IT’S NOT THE REJECTION THAT KILLS YOU, IT’S THE HOPE
The Fiver loves the USA! USA!! USA!!!, Bruce Springsteen, the lunar landing, those steps Rocky runs up at the end of the training montage, the funky way they insist on saying aluminium – after all, it is the land of the free and the home of the brave. And in this brave land, full of brave souls, there is nothing worse than being called a coward. Just ask Marty McFly. Nobody calls him chicken.
And so the Fiver was shocked earlier this month when our flag-waving, Humvee-driving trans-atlantic cousin, Yankee Doodle Fiver texted us with the news that the USA! USA!! USA!!! goalkeeper Hope Solo had used the ‘C-word’ – in the Olympics no less – aimed at the Sweden team for having the temerity to defend against the World Cup winners and No1 ranked team in the world. Sweden won the Rio quarter-finals on penalties, USA! USA!! USA!!! lost and Hope turned to despair.
“I thought we played a courageous game,” she Yosemite Sammed. “I thought we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart … the best team did not win today – I strongly, firmly believe that. I also think we played a bunch of cowards.”
But it seems that the First Amendment doesn’t extend to international women’s football interviews. On Thursday, US Soccer President Sunil Gulati took exception to Solo’s use of the C-word, handing her a six-month suspension from the national team, ruling that her comments were “unacceptable and do not meet the standard of conduct we require from our national team players. Beyond the athletic arena, and beyond the results, the Olympics celebrate and represent the ideals of fair play and respect. We expect all of our representatives to honor those principles, with no exceptions.” Ho hum.
Never one to miss out on having the last word in an argument, Solo shot straight back. “For 17 years, I dedicated my life to the US Women’s National Team and did the job of a pro athlete the only way I knew how – with passion, tenacity, and unrelenting commitment to be the best goalkeeper in the world, not just for my country, but to elevate the sport for the next generation of female athletes. In those commitments I have never wavered,” she Trumped on Twitter. “And with so much more to give, I am saddened by the Federation’s decision to terminate my contract.” An apology it is not.
Solo didn’t have a great Olympics to be fair, causing a stir even before the tournament started by posting pictures of her protecting herself from mosquitoes in Brazil, leading local fans to follow every one of her goal kicks with shouts of ‘Zika! Zika!’ - Olympics bantz galore. Add to that a couple of mistakes leading to goals in a match against Colombia and her attempt to play silly buggers/mind games – changing her gloves! – during the Sweden penalty shoot out and you can see that Solo might have wished to stay at home, watching reruns of Seinfeld instead on her own.
Once again, the American justice system, erm, prevails. Solo now has six months to dedicate her time to campaigning against wage discrimination in American sport, fighting to avoid trial for domestic violence and thinking up an apology for the Swedes. The good, the bad, and the ugly. USA! USA!! USA!!!
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Join Paul Doyle for live coverage of Big Cup group stage draw, featuring a certain Leicester City for the very first time.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Happy 37th birthday to Marlon Harewood.” With no small amount of fanfare, ITV Football leave no box unticked in wishing the Nuneaton Striker well on his big day. Tomorrow … Nicky Summerbee and Colin Kazim-Richards!
FIVER LETTERS
As regards Guardiola’s formation of 0-2-1-0-2-2-0-2-1 [yesterday’s Fiver]; surely if he’s playing his keeper as a de facto outfield player then this should total 11, rather than the traditional 10? Or is this one of those times you, perhaps accidentally, manage a clever comment, here at the expense of Yaya regarding his occasional lapses in endeavour? – Will Wardley.
Please tell fellow reader Barry Etheridge [yesterday’s letters] that, as an American and Jesuit-educated to boot, I’m perfectly comfortable with “tedium” in all its Latinate glory, blissfully unaware of tortured Anglo-etymologic eccentricities. We also have our own league, “the” MLS, as it’s called at The Fiver – Christopher Smith, New York, New York.
The only thing that’s worse than a pedant, Mr Barry Etheridge, is one who pedantically corrects a pedant … what that now makes me as a consequence of this letter, I’m really not sure - but I am certain it is not something to be proud of. A feeling the Fiver knows all too well, I’m sure – Dan Makeham.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is… Will Wardley.
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BITS AND BOBS
Claudio Bravo to Manchester City. Romeo done.
The tribulations of youth eh? Fresh from being elbowed aside by Zlatan in José Mourinho’s Manchester United lineup, Marcus Rashford has now been shunted into England’s U21s by Big Sam.
Mauricio Pocchettino has wagged his finger and told Érik Lamela that his showboating against Crystal Palace was neither big nor clever. “To be honest I don’t like this kind of thing,” he buzzkilled.
Arsène Wenger has decided that Lucas Pérez’s £17m buy-out clause is A-OK and looks set to nab the Deportivo la Coruña striker from under the nose of Everton’s Ronald Koeman.
Milan have rejected a whopping £35m bid from Chelsea for Alessio Romagnoli. “The player is untransferable and therefore this offer will not be accepted,” Milan cooed in a statement. “We thank Chelsea, a club Milan always have had the best of relationships.”
“My name wouldn’t be Sepp Blatter if I didn’t have faith, if I wasn’t optimistic. I will accept the verdict because, in football, we learn to win, this is easy, but we also learn to lose, but this is not good, I wouldn’t want to lose.” Third-person’s Sepp is at it again, as he arrives for his Cas hearing on Thursday to contest six-year ban.
Daniel Sturridge ain’t going nowhere. Especially out wide.
And Joe Hart enjoyed his ‘special night’ after being let out to play in Manchester City’s Big Cup foregone conclusion against Steaua Bucharest, but Pep Guardiola is standing by his selection decisions.
Danny Drinkwater has crossed the Is and dotted the Ts on a new five-year contract at Leicester.
Elsewhere, former Liverpool full-back Javier Manquillo has coughed for the Sunderland doctor after signing on a season-long loan from Atlético Madrid and Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb has done the very same at Schalke.
STILL WANT MORE?
Can anyone bring down the Bayern death star? Our old mucker complacency is your best bet, reckons Raphael Honigstein in his red-hot Bundesliga pre-season preview.
Sid Lowe has the lowdown on new City boy Claudio Bravo, and how he went from being told he was not good enough as a kid to becoming Pep Guardiola’s No1 man.
Confronted by The Question of how long Liverpool will keep faith with Jürgen Klopp, footballing-brain-in-a-box Jonathan Wilson duly attempts to answer it.
Alan Smith has had his say on Robbie Keane, the street footballer who became the Republic of Ireland’s greatest striker.
Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Chances are, if you’ve read this far down in the Fiver you probably don’t have 14 friends spare to join you in an executive box to watch Arsenal Legends v Milan Glorie on Saturday 3 September at the Emirates. But if you’re one of those rare Fiver readers who does have a social circle you may want to enter this competition.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. AND INSTACHAT, TOO!
