DANNY ONEIL

Timing of Hope Solo’s punishment feels all too convenient

Aug 25, 2016, 10:36 AM | Updated: 11:21 am

U.S. Soccer terminated Hope Solo's contract over her comments following a loss to Sweden in the Oly...

U.S. Soccer terminated Hope Solo's contract over her comments following a loss to Sweden in the Olympics. (AP)

(AP)

The U.S. Soccer Federation was fed up with Hope Solo.

Hard to blame them. For going on 10 years now, she has criticized coaches, undermined teammates and been in the national-team van when her general menace of husband was pulled over and arrested for DUI.

So maybe the fact that Solo was fired from the national team on Wednesday was more like a lifetime achievement award after a decade worth of controversy. Either that or our nation’s soccer authority waited until the goalkeeper was no longer useful to shame her for something that really wasn’t all that offensive.

She called the Swedes “cowards” after a shootout loss in the Olympics. It was part of a statement in which she praised the way her team played in coming back and criticized Sweden’s defense-first tactics after taking a lead in the match.

It certainly wasn’t good sportsmanship. It was definitely rude. Not as rude as peeing behind a gas station, knocking down a poster and then embellishing the ensuing confrontation into an armed robbery, but still, it was rude. It was not a good look.

But we’re also talking about a player who ripped her coach’s decision to start another goalkeeper (2007 World Cup) then accused that coach of shoving her (Solo’s 2012 memoir). She has been arrested on allegations of domestic violence (Kirkland, 2014) and still faces a misdemeanor charge in that case, in which she is seeking to avoid a trial. She was also in a national-team van when her inebriated husband, Jerramy Stevens, was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence (Los Angeles, 2015).

In all that time, she was suspended from the national team once. That was for 30 days following Stevens’ DUI arrest. She missed two exhibition games the team played in Europe and was reinstated in time to play in a tournament in Brazil.

And after all that, it was being a poor sport that caused the U.S. Soccer Federation to get tough with Solo for what it described as “conduct that is counter to the organization’s principles.”

Yeah, little late for that.

The country’s top soccer body gets to shame Solo, and it will cost her some money. It was announced as a suspension, but it’s really a firing. She was given three months of severance pay and can re-apply for inclusion on the team in February. A Tier One national team player like Solo makes $72,000 a year. Her termination pay amounts to $18,000. She will miss out on earning another $18,000 before she can re-apply for the national team.

But it also seems awfully convenient that the governing body only now got tough with Solo. She played while she was facing an assault charge. She played after her husband was arrested for being drunk while driving the national team’s van. And now, when there’s not a tournament looming, she won’t be on the team because she was rude.

I don’t feel bad for Solo, but that also doesn’t mean this was right. Maybe this was truly the final straw. Or maybe this was simply an excuse for the governing body to shame someone after she was no longer of use to the team.

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Timing of Hope Solo’s punishment feels all too convenient