Megan Rapinoe, one of the US women’s national team’s most experienced players, has spoken out against her team-mate Hope Solo over her comments following the shock quarter-final defeat to Sweden at the Olympics.
The outspoken goalkeeper was bitter after the USA lost a penalty shootout, calling the Swedes “a bunch of cowards” for what she saw as their negative style of play.
“I mean really disappointed, to be honest,” Rapinoe said in an interview with NBC sports when asked about her reaction to Solo’s comments. “That’s not our team, that’s not what this team has always been, that’s not what this team will be in the future.”
Rapinoe, a world and Olympic champion midfielder with the USWNT, went on: “It’s frustrating sometimes as an athlete, you’re thrust into the spotlight and you know I think this team has always done a really amazing job of understanding that we have this incredible platform, let’s do something good with it. Let’s be badass, let’s be fierce, let’s be competitive.
“But we’re gracious, we’re humble and we play the game a certain way – whether we win or lose. And we’ve been on the winning side quite a bit and when we find ourselves on the other side we need to handle that graciously and unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
After a strong negative reaction to her original remarks on social media Solo admitted on Twitter that “losing sucks. I’m really bad at it.”
