There has been a lot of controversy over the years between Hope Solo and the US Soccer Federation. This rocky relationship has finally hit it's breaking point after the US women's soccer team had a shocking loss to Sweden in the Olympic Quarterfinals. Minutes after the loss, Solo blasted the Swedish national team by calling them "a bunch of cowards".
This led to her being slammed on twitter and as well as being called out by notable teammates such as Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd in the days after the loss. Furthermore, the US Soccer Federation has been growing sick and tired of Solo ever since the World Cup in China in September of 2007. The US Soccer Federation finally had enough and head coach Jill Ellis and President Sunil Galati decided to terminate Solo for ''a series of transgressions" according to the head coach.
I have absolutely no problems with Jill Ellis and the US Soccer Federation deciding to terminate Solo's contract. It's ridiculous to see people on social media saying the suspension was too harsh as well as others saying the termination was over her role in earning fair pay. Yes I do believe the women's team has the right to have the same pay as players on the men's team earn.
All in all, Hope Solo deserved to be terminated and the US Soccer Federation definitely made the right decision. In addition, Solo has been a lightning rod for several years now and she's been the most outspoken player on the national team. Another reason for Solo's termination is her stream of off the field issues with her most notable issue of being arrested on two counts of domestic violence in June 2014, the arrest was so combative to the point in which the police had to put solo to the ground.It was early in the morning on June 21, 2014, and Hope Solo had just been arrested on two counts of domestic violence. T
he police were trying to book her into jail, but Solo was so combative that she had to be forced to the ground. Solo's charges were eventually dropped in January 2015 but that was mainly because both victims didn't cooperate. Those charges were eventually reinstated and Solo wanted to dismiss the charges this June but they were not, making her have to appeal to the Washington state Supreme Court. Solo also got into a twitter war with Brazillian soccer fans over the Zika virus that prevented many top athletes from going to Rio.
The biggest reason Solo was terminated was the effect her antics had on the national team. Most of them being negative. I also believe Hope Solo is a really bad role model for little girls across the world who love to play soccer especially girls who play goalkeeper. Solo's post game antics after the loss to Sweden were extremely unacceptable and were worse than Christiano Ronaldo's comments after Portugal tied with Iceland in their first group game of Euro 2016.
I understand no one likes to lose especially if it's in a heartbreaking fashion but you have to show class and respect your opponent. You win and lose with respect and grace. In addition, many little girls look up to other superstars on the national team who do things right on and off the field such as Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd and 18 year UCLA freshmen and rising star Mallory Pugh.