No More Kicks

Three years ago in the women's soccer final at the Athens Olympics, the Brazilian team ran circles around the aging U.S. squad led by Mia Hamm and her teammates from the glorious 1999 World Cup championship team. The only thing Brazil didn't manage to do was win, as American grit and experience somehow produced an overtime goal and a fairy-tale end to the careers of Hamm and company.

Today in China, in the semifinals of the Women's World Cup, Brazil did it again, outracing, outhustling and outmuscling the Yanks and dazzling them with their superior technique and ball skills. And this time the United States team had no answer, absorbing a 4-0 thrashing that stands as the worst defeat in U.S. women's soccer history.

Much of the pregame discussion had focused on the stunning decision by U.S. coach Greg Ryan to sit down his No. 1 goalie, Hope Solo, who had started all four games in this World Cup and had not allowed a goal in the last 300 minutes, replacing her with 36-year-old veteran Briana Scurry, who had been the mainstay for the U.S. during the previous two Cups. Ryan, who took over as coach in 2005, had lost only one game before today. He cited Scurry's prior success against Brazil and her legendary reflexes, which likely would be needed against the Brazilian hotshots up front.

The switch immediately appeared to be a mistake. It rattled the team, and the seldom-used Scurry looked rusty, letting the first ball she touched slip through her hands. It's not clear that any of the goals were her fault, certainly not the last, as a red card penalty left the U.S. team down a player and Brazil firing away point blank. But the first two goals will at least elicit some comment: the first came off a corner kick in which Scurry stayed on her line rather than go after the ball, certainly a mistake after the American defender trying to clear the ball instead headed it into her own net. The second was just the kind of sprawling save Scurry was famous for, but this time the ball trickled off her fingertips and into the corner of the net. We'll never know if the Scurry of a few years ago would have steered the ball wide. "There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves," Solo told ESPN afterward.

But while the psychological impact of the goalkeeping switch can't be accurately assessed (though it could cost Ryan his job), Scurry was ultimately a nonfactor. Throughout the tournament, the American team had shown a surprising inability to control the ball in the midfield, a critical task once performed so brilliantly by Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly and others. But today Foudy was in the broadcast booth and the magnificent Lilly, at 36, has recently been moved to an attacking position on the team to save some wear and tear on her legs. Their replacements turned the ball over repeatedly with sloppy passes, ill-advised long balls and an inability to dribble past defenders. The team seemed to lack speed, coherence and aggressiveness.

The past success of American women's soccer, with the tremendous attention the '99 World Cup received, has been credited with hastening parity in the women's game. The U.S. and German teams came into the tournament ranked No. 1 and 2 and were tied, respectively, by North Korea and England. In the finals Sunday, Brazil will play Germany, which beat Norway 3-0 in the other semifinal. The U.S. may actually have to set its sights on working back up toward parity, having now seen its championship dreams crushed in the last two World Cups in lopsided semifinals.