Good choice - enough with the gringo retreads. Let's hope she sweeps away the old guard and Ryan's over-the-top kickball mentality for some youth, speed, daring and a return to the beautiful game.

I assumed she was going to be involved in the program, but it's somewhat surprising to see her getting the head coaching job.

Sitruc: Do you think she would have settled for less, or that any head coach would want an assistant who was clearly qualified to be head coach? We can be reasonably confident that when Ryan got the nod over Sundhage three years ago, his first thought was not, "How can I can get Pia as my deputy?" It would be the same with anyone else.

A postscript: When Lauren Gregg was passed over in favor of April Heinrichs as DiCicco's successor, Gregg quickly vacated her slot as an assistant coach with the senior WNT; indeed, so far as I know, she has not been involved with USSF at any level ever since. How could it have been otherwise?

good choice. Lot's of experience and understands the way the game is handled in the US.

"Good choice - enough with the gringo retreads. "-Hmmmm

If by 'gringo' you mean Americans then um...OK, but if you are using it in it's more common 'white person' sense; you do realize that Pia is whitey white gets, yes?

Beside that, we are still a top 2 nation and have used mostly American coaches. This isn't the men's side. We do know how to develop women's soccer players. You guys see us get beat 1 time in 60 by Brazil and think we have suddenly become the worst women's footballing nation on earth. Stop the self loathing already.

papabear,

It's not so much they lost to Brazil (handily, I might add), but the overwhelming display of League One football and the over-reliance on one player offensively in the Greg Ryan era.

Yes, we won many matches; but we won those matches on experience and familiarity, not the extent of our players' skill.

After reviewing Sundhage's coaching history (Boston Breakers, Kif Orebro DFF), I wonder just how Ryan was hired over Sundhage back in 2005.

...But then, I think I know the answer to that.

If you think a swede isn't a gringo... you're one heck of a gringo.

One way or another, we'll all know how good she is four years from now...

Or possibly one year from now - will be interesting to see if Pia gets a one year or 4 year contract.

Apparently the final candidates were DiCicco, Sermanni, Jerry Smith and Jill Ellis. Sundhage comes with both a strong WUSA track record and, presumably, strong endorsements from former Breakers players on the WNT: Lilly, Sobrero, and Hucles. She'll have some challenges stemming from not knowing the current/recent US college players, but I'm sure she'll get a crash course.

Forgot to include Heather Mitts among the WNT players who have been coached by Sundhage. And she traded Hucles for Aly Wagner just before the league folded.

I think Sundhage is a GREAT choice. I'd say brilliant except she was an obviously good selection and it's hard to say that doing the obvious is brilliant.

It's not self-loathing to admit that despite have a wider pool to pick from, a more experienced pool, more organizational support and resources, and a program that doesn't shut down between tournament years, we...
1. Have had trouble winning when it counts.
2. Have looked mediocre when we did win (don't forget, that other than Abby Wambach, the NT has had trouble scoring goals and before Ryan the rep was that the USA scored only from set-pieces: that's the rep you give an organized but uncreative and unskilled team).
3. Have demonstrated little flair and shown difficulty in adjusting to teams that are either more athletic or more skilled.

We beat up on the weak programs (Mexico) or those that go on hiatus for 2-3 years and talk about 50 game winning streaks (despite it wasn't a 50-game streak--we had a loss to Germany in there). It used to be that when the USA lost, it was a fluke. We're still one of the women's soccer powers. But Germany has proven the past 2 WC's they're clearly better than we are. And Brazil has shown that when they bring their best players, they're better than we are. And North Korea has shown that they give us trouble (we were outplayed in the WC). And out of 5 matches in the WC, only 1 was the USA clearly impressive and we were arguably outplayed in 3 of those matches. Combined with the US performance in the last WC (and the likelihood of not getting a chance to host a women's WC in the foreseeable future with the big home-fan advantage that comes with that), our ladies and our program has to get a lot better.

OK. Sunil Gulati acts quickly to make a good decisiion that is supported by the fans. There's a first time for everything.

Let's put the longball, bad subs, and keepergate behind us and win that gold medal next year.

US beat Germany once and Brazil twice in 2004 Olympics, with 4 of the 6 US goals in those 3 games from run of play, one a PK, and one (for the gold) a Wambach header in ET off a corner. The U-21s beat Germany 4-0 in the 2007 Nordic and the U-20s made the finals of the 2007 Pan Am after defeating the full Canadian WNT. The 2007 WC established that the Germans are clearly the best in the world, and US clearly has work to do vis-a-vis Brazil, but it's not like the new coach doesn't have plenty to work with.

Sorry this is off topic - Go USA and all.

With the Sounders announcement and sale of membership to fans - has DC thought about this at all as a way to help build capital? I throw in some membership money to help secure Poplar Point.

Local womens teams in NCAAs: JMU, Navy, WVU, UVA, Loyola, Georgetown, W&M

"Gringo" has a perjorative connotation, although it is not always derogatory. It really has no place in polite English conversation.

Hope Solo for captain!

re:

"... an organized but uncreative and unskilled team..."

Hammer, meet nailhead. Nailhead, hammer. I'm sure you two will get along famously...

I would have hired a better coach.

...okay, that's a lie. Pia Sundhage is the best person they could have hired. Go USA!

I like it. Can't wait for the Olympics!

HEY! Dont forget GMU! We DID win the national championship back in 84 remember???

85...sorry

I don't think GMU got a bid this year, though I could have misread the brackets

GMU didn't even come close; they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament. They haven't seen postseason action in about a decade. They play a much weaker schedule than they did back in the 1980s. They would have trouble getting an at-large bid unless they went nearly undefeated.

Leftcoaster: When and where did Sundhage and Mitts cross paths?

Sundhage was asst in Philly the 1st two years of WUSA; asst to Krikorian I think