Is there ‘hope’ for the USWNT? Hope Solo’s ban raises a much bigger concern
I might as well not speak… I might get banned from U.S. Soccer too!
It is no surprise that Hope Solo from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is a heck-of-a-someone. With 202 caps and 100 shutouts since 2000, Solo has become a profound icon for U.S. Soccer as a whole. Her skills are impeccable, her athleticism is at an elite level (she happened to score 109 goals in high school as a forward) and, in addition, she has won 2 Olympic gold medals and a World Cup Champion label. These just happen to be her major titles followed by other tournament titles (Algarve, SheBelieves, etc.).
But with high accolades and beyond namable awards comes a real person, a person with feelings.
The first time I can remember when Solo’s mouth got her into trouble was in 2007 during the Women’s World Cup, following the start of Briana Scurry over her in the semi-final game vs. Brazil. I, being 13 at the time, was infuriated! Solo had been doing such a great job, and all of a sudden, the coach decides to throw in Scurry the whole game… super weird, right? The USWNT ended up losing 4-0 in a gruesome battle.
Following this match, Solo said the following: "It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. And the fact of the matter is it's not 2004 anymore. It's not 2004. And it's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past. It doesn't matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics three years ago. Now is what matters, and that's what I think."
Post this statement, Solo was kicked off the team for the rest of the tournament. She also chose not attend the victory tour.
An apology was released not too long after this statement. It revealed the intent was never to hurt Briana Scurry’s feelings… but were we too worried about “hurting someone’s feelings”? Yea, Hope was being critical of someone’s performance, and to be quite honest, I think she was right. Relying on big names so late in a tournament, especially when they have not played a single game leading up to that instance… heck, Greg Ryan was insane!
The point is, Hope Solo was honest. Was she cocky? Okay yes (when you’re the best in the world, I would be too). But since she “demeaned” the ability of Brianna Scurry and probably “hurt some feelings,” she was the one subjected to punishment, for pointing out the flaws in Ryan’s strategy.
Why this is a good thing: It showed us that yea, the players were pissed! At least someone was pissed at Greg Ryan! There’s only so many “We played a great game, I’m proud for the other team for making it” ‘s that you can say before you really get to wonder “Wow is that how they think all the time?” If being honest means lack of class, then there is something wrong with this system.
When you’re pissed about your game, you’re pissed about your game, and Hope Solo showed that.
So Let’s fast forward a couple of years…
It is now 2016, 9 years after that incident and we still find Hope Solo starting for the USWNT. By now, she is undeniably the best women’s goalkeeper in the world. Her hair is no longer blonde (in fact, it has been brown for a while), but she still has the flexibility of a snake. Her career is not fading; in fact, she seems to be getting better and better with age.
But one thing has not changed about Solo, and that is her personality. The same outspoken, strong minded, badass in her still lingers well into the 2010s. The Rio Olympics proved to be a whole-nother ball game for solo.
Prior to Rio, initially she was being criticized for her crazy tweets. Zika virus is obviously a huge concern in the United States after being founded in a couple of states. However, it is obvious that the United States media makes it much more of an ordeal than it actually is (another example is Ebola from 2014, which was blown out of proportion). But being a typical American, Hope Solo was concerned; she visited a couple of physicians to see the impact of the virus had she gone to Rio. After all, she is young and probably planning on starting a family in the near future; every future mother should be concerned about Zika in my opinion and I think she just wanted what's best for her future children!
Hope tweeted the following:
Not sharing this!!! Get your own! #zikaproof #RoadToRio pic.twitter.com/y3d8hnuEjk
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July">https://twitter.com/hopesolo/status/75632214212859... 22, 2016
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If anyone in the village forgets to pack repellent, come and see me...#DeptOfDefense #zikaproof pic.twitter.com/x8RdUV6M7c
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July">https://twitter.com/hopesolo/status/75631600855885... 22, 2016
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Though the tweets may seem a little ignorant, they are very funny. We see typical Hope being completely real about her fear for the virus and that she is being responsible (or over responsible) about the cause. Did she mean to harm anyone? No. Did she express that there is concern for the virus? Yes. I agree with Solo, that the media does have an effect on how scared everyone is of this Virus, so if Solo shows a great concern for that, she's automatically trumped as terrible for "offending a country [Brazil]"? Please. There millions of Americans trying to start a family that are just as concerned, and of course Hope gets the blame.
The Olympics comes along, and Hope is still on the team... surprisingly, but we are all happy. The Prelims come and go and the U.S. advances to the next round.
Sweden. A tough match. When you're playing against a team with your former coach, sh*t is probably going to go down... and it did indeed. Ending in PKs and Christen Press missing that opportunity, there was a sad USWNT forming on the pitch. I was crying for the team as I saw Carli Lloyd crouched down in disbelief. It was a tough loss not only for the team, but for the country.
But with tough loss comes tough emotions, and boy was Hope Solo full of emotions.
She said the following quote:
Full Hope Solo quote on Sweden after US was eliminated from the Olympics today. pic.twitter.com/UZVCAeur6m
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) August">https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/7641879288515... 12, 2016
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Yes, Hope Solo called the team a bunch of cowards... but that's only part of the story. This full quote shows and explains what she meant by saying that. Was there bad intentions? No, there wasn't. But when you interview a player right after a gruesome game, of course you're going to talk smack a little bit! For Pete's sake, I've even done it! When you're team has possession of the ball more than half the time of the game and the opportunities were much greater, yea, the best team did not win the match.
As for the cowards, I think it was Pia Sundhage just being smart. When the other team doesn't want to cooperate and just play around stupidly with the ball, yea that probably isn't great soccer; we've all played teams like that and those teams are the WORST! Cowards might not have been the best words to use, but what can you say when you're highly emotional? Hope was just being Hope.
Now, this is when we wait for an apology right? What should she apologize for exactly? Saying what she wanted instead of saying what the viewers at home wanted? It's like seeing Trump say a bunch of controversial sh*t that pisses a lot of people off, but you don't see him getting suspended from the Republican Party, let alone the election nor do you see him apologize... Heck no! So why should Hope Solo apologize?
Hope is probably thinking the same thing because after her suspension post-Olympics, she didn't state an apology. She was just being Hope
pic.twitter.com/z4lCvGnQDq
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) August">https://twitter.com/hopesolo/status/76861363495195... 25, 2016
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So the moral of this whole article...
If to be honest and real means to lack class, then I truly think this world is coming to an end. What I like about Hope Solo is that nothing is cherry-coated, and she speaks about what is going on and how she feels. In doing so, she creates this connection with her fans that's like, "I am a real person with real feelings!" which is a nice break when everyone tries to be politically correct and cautious.
When is comes to media, people are so pressured to say the perfect thing rather than the right thing, especially in sports. In sports, we get pissed if we lose, we get pissed if there's a player that won't get off our back. When I was in HS, we used to call the whole entire opposing team ugly... sports are emotionally ugly, and watching that on TV, we lose that feeling.
But for Hope Solo, speaking her mind got her a 6-month suspension and a terminated contract.
Don't suspend Hope for being honest. It would have made more sense to suspend her after her assault charges in 2014.
Have other feelings? Love Hope? Hate Hope? Comment Below!
