Once again, Hope Solo is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons
Eight years ago, at the Women's World Cup in China, Hope Solo was dropped for the USA's quarter-final clash with Brazil. As then-coach Greg Ryan informed the veteran goalkeeper of the decision, Solo was furious. She promised she would tell anyone who asked that it was the wrong move. And she did. In the mixed zone, following her side’s 4-0 loss, she told reporters:
"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.”
It was wildly immature, ill-judged and incorrect. Firstly, she undermined her manager. Secondly, she undermined her teammates, especially her ‘keeping counterpart Briana Scurry – who gave up the four goals against the Brazilians. Thirdly, she was conveniently forgetting the awful error she had made in the USA's opening game against North Korea, fumbling a long-range shot to the net. But as Solo's history shows, she's always worn her outspokenness as a badge of honour. It's certainly a noble quality. But another is respect. And Solo has always had a difficult relationship with that.
Since 2007, there has followed a litany of other high-profile incidents, Solo finding it immensely difficult to stay out of trouble for long. The latest misdemeanor – an alleged domestic assault that took place last summer - seemed to be going nowhere fast. Charges were dropped against Solo in January because the reported victims, Solo's half-sister Teresa Obert and her son, weren't cooperating. But Obert spoke publicly for the first time on Sunday, telling ESPN that Solo was the aggressor on that fateful June 2014 evening, and that she had decided to come forward due to what she perceived as Solo's lack of contrition and her repeated assertions in various media appearances that she was the victim.
Only the central characters really know what happened that night. But what we do know for sure is that Solo is now embroiled in another controversy, that the story continues to garner headlines and continues to impact the American players and management on the eve of a Women's World Cup tournament they're tipped to win. For such an experienced member of the squad and such a headline name, it seems enormously selfish – like her behaviour was in 2007. And because of the repeated mistakes and the lapses of judgment, you have to wonder whether Solo really respects anyone enough to genuinely change for the better.
Of course, there would appear to be darker issues at play. Solo's life has been punctuated with traumatic and dysfunctional moments. She was conceived during one of her mother's conjugal visits to a Washington State prison, where Solo's father was serving a sentence for embezzlement. Later, her father was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Solo and her older brother. Later still, it seemed her father was implicated in the murder of a Seattle realtor before his name was finally cleared. He died in 2007, shortly before the World Cup took place. So, there has always been drama. It's just that with the US squad, there are so many more people affected by it. The collateral damage is substantial.
In January, Solo was suspended by the US national team for 30 days after her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, was pulled over by police and slapped with a DUI. The vehicle he was driving (Solo was in the passenger seat and was reportedly drunk) belonged to US Soccer. And all of this occurred when Solo was with her teammates at a training camp. Solo married Stevens in 2012, hours after he had stood in a courtroom accused of assaulting her at a party.
Even when Solo tasted Olympic gold in 2012, there was controversy. Covering the soccer tournament for NBC, former player and US icon Brandi Chastain gave some forthright views on how one American defender, Rachel Buehler, needed to keep the ball better. It didn't go down well with Solo who took to Twitter to berate Chastain for her opinions. The irony. Speaking to ESPN later that year, Solo refused to back down and, quite bizarrely, stated that Chastain – who played with the national team for 16 years, made close to 200 appearances, won two World Cups and claimed two Olympic gold medals, was “not well-versed in the game”.
“She (Chastain) took her shirt off after scoring the winning penalty kick (in 1999 World Cup final)”, continued Solo. “But that doesn't mean she's a great commentator and it certainly doesn't mean she knows the game”.
There is a level of delusion to Solo that grates. Her self-confidence, self-belief and desire to speak her mind certainly are valuable and refreshing traits but it's the double standards that baffle. And it's the lack of mindfulness that annoys.
Solo has problems with authority. She doesn't like being dished some home truths. She doesn't like opinions that don't tally with hers. The response is rarely calm and considered but irrational and potentially upsetting. When part of a team, especially a team dealing with the pressure of preparing for a tournament they're heavily-fancied for, that is an unwelcome distraction. And Solo is repeatedly the source of many.
Perhaps the most frustrating element to all of this is that Solo is a superb athlete. The remarkable save she made against Canada in a friendly prior to the London Olympics has over two-million views on YouTube. There was a crucial stop in the gold-medal clash against Japan just a few weeks later. Before that, in the decider at the 2008 Olympics, she conjured a magnificent and decisive one-handed block from Brazil's mercurial Marta with the game tied at 0-0.
In 2011, she played a pivotal role in the World Cup quarter-final, against the Brazilians once more, saving from Daiane in the shootout. There have been many more standout moments yet, here we are on the cusp of her team's first assignment in this World cup and we're not talking about soccer at all.
As a strong-willed personality, it's unlikely these latest developments pertaining to her off-field affairs will affect her too much. In fact, Solo will probably use it to her advantage as extra motivation. But in an environment where even the smallest wobble can prove devastating, the U.S. side could really do without it.
