves to preserve the 1-0 result. The backline was active on offense as well. Christie Rampone had a chance early, Heather Mitts had two, and of course, Lopez notched the assist on Lloyd's goal.

It wasn't a perfect outing. There were too many long balls sent directly to Japan, Lopez and Mitts being early perpetrators. And, the U.S. should have finished more of the sweet chances they created. Still, it was a night and day performance from the Norway disaster and a good first step towards peaking during the knock out round.

If I were cutting the highlight video of this match besides the obvious goal, these are some moments I would be sure to include:

• Kate Markgraf pulling off a bicycle kick in an attempt to keep the ball in play on our attacking end.
• Hope Solo tipping Homare Sawa's shot just over the net for an awesome save.
• Heather Mitts' almost goal, well, both of them.
• In about the 80th minute, O'Reilly made a nice run, played a beautiful ball through to Rodriguez who shook off her defender. The shot was wide, but still the sequence is definitely highlight worthy.
• Christie Rampone could have her own highlight reel as she put on a master class in defending in the last 15 minutes of the match - snuffing out attacks, defending corners and generally making good decisions on when to possess and when to just clear it.

In closing I will say after shuffling through the match again to dig out some of my match highlights I'm even more impressed with Rodriguez than I was at first glance.

The U.S. Women's National Team's 2-0 loss to Norway today marks the first time the women have lost a group match in a world championship, ever. The U.S. dug themselves in a hole early and were unable to dig themselves out.

Leni Larsen Kaurin opened the scoring for Norway in the second minute, heading the ball into an empty net. Hope Solo came off her line to challenge Kaurin and collided with Lori Chalupny who was defending the header. Stephanie Cox subbed in for Chalupny shortly after the collision in which she took a shot to the head. Chalupny is listed as day to day. She took significant time off in 2007 after a suffering a string of concussions. Hopefully her removal from the game was a precaution.

Norway's Melissa Wiik capitalized on an ill advised back pass from veteran defender Kate Markgraf moments later and in less than five minutes, the U.S. was down by two. After the match Markgraf took ownership of her uncharacteristic mistake.

"The second goal was totally my fault. I didn’t play the ball back hard enough to Hope (Solo) and I didn’t see the player either," she said.

The start of this match reminded me a bit of the 1999 World Cup quarter-final against Germany when the U.S. went down early on an own goal by Brandi Chastain. Chastain came back and scored the equalizer and the U.S. went on to win 3-2. I was hoping for a similar outcome today (and wouldn't it have been a great story for Markgraf to score the equalizer as her first goal), but it was not to be. The U.S. settled down and pretty much contained Norway for the rest of the match, but could not get anything going offensively.

Critics of Greg Ryan ball will not be impressed with the team's first significant match under Pia Sundhage. There were plenty of errant long balls and final passes to lament and we only saw glimpses of the beautiful possession soccer we were hoping for. Still, there were glimpses and I'm not ready to start the funeral march yet. While a Wambach-less offense at times seemed to lack passion and direction, the play of Heather O'Reilly was a bright spot as was Tobin Heath's when she subbed in late in the match.

A part of me is screaming that this result is an unprecedented disaster, but I'm going to write it off as Olympic jitters and assume this team will come back strong against Japan on Saturday. I hope I'm not in denial. Coach Sundhage and Captain Christie Rampone have to help the team put this rocky start behind them.

“We have a choice right now. You can imagine (what it can do to a team) to give up two early goals playing in your first game," said Sundhage. "What is very important is to keep our style and that is something we as coaches will emphasize. We can look at bad things, and we will adjust, but also look at good parts in the game where we created chances and where we kept possession and played pretty good soccer.”

The U.S. has two group games to win and the result today sets up a potential meeting with Germany or Brazil in the quarter-finals.

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 wouldn't trade my World Cup experience for anything, but I have to confess that it was nice to be on the field for a home game when the U.S. took on Mexico yesterday in St. Louis. I wasn't sure what to expect heading into the game. There has been a lot of negative press surrounding the team in the aftermath of the loss to Brazil and the ensuing Hope Solo soap opera. I was a little apprehensive about whether the fans might stay home in protest or come out booing with nasty signs.

In the end, there were a few nasty signs, very little booing and a boisterous crowd of 10,861 strong that overwhelmingly supported the USWNT. Mexico had cheering sections throughout the stadium which added some flavor, but they could not match the volume of the the U.S. fans. The shrill post-match cheering and autograph seeking hit a level I haven't personally witnessed post-Mia. And speaking of Mia, there were tons of kids and adults wearing U.S. jerseys, but very few of them were Mia's. Lori Chalupny's #17 was definitely the jersey of choice as St. Louis honored their hometown hero, but I saw plenty of Wambach, Boxx, Solo and Lilly kits as well. I'm hoping that's a good sign that this is no longer "The Greatest Team You've Never Heard Of".

It took about 20 minutes for the U.S. to shake off the cobwebs from the long trip back from China and nearly two weeks off, but they recovered from an early deficit to put on an entertaining 5-1 win.

Hope Solo did not dress for the match, but gamely supported the team from the bench in street clothes, hopefully a positive step in closing this chapter in USWNT history.

After the match, Abby Wambach acknowledged that she hadn't had an opportunity to read the statement Solo issue before the match, but said, "As a team, we're just ready to move forward."

The next move is to Portland, where the U.S. will meet Mexico again before finishing off the series and probably the year on Saturday in New Mexico.

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.

Many of the reporters that are here in China covering the Women’s World Cup were shocked by the announcement today that Greg Ryan and the U.S. Women’s National Team had elected to, in effect, banish Hope Solo from tomorrows third place match against Norway. I wasn’t. I don’t cover sports, I cover women’s soccer and I’ve followed this team for a long time. I understood that airing team business publicly was a big no-no for this group and expected some kind of response.

Understanding it and explaining to a bunch or reporters who regularly cover professional athletes, that publicly insult and degrade each other all the time, are entirely different things. I tried to think of someone who could help me verbalize why the team (and some of the veterans) would find Solo’s comments so offensive, and immediately thought of Shannon MacMillan. MacMillan is uniquely qualified to address the current crisis. Not only was she a long time member of the team, but she has also been smack in the middle of a coaching controversy.

The coach was Tony DiCicco and the controversy was during the infamous 1999 Women’s World Cup. MacMillan was playing extremely well, having an impact every time she took the field, but she wasn’t starting. DiCicco was taking a lot of heat from the press about his decision to keep her on the bench and MacMillan was fielding questions about it daily. Her response was to go to DiCicco and discuss it. She responded to the media by saying, "I told him I understood that the media was after him to start me, and they're asking me about all the time, too. I know the heat's on him, but I wanted him to know I'm ready to do whatever he wants me to do. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep the heat on him."

I spoke with MacMillan, who is in her first year as Assistant Coach at UCLA, today and asked her thoughts on the current controversy. Here’s what she had to say:

“The foundation of our team has been built on the fact that we are one unit. We’re friends and family within the team and issues like this are handled internally. This isn’t the first disagreement with a coach, a coach’s decision, or between teammates, but when something like this happens, you have to keep it in house. You don’t air it out in the media. I think that part of the reason people have fallen in love with our team over the years is because we have a respect for each other. Many times, fans have told us that they love that we’re not bashing each other, we’re not out there for the big dollars, we’re not out there getting in trouble. This just goes against the character and the fiber of this team and what it stood for.

I think that your coach is your coach. When you have a roster like this going into the World Cup, you need to have faith in your whole team. Coaches aren’t perfect and when they make a mistake I don’t think it’s your right to go out and blast them in the media. That’s something that you handle in a one on one meeting. Enough people were already blasting Greg. I don’t think Hope needed to chime in her two cents worth.

It’s sad to see something like this happen because when the cards are stacked against you, that’s when true character is revealed. I know that Hope is a very emotional person, but you need to keep that in check. You had to know that nothing good was going to come of that interview.

I’m actually really proud of Greg and the team for the way they’ve handled this. This isn’t supposed to happen and it’s not right. I have to be honest, like Foudy, when I heard Hope’s interview it kind of made me sick.”