In the history of sports, there may never have been a coach fired with a better record.

Greg Ryan was dismissed yesterday as coach of the U.S. women's national soccer team, after dropping just one of 55 matches (45-1-9) over a three-year period. It was a record that not even Joe Torre could dream of attaining, but that 4-0 semifinal defeat to Brazil in the World Cup last month was a wrenching loss that drove a wedge through the middle of the team.

And if U.S. Soccer has learned anything from that fiasco, it may be that female athletes in team sports are different than men, and that another all-male coaching staff is probably not a good way to go in the future.

The president of U.S. Soccer, Sunil Gulati, insisted that Ryan's firing was not the result of a single match, or the infamous Hope Solo affair. He felt, overall, the team's overall technical development was unsatisfactory. It has become painfully clear that the Americans were badly outclassed by Brazil, that other countries have caught or surpassed the U.S. women, and that the Americans arguably have only one breakout star in Abby Wambach.

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