Hope Solo was handed a six-month suspension from the US women's national team on Wednesday, and on Saturday afternoon her playing future was thrown into even deeper doubt.
Solo's club team, Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League, announced that the longtime USWNT goalkeeper has been “granted a personal leave” from the team and would not play in Seattle's Cascadia showdown with the Portland Thorns on Saturday night.
No timetable was set for Solo's return, and Reign FC signed young 'keeper Andi Tostanoski as a roster replacement; Haley Kopmeyer has deputized for Solo during the Olympics and remains in the starting role.
Following the USWNT's upset Olympic quarterfinal defeat to Sweden, Hope said that the four-time gold-medal winners had lost to "a bunch of cowards," referring to the Scandinavians' defensive bunkering, and that “the better team did not win.” Sweden went on to win the silver medal in the tournament, falling to Germany in the championship match.
U.S. Soccer announced a six-month suspension for Solo this week, citing “conduct that is counter to the organization's principles,” and terminated her contract.
Unlike most of their NWSL teammates, USWNT players are full-time employees of the federation, with one part of their salary earmarked for national-team duty and another for NWSL play. On Thursday, Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey said she and her club weren't sure whether Solo would play again this season, which has five matches to go.
“This is life-changing for her,” Harvey told reporters. “We’re all very mindful of that. We’re very conscious that we want to have conversations with her privately about what this means to her and what she’s thinking before we even think about what that might mean for us in the long term.”
Solo's only public comments since the suspension came in the form of a social-media post that did not specify her career plans.
