Hope Solo Suspended from U.S. Women’s National Team
By Tiffany Cobb
Hope Solo
Photo provided by Creative Commons
Hope Solo was recently suspended for six months from the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) after the comments she made after a loss to Sweden during the Rio Olympics.
The game that knocked the US out of the 2016 Olympics ended in a 4-3 final score after a penalty kick shootout.
After the game US goalie, Hope Solo who has been playing with the USWNT for 17 years, trash talked the Swedish team out of anger at the loss. In response to her negative comments the U.S Soccer Federation came to the decision of suspending the goalie for six months and terminating her contract with the federation.
Solo did not take the news lightly as she broke down in despair after the news was broken to her. While this may seem like a harsh reaction from the USWNT over a couple comments, Solo has a history of getting in trouble during her seventeen years on the team. In January 2015 Solo was suspended from the team for 30 days due to her and her husband receiving a DUI while driving a team van. In October of the same year Solo was arrested on two charges of domestic violence. She did not receive a suspension for this offence though because in the end the charges were dropped.
Many people believe that the comments she made about Sweden was Hope Solo’s last straw that got her contract terminated. Once the news was broken to Solo she decided that she would not be returning to the team after her suspension was up. Haley Kopmeyer has currently taken Solo’s place as goalie.