AYANA COCHRAN
U.S. Soccer delivered pretty shocking news last Wednesday evening announcing the suspension of national team goalkeeper Hope Solo. Did the federation go too far?
Around 6:30pm CT on August 24th, the USWNT twitter account dropped the news of Hope Solo’s suspension. The press releasewasn’t detailed and left many questions up in the air. Plenty of opinions, comments, and theories have been thrown around in the short couple days after the news got out including quotes from Solo,U.S. Women’s National Team Player’s Association (USWNTPA) executive director Rich Nichols, and Solo’s former and current teammates.
What made U.S. Soccer snap
The general question floating around is, “what happened?” According to U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) President Sunil Gulati, a lot of things happened. It was initially believed that the suspension was solely for the “coward” comment Solo directed at Sweden’s style of play at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Even with the International Olympic Committee’s inaction and Sweden coach Pia Sundhage’scomments, Gulati found it necessary to take all of Solo’s past offenses and accumulate them into one, six-month suspension. In addition to that, Solo’s contract was terminated, which basically cuts any ties to U.S. Soccer until February of 2017, assuming head coach Jill Elliswants her back.
The news was delivered to Solo the same day as everyone else found out; Alex Morgan said even the players didn’t find out until thetweet was posted. Coach Ellis and a USSF secretary Dan Flynn flew to Seattle in order to give the news personally. The details of the actual meeting are unknown, but the letter Solo was given sums it up good enough. The hand-delivered letter was practically a follow up to the meeting to make sure Solo understood she was suspended and that her contract was terminated. Less than an hour after the news broke, journalist Grant Wahl received statements from Hope Solo and USWNTPA executive Rich Nichols. Solo stated she was “saddened by the federation’s decision to terminate her contract.” Her reaction was filmed and will be shown in an episode of Keeping Score by Fullscreen, airing Friday, September 2nd. Director Nichols said they’ll “file an appeal on Ms. Solo’s behalf.”
It’s known that USSF pays the NWSL salaries of the national team players, but since Solo isn’t technically on the national team anymore, it would be suspected that the federation would stop paying her, however they were still going to handle her NWSL salary for three months, as stated in the letter given to her by Ellis and Flynn. It’s still relatively unclear what’s going to happen with Solo’s club career with the Seattle Reign in the future. She was granted personal leave for the game against the Portland Thorns on August 27th but decided to not return to the NWSL at all this season, for she finds herself not mentally ready and believes Haley Kopmeyer is an exceptional replacement. Per her decision to opt out of the rest of the NWSL season, USSF is no longer obligated to pay her.
How this looks
This looks bad. Surprisingly, it has been looking worse on USSF rather than Hope Solo. There’s been a lot of piecing together the puzzle and connecting dots: the timing, the offenses, the federation’s reasoning. It all boils down to U.S. Soccer using her to win, milking her for profit, and tossing her when they deemed her services unneeded. The move seemed premeditated in a sense as if they were waiting for the even most minor slip to put Solo on the chopping block. Gulati said the decision was made by “taking into consideration the past incidents” where it’s safe to assume he’s talking about her husband Jerramy Stevens’ DUI arrest and her domestic violencearrest. While those are extremely valid reasons to suspend her or anyone, why not issue the suspension in a timely manner? Why wait until after the Women’s World Cup, the Olympics, and an entire two years after said incidents? Were those “past incidents” not serious enough at the time? Was the one 30-day suspension sufficient enough especially with the Algarve Cup around the corner and the World Cup shortly after? Could they not dish a longer sentence in 2016 because of her inevitable 100th shutout and 200th cap, which makes the federation look incredibly good? Those questions run the chance of never being answered. Another crucial question was asked by reporter Jenny Taft when she asked if another player would’ve received the same punishment for a similar comment and was told “no.” It’s wild to think nearly two decades, almost half her life of building a career just meaninglessly tossed aside. As Seattle Reign coach Laura Harvey told the Seattle Times, “it’s somebody’s life and somebody’s career.” Even long time friend, former Göteborg FCteammate, and Swedish captain Lotta Schelin said Hope Solo is “far too good to get as much [crap] as she gets.” The letter she received simply stating, “we appreciate your service to the team” as if she isn’t the greatest goalkeeper in the world is almost sinister.
Several other people have commented on the matter, including people Solo is close to and some who she isn’t. Of course the former USWNT midfielder Julie Foudy is always ready to speak her subjective mind. She thinks this is the end of Solo’s national team career, which could quite possibly be true. Foudy also says she couldn’t see Solo taking a backup role, but can anyone? A player with as much notoriety and accolades as Hope Solo shouldn’t be reduced to a backup goalkeeper. National team teammates Meghan Klingenberg and Allie Long, both on the Portland Thorns, wereinterviewed the day after the news broke. Klingenberg took a diplomatic approach saying she thinks the federation is “going to do what they think is right.” Long, on the other hand, said “losing in that way hurt and people are emotional after games” and that she could be “just as emotional.” What Long did was put herself in Solo’s shoes for a brief moment, which is pretty commendable considering nearly everyone else is looking on from USSF’s side. Alex Morgan told theOrlando Sentinel that the players don’t have any control and it was “a bummer that that happened to one of her teammates.” While that may not be the best wording, she’s right. There has to be other USWNT players that think it’s a bummer as well, but speaking out against their employer doesn’t sound too good of an idea at the moment.
Assume her punishment fits the crime. Calling Sweden “cowards” was rightfully enough to make U.S. Soccer break. Okay. How does that look adjacent to other crimes by male athletes? Greg Hardy of the Dallas Cowboys was only suspended four games for tossing his ex-girlfriend on a futon of firearms, choking, and threatening to kill her. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte created an international incident by lying about being a victim of armed robbery in during the Rio Olympics but is reported to be on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Real Madrid and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo was recorded throwing a reporter’s microphone into a lake but received no punishment. Uruguay player Luis Suarez received a four-month suspension after biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, which wasn’t the first time he’d bitten someone. Ronaldo made a similarcomment to Solo’s by saying Iceland had a “small mentality” when Portugal didn’t come away with three points during the Euros, but yet another excused incident. Women have always been expected to raise the standards for everyone when they aren’t even treated to the present standards of their male counterparts. Is Hope Solo’s six-month suspension and immediate contract termination for a bitter post-worst Olympic loss comment still looking fair?
At the end of the day, what USSF is doing is blurring the lines between good and bad sportsmanship. They’ve put a definition on what bad sportsmanship looks like and how it could jeopardize any career, no matter how big the name. The smallest step out of line could be career ending, no matter how many years of dedication put to the team. Sunil Gulati has sent the message that anyone is disposable after he feels their services are no longer needed. Hope Solo is one to always speak her mind and be honest. The USWNT has lost that layer of honesty and will be replaced with dull, cookie-cutter quotes from here on out. Is this the fate of the women’s game in the United States?
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