Department of Reaping What You Sow

I hadn’t paid any attention to the women’s World Cup until the US manager Greg Ryan decided it was a sensible notion to switch goalkeepers before yesterday’s semi-final against Brazil, dropping first choice Hope Solo (great name!) and recalling the 36 year old Briana Scurry. Off-hand I can’t think of any comparable goalie switch. When Alex Ferguson famously dropped Jim Leighton and promoted Les Sealey for an FA Cup final replay his decision was at least based on what her perceived as Leighton’s loss of confidence. But Ryan had no such excuse since no-one, not even the manager, pretended that Solo had done anything wrong.

Instead what seems to have happened is that Ryan forgot that he was picking a football team, not managing a baseball game. Then again, in fairness, he wasn’t alone in this. Here’s the New York Times’s Jere Longman:

In the rubble of Thursday’s defeat, Ryan’s decision to start Scurry looks suspect, but the coach had his reasons.