US soccer fans have taken to social media to condemn Solo’s comments, calling her “sore loser” and “very disappointing”. But they don’t call them cowards.
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Solo’s problems with Sundhage might have started long before Friday.
“I thought we played a courageous game”, Solo said.
“But we also played a bunch of cowards”.
Solo is no stranger to the world stage, having helped lead Team USA to victory 2008 and 2012 while brining hold Federation Internationale de Football Association gold in 2015, but, on Friday, her flippant comments garnered more press than her talents on the field. “I strongly and firmly believe that”.
“What she did was an act of panic”, said Swedish ‘keeper Hedvig Lindahl of Solo’s time-wasting tactics before the final penalty.
The goalkeeper criticized the Swedish team’s “game plan” and style of play, saying, “They didn’t want open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball”, Solo continued after the Americans’ shocking loss. “You either decide that you’re going to adjust to your opponent or you’re going to play the way you want to play”.
From alleged domestic violence to coarse language, Solo has been in hot water before.
Morgan looked to have saved America’s blushes when she swooped 13 minutes from the end of normal time to cancel out Stina Blackstenius’s opener just after the hour mark.
The teams were tied 0-0 after extra time at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte.
The game finished 1-1, before the USA’s Christen Press missed a vital fifth effort in the shootout allowing Lisa Dahlkvist to win it for the Swedes. “Sweden didn’t play well in the group phase but the favourites must confirm its position on the pitch”, – USA’s exit came as a shock to many, including Germany coach Silvia Neid.
Solo didn’t think it was very sporting or fair for the Swedes to spend much of the game with as many as nine players in front of their own net, less interested in scoring a goal than in preventing one. “But they won, they moving on and we’re going home”.
Solo lets one through in Friday’s penalty shootout.
It is the first time the defending champions have failed to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament.
Sundhage, who coached the U.S.to gold medals in 2008 and 2012, reportedly responded, “I don’t give a crap”. The U.S. won silver in 2000.
Whether discussing coaching decisions or Zika, sharing her forthright views has often put Solo in the crosshairs of public opinion, and she added another talking point for her detractors on Friday after the U.S. suffered a shock loss to Sweden at Rio 2016. “I’m going to Rio, she’s going home!”
She caused a rift within the team at the 2007 World Cup by throwing her coach and a teammate under the bus for pulling her before the semifinal.
“She’s a piece of work”, Sundhage said of Solo. She’s the best goalkeeper in the world, so why wouldn’t you try to make her happy? She’s also courted near-constant controversy, from her arrest in 2014 following a brawl involving her nephew and sister to her suspension after her husband was charged with DUI while driving a national team van to … oh, we’ve been over this all before.
But Sundhage had good reason to take that approach.
That led crowds in Brazil to chant, “Zika, Zika”, every time she touched the ball in matches.
She elaborated on her “cowards” quote a bit later on Friday – but stopped well short of apologizing. “I’m really bad at it”.
Well, Hope Solo was at it again Friday afternoon. It sent the game to penalty kicks, which figured to favor the USA with Solo in front of the net and two of the game’s top scorers in Morgan and Lloyd, the reigning world player of the year, taking its shots.
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The two might be related.
