Hope Solo is still living in the past.
The greatest goalie in U.S. women's soccer history wants you to know that she was wronged by U.S. Soccer when she was booted from the national team after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
She was an innocent victim, punished for loving the game too much.
Solo continued to push this narrative in a first-person column for The Guardian titled "I was punished for calling Sweden cowards, but now rawness is accepted."
Enough already. What's the point of writing this now? Could it be making sure people are still talking about you? If that's the case, good job.
Ahead of Thursday's clash between the U.S. and Sweden in the final group stage game for the two longtime rivals, Solo is still talking about being "heartbroken and raw" after the Americans lost to a defensive-minded Sweden team she labeled "cowards" in the Olympic quarterfinals on penalty kicks.
"Sweden had played an incredibly defensive game and essentially stopped playing any kind of offense," Solo _ who is working as an analyst for BBC Sport at the World Cup in France _ wrote. "I made comments straight after the match about the US losing to a 'bunch of cowards.' Not the best choice of words but in that moment I felt they didn't play a courageous game."
Solo would have every right to be pissed if those comments were what got her fired. That's simply not the case.
Solo, who has already blasted Jill Ellis during this World Cup saying the U.S. coach "cracks under the pressure," again took a shot at the veteran national team coach saying the Americans were not prepared for the tournament in Rio.
"Of course, the loss was entirely down to our own lack of preparation," Solo added.
It would be the last time Solo would suit up for the national team as U.S. Soccer terminated her contract a week after the loss.
In her column, Solo blames her show of emotion after the heartbreaking defeat to Sweden for losing her job. She also points to being a thorn in the side of the federation in her fight for equal pay.
"U.S. Soccer realized it now had an excuse to remove its biggest adversary in the fight for equal pay, and it did."
What Solo _ who helped the U.S. to the 2015 World Cup title and holds just about every meaningful goalkeeping record _ failed to mention in Wednesday's Guardian column is her pattern of bad behavior that finally forced the federation's hand.
She didn't mention her joy-ride in a U.S. team van with her husband _ ex-NFLer Jerramy Stevens _ in 2015 that resulted in Stevens being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. She also didn't mention being arrested in 2014 on charges of assaulting two family members. The charges were eventually dropped, but the damage was done.
"Over time there's been off the field distractions for which the federation has taken action. Each time an action has been taken there's been made clear an expectation that this would be the last time such a step would be necessary," Ellis said at the time of the ban. "Sadly, how Hope handled her post-Olympic comments forced us to make a significant decision. It's not simply a decision made about comments, it was based on the sum total of actions that have unfortunately shone a negative light on our program."
If all Solo had done was called Sweden "cowards," she would still have a job. There is just more to the story. There always is with Hope.
