Days before the U.S. national team plays its first Women’s World Cup game, Hope Solo, the squad’s former goalkeeper, wasn’t holding back in her assessment of Jill Ellis, saying the team’s coach “cracks under the pressure quite a bit.”
“Jill — she’s not the leader I wish her to be,” Solo said in a BBC discussion. “She relies heavily on her assistant coaches. She cracks under the pressure quite a bit. But oftentimes it doesn’t matter because the quality of the players on the U.S. team is superb. ... We have a rich history of winning, we have a winning tradition.