The crowd of almost 10,000 fans at the 60,000-capacity Mineirao Stadium jeered the goalkeeper with references to the virus that has scared many athletes ahead of the Rio Games.
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Hope Solo is definitely one of them as she was booed during her US team’s opening game of the Rio Olympics.
So they booed Solo mercilessly on Wednesday, and repeatedly chanted “Zika!”. The crowd added “Zika, Zika”, after their chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole”. Her post was widely reported in the Brazilian media.
“You look back in 2004 in Greece, and the same thing there, bad publicity surrounding the games, and China as well”, said the 35-year-old from Richland, Washington. “What goes on around me in the stadium, honestly, it doesn’t really matter”.
“I do not usually understand what happens around the stadium, because I am very focused on the game”, she said.
Understandably, several athletes dropped out of the tournament while others voiced concern and adopted protective measures before leaving for Rio, for instance, one British Olympian even chose to freeze a sample of his sperm over Zika fears.
Zika is especially unsafe for pregnant woman because contracting it can give you baby a strong chance of being born with birth defects. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine or medicine for Zika.
Just like in the World Cup, the USA backline proved impossible to break, leading to a comfortable second half once the two-goal advantage was established. “She’s always good for the US even when the team is in hard times”. The oft-controversial goalkeeper spent the last few weeks poking fun at Brazil over Zika virus concerns, and Brazilian fans didn’t take kindly to that. She posted as well a photo of dozens of mosquito repellant packs that she had said she had been packing for her Rio trip.
The photo went viral and Solo knew she was walking into a hornets nest.
She seemed untroubled that her attempt at rapprochement was rejected.
The veteran US goalie was then teased by fans chanting “Zika, Zika” at her as US defeat New Zealand in their Olympic bow on Wednesday.
“I’ve played in Mexico before”.
Solo’s career began with a comfortable blowout, but she’s made countless spectacular saves over the years to earn a US goalkeeper record 151 wins against increasingly competitive worldwide competition.
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Hope Solo, unlike a famous movie character from a galaxy far far away who shares her surname, isn’t Rebel scum, but Brazilian soccer enthusiasts at thought differently when Solo took the field at Mineirao on Wednesday. “So I’m OK with it”.
