Defending champ Germany outclassed Norway, 3-0, to win the first Women’s World Cup semifinal Wednesday, but all of the talk around Hangzhou was about the Thursday semifinal, the much anticipated USA-Brazil game (tomorrow morning, 7am Central). And in particular, about U.S. coach Greg Ryan‘s late decision to bench goalie Hope Solo in favor of veteran Brianna Scurry, one of the heroes of the 1999 WC title team. Ryan pointed to Scurry’s unbeaten record against Brazil, and implied that she might have to make a lot of “reaction-type saves” against the creative Brazilian attack. My guess is, the team’ll play fine for either keeper, and I do expect the U.S. to win – but it certainly isn’t a sign of strength, is it, for the top-ranked team in the world to be pulling their keeper just 24 hours before the WC semifinal?

The championship final, Germany vs. ????, is Sunday, 7am, live on ESPN2.

This article appears in September 21 • 2007.

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