Ryan Proves Winning Isn't Everything, And We Should Thank Him For That
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 04:23PM "With the standards our team has set, if you don't win, it's hard to keep your job."
That was Cat Whitehill speaking about former US Women's National team coach Gregg Ryan after US Soccer Federation told him that they would not be renewing his contract at the end of the year.
45 Wins 1 Loss 9 Ties
That has to be the best winning percentage ever by a coach who was fired. It may even be one of the best records by any coach in history, period. His one loss did come in the World Cup Semi Finals, a tournament we were supposed to win. Anyone who saw the games of this past year's Women's World Cup would have to agree that the quality of women's soccer around the world has improved dramatically and while it was disappointing for us to lose a game in the tournament, it was not shocking. It is an incredibly difficult tournament to win. We've only done it twice out of the five times it has been held. We don't own the competition. We still finished third, a position we have never failed to reach, so we are still a world power in the women's game. But losing in the semifinal was not the reason for the dismissal. The way the US lost, the way the US acted, and the way the US played were the reasons for Ryan's dismissal.
I am still in awe of Ryan's record, but I never have been in awe of how he got there. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. In this culture, with our "Winning is everything mentality," would Ryan have been asked to stay on if the US had won the world cup? It would have been hard to fire a guy who never lost a game had they won. However, thankfully, we don't have to ask that question. While I hate to see the US lose, I may have equally hated watching us play in this tournament and the build up to the Finals. Waking up at 3:30am to watch a glorified game of bootball was upsetting. What happened to all the possession and creativity we used to have on this team? I seriously doubt that we cannot find enough skilled players in the US, or on the team we had, to play the "Beautiful Game." Everyone of the players, besides Lilly and Scurry who were playing, grew up watching us play that type of game in past World Cups. But then again, as Tim Vickery said of Brazil during the 2006 Mens Wolrd Cup; "The idea that Brazilians would rather have fun than win is a monstrous misunderstanding. There is far too much at stake for such levity." We may have fallen into that trap prematurely. And we should thank Ryan for that.
If the worst thing we have to endure is a Third Place finish at the World Cup by playing bootball is it really so bad? It is tough to put too much blame on Ryan for his style of play. Anson Dorrance is the most heralded womens coach of all time and he doesn't play "The Beautiful Game." Year after year Dorrance's teams win the NCAA Tournament, which is now our highest level of soccer until 2009, and we praise him for it. We all say how incredible it is. It is the greatest dynasty in the history of college sports. Tons of coaches around the nation subscribe to his 100 mph, in your face, type of soccer. Almost every successful college team does. And we are fine with it because UNC wins. Besides, why would Dorrance go away from his strengths? He is so good at playing this type of game that he will tell you how to beat his team, show you how to beat his team, and then he'll go out and beat your team.
The main luxury that Dorrance has that Ryan and the US Womens team does not have, is that UNC does not play in front of a world wide audience every time they step onto the field. UNC can live off their history and the great story that they have created and focus simply on winning games. They don't have to play pretty soccer because not enough people are watching and demanding that they do it. People hear that UNC wins or they read about it and each victory adds to the legend without most people seeing how they got it. The US team has eclipsed that level. People tune in every time the US is playing. This team is our showcase to the world, and partly Dorrances too with all the players UNC puts on the team, and it is not good enough for us to simply win. We must look good doing it.
The standard for the US National team is set very high thanks to Ryan, Dorrance and all the other coaches and players who have represented the team. Gregg Ryan attempted to live up to those high standards and did a fantastic job in the win column. But his team's lack of style and creativity were his main down falls and for the US, that is not good enough.
We should be thanking Ryan for pointing us in the right direction. Without him and the controversy he created, we may have gone the way of the US Men's Basketball team. All power, no finesse, no creativity, and no movement. While both of those styles may work here in the NBA and in college soccer, thankfully Ryan proved to us that it does not work on the world stage. It seems like it may be too late for our basketball program with failure after failure in international competitions, but the US Women's Team does not have to go down that same path.
It would have been nice to win the World Cup but, in losing it this year, maybe Ryan has ensured our future success and he has helped to make sure that we look good winning.
So thank you Gregg Ryan for helping us remember "The Beautiful Game."
