Category: Soccer America Daily

So, Marta is mortal after all. And four years after winning its first Women’s World Cup, Germany is the first team to repeat as champion. Birgit Prinz and Simone Laudehr scored the goals, and keeper Nadine Angerer stopped Marta’s penalty kick as Germany reclaimed the trophy it won four years ago by beating Brazil, 2-0, in the final. The Brazilians at times mesmerized their foes but weren’t quite as efficient at the crucial moments.

A meeting between U.S. players and head coach Greg Ryan resulted in goalkeeper Hope Solo being dropped from the team for the third-place match against Norway, in which the Americans romped, 4-1, to preserve their record of never finishing lower than third in a World Cup or Olympic Games. Abby Wambach scored twice and Lori Chaulpny and Heather O’Reilly tallied a minute apart in the second half as a rampant USA held its arch-nemesis Norway to just seven shots and peppered veteran keeper Bente Nordby with 23 of its own.

[ANALYSIS] Did goalkeeper Hope Solo or Coach Greg Ryan, or both, permanently impair their national-team futures, and is their dispute just another example of an American coach clashing with his keeper(s)? Steve Sampson and Bruce Arena infuriated both Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel by platooning them, and on the eve of the 1994 World Cup round of 16 match against Brazil (some irony, there), coach Bora Milutinovic seriously pondered dropping Tony Meola in favor of Friedel because he believed Meola’s public comments about trying out for an NFL team as a placekicker called into question his focus, not to mention his priorities. English soccer journalist Brian Glanville wrote a book, “Goalkeepers Are Different,” which is a novel, not a declaration of truth. Still, physically, temperamentally, and psychologically, they are unlike field players.