REIMS, France -- On the eve of the team's World Cup opener, United States women's national team coach Jill Ellis shrugged off recent criticism from former goalkeeper Hope Solo.
Solo criticized Ellis in an interview and column with the BBC. She said the U.S. coach who was in charge when the team won the World Cup title four years ago, its first world championship since 1999, relies too much on her assistants, is reluctant to criticize players and "cracks under pressure."
"Comments are comments," Ellis said Monday. "I feel over the past five years [I've] made a lot of important decisions.