To know an individuals true feelings, listen to them during moments that they are frustrated or angry. I doubt Briana will truly accept Hope's apology for her alleged "taken out of context" remarks. It was unfortunate that she chose to vent her frustration by ripping apart her teammate Briana. To be honest, I don't think Hope being in the goal against Brazil would have made much of a difference. She conceded two goals against North Korea a far less quality opponent so she may likely have conceded those goals that Briana conceded against Brazil.

How would Hope have felt if Briana claimed that she could have made the saves against North Korea when Hope conceded two goals. True sportmanship is shown more in defeat than victory. The fact that she let out her rants immediately after the team's defeat, criticizing Ryan and Briana says a lot about her.

Marta and Christianne of Brazil were more or less possessed and Brazil and highly motivated and they were clearly the better side on that day. We can make all the excuses we want, I am convinced that Hope being in goal would not have mattered in the game. For critics of Ryan, had the U.S. won, they would have called him a genius. In as much as I would not have made the decision because you do not change a goalie who isn't injured in the middle of a serious competition, this is the guy's first loss and we ought to cut him some slack.

The Coach make a huge mistake! Hope Solo is completely correct. You can't change this chemistry of a Team winning all games at the last minute. Let the new generation stay on. The other keeper did have her time,now she does not have good reflex anymore and she is too slow.The Coach is who need to apology's to USA.

Another one of those maddening non-apologies! Why does saying, "If what I said offended anybody, I'm truly sorry" count as an apology? Solo clearly was dissing Scurry, yet she hasn't yet acknowledged that fact.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/what-greg-ryan-said-that-fired-up-the-brazilians/

Hope Solo isn't the only one needing to watch what they say.

Here is a story about Siri Mullinix, the U.S. goalie that played the entire 2000 Olympic, the one where she allowed the winning goal in the gold-medal match against Norway and what one of her teammate said later about the match.

"I put myself into that entire game,'' she said. "And I've always felt -- and I still feel -- that if I were playing, we would have won."

Sound familiar, that wasn't made by Hope Solo, but by Briana Scurry.

Hope Solo is now nothing more than a scapegoat for the one person that need most scrutinizing:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=chang_jen

"1. Poor preparation for the opener -- Lining up in a seldom-used formation (3-4-3) against North Korea and using a World Cup rookie (Stephanie Lopez) at an unnatural position of right mid was hardly the way to start the World Cup campaign and it almost cost the U.S. from the onset.

2. Mind-boggling substitution patterns or lack thereof. Throughout the tournament, Ryan didn't seem to have a clue about managing his bench -- not subbing when subs were needed to give starters a breather, and bringing on defenders in the place of attackers in the semifinal against Brazil with his team trailing (no doubt throwing in the towel and trying to limit the margin of defeat).

3. The much-discussed goalkeeper switch. Here's more fuel to the fire. If Ryan's logic behind the switch to Briana Scurry was based on her past performance against Brazil (specifically the 2004 Olympic final) -- then why was Lindsay Tarpley on the bench against Brazil? This of course would be the same Lindsay Tarpley that scored in that very same game.

4. Accountability. Is it just me or am I the only one that finds it inherently contradictory when I see Ryan talking about how "it's your losses in life, and your defeats that reveal your character." Wait a minute, is this the same coach who has refused to accept any iota of blame for the U.S. failure? The same coach who hid behind the term "team leaders" in announcing the decision to suspend Solo, the same coach who pinned the blame for the Brazil loss on Leslie Osborne's own goal? And the same coach who says in hindsight now that he actually should have implemented a dual-goalkeeper policy the whole time and that he doesn't regret the goalie switch for a second?

Outside of the tournament, for the past two years while building up the bogus unbeaten game streak (do people just somehow conveniently forget that the U.S. lost the Algarve Cup final to Germany last year?), it's been obvious that the U.S. team has morphed from a team that once played the same type of attractive technical possession soccer that Germany employs, to one that uses a stone-age offensive philosophy that Ryan advocates -- an emphasis on the long ball and scoring from set pieces.

His justification for this? Ryan believes that in today's game, trying to play possession soccer will get you killed. Funny that, isn't that what Germany and Brazil play? Isn't that what most of the best teams in the men's game play? I must have missed the memo that said route one soccer was the way to world domination.

Isn't it also ironic that the one game the U.S. played in the World Cup where it showed any semblance of offensive flow came on the insertion into the starting lineup of Aly Wagner (and only due to Shannon Boxx's suspension) in the third-place game against Norway? Wagner is -- wait for it, a technical creative offensive midfielder who enables you to play a midfield possession game.

Ryan's lack of offensive nuance is further highlighted by his personal pet projects where he takes prolific college forwards (e.g. Tina Ellertson, Osborne) and converts them to the defensive side of the ball. Here's a radical thought -- why not use players with a track record of scoring goals on offense and see if they can stem the overdependency on Wambach and stick to using pure defensive players as defenders?

And don't just take my word for it. Here's what Germany's coach Silvia Neid had to say after witnessing the U.S. loss to Brazil, "I was surprised by the United States," Neid said. "I have never seen them play like that before."

I'll say this, if Ryan is still coach after his contract expires this year, I think it's unlikely that the U.S. wins the 2008 Olympic title."