U.S. Soccer trying to squeeze every cent out of Hope Solo
Aug 25, 2016, 10:07 AM | Updated: 10:31 am
Hope Solo was suspended six months from international play for calling the Swedish soccer team "cowards." (AP)
(AP)
Hope Solo, the former UW star goalie with more than 150 career international wins, is taking another unplanned vacation.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny O’Neil says that whether you’re a Solo fan or not, the six-month suspension thrown at the 35-year-old soccer star after calling the Sweden soccer team “a bunch of cowards” seems like a bit of a stretch.
“I think it’s awful,” O’Neil on Seattle’s Morning News. “I am not a Hope Solo fan and I like her husband, Jerramy Stevens, even less. But this is totally wrong.”
The U.S. women’s team lost in a shootout to Sweden during the Olympics’ quarterfinals, after playing to a 1-1 tie for 120 minutes. Solo said this after the game:
“I thought that we played a courageous game. I thought that we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team.
“I also think we played a bunch of cowards. But, you know, the best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly believe that. I think you saw America’s heart. You saw us give everything that we had today. Unfortunately, the better team didn’t win.”
U.S. Soccer said Solo’s conduct was counter to the organization’s principles and that her comments “do not meet the standard of conduct we require from our National Team players.”
KIRO Radio’s Colleen O’Brien noted that the U.S. Swim team has not suspended Ryan Lochte after he lied about vandalizing and urinating on a gas station. Thus, why is Solo being held to a different standard?
“I don’t know if it’s a different standard because she’s had a lot of issues,” O’Neil said, noting that she was previously suspended 30 days for allowing her intoxicated husband to drive the U.S. National Team’s van and that she was prosecuted for domestic assault. “There have been a lot of issues so it’s hard to compare it as a one-off.”
With that said, he calls the suspension “ridiculous” because Solo didn’t swear and that her point wasn’t entirely wrong – even if she used slightly abrasive language. O’Neil said the Swedish team instituted a game plan is akin to the four-corners offense in basketball – waste time and try to not lose.
“They don’t attack, they don’t push forward, they try to sit on the lead and milk out a win, or in this case a tie,” he explained. “They don’t make any advances forward. The primary objective is to make it more difficult for the opponent to score.
“I think this is a case of U.S. soccer being done with Hope Solo. They can’t extract any more value out of her. She’s played in the Olympics, they went to the World Cup. The next real big event is going to be 2019. At that age, she might not even be on the team then. And then I think this is getting back at her a little bit. That she’s been such a headache that they’ve decided that when they’re done with squeezing every last cent out of her value, then suspending her.”
O’Neil said this is also a free-speech issue.
“There are merits to call that (style of play) out and saying that’s not playing aggressive soccer,” he said. “Saying it’s cowardly is over the top, but at the same time, if you can’t call a Swede a coward, are we becoming Communist Russia?”
Hope Solo released a statement via Twitter on Thursday.
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) August 25, 2016
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