Hope Solo called Team Sweden a bunch of cowards after Sweden won
Hope Solo is a problematic person. That’s why I usually avoid talking about her or writing about her. Solo has had a great career in women’s soccer – she been the goalkeeper on the team which won two Olympic golds and one World Cup. She also married a man just one day after accusing him of abuse, and then two years later, Solo was arrested for domestic violence for hitting both her sister and her nephew. Those charges were later dismissed, and that incident barely made a blip on her career – she wasn’t even temporarily suspended during the investigation.
So, Solo was at work in Rio for the Olympics. The US women’s soccer team is the reigning World Cup champion, so of course the expectations were high that Team USA would, at the very least, make it into the finals. Not so much. Team USA lost to Team Sweden in a semifinal game on Friday. And instead of being gracious about the crushing loss, Solo said many words in the post-game press conference:
“We played a creative game. We had many opportunities on goal. We showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team. We played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly believe that. Sweden dropped back. They didn’t want to open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball around. They didn’t want to play great soccer, entertaining soccer. It was a combative game. A physical game. Exactly what they wanted. Exactly what their game plan was. We had that style of play when Pia was our coach. I think it was very cowardly. But they won, they’re moving on. And we’re going home.”
“You’ve got to take your hat off to them because they beat us. So they’re going on, like I said, and we’re going home. They don’t have as quality of players as the American team does or as Brazil does, so they have to play a way that’s going to give them hope to beat a team like Brazil or the USA.”
For the love of all that is holy. I get that it’s a crushing defeat. I get that women’s soccer doesn’t get the respect or love that it deserves. I get that every single person on Team USA was feeling raw, confused and angry. But that is the moment for grace, you know? I think it’s fine to say “I still think Team USA has the better team, but a loss is a loss and it hurts like hell. Well played, Sweden.” Instead we get this convoluted mess about the Swedish team being cowardly because… they had a better strategy and they won? Sigh…
Obviously, people are calling for Solo to face some kind of punishment or formal condemnation for her unsportsmanlike conduct. A lot of people are calling it the “final straw” for Solo. Sports analysts and columnists are calling for her head on a plate, pretty much. She probably won’t face any kind of formal punishment but I wouldn’t be surprised if she announced her retirement sometime soon.
Solo also tweeted this, with a link to the full context of her comments. She still called them cowards and the context really doesn’t change that.
This was the full context of my comments today. Thank you @GrantWahl. Losing sucks. I'm really bad at it. https://t.co/s5Mckg8o6B
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) August 12, 2016
Photos courtesy of Getty, Hope’s Twitter.
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