Armour: Hope Solo, US Soccer share responsibility for soap opera – USA TODAY
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USA TODAY Sports’ Martin Rogers has the latest on the Hope Solo saga.
USA TODAY Sports
WINNIPEG — U.S. Soccer and Hope Solo brought this on themselves.
All of it.
The senator asking U.S. Soccer to explain its response – or lack thereof – to Solo’s arrest on domestic violence charges last summer. The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee expressing his concerns. The endless stories that spare no detail about Solo’s many instances of distasteful behavior.
Most of all, the relentless barrage of criticism and ridicule from all corners at a time when the U.S. women’s team should be celebrated. It is Solo and the federation that have made all the mistakes, but it’s the 22 other women on the World Cup team who are paying the price.
Instead of the focus being on the Americans’ quest to win a third World Cup title, something no country has ever done, all of the attention is on Solo’s poor behavior and how badly the federation has botched its response to it. Because U.S. Soccer blew it so badly last summer, this summer brings a new soap opera every day.
Take Friday. That 0-0 draw with Sweden, not exactly an insignificant game in the battle to win Group D, may as well have happened in a black hole.
The afternoon brought a USA TODAY Sports report that USOC CEO Scott Blackmun had a conversation with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati to express concern about the Solo situation.
Around the same time, Gulati was responding to a letter from Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent a day earlier, questioning the federation’s sincerity in addressing domestic violence and calling on Solo to be suspended.
GULATI’S LETTER: Read the full document
Gulati was strong in his defense of the federation, saying its options for discipline were limited by both the collective bargaining agreement with players and rules governing amateur athletics. He also contradicted a report Sunday by ESPN’s Outside the Lines that U.S. Soccer didn’t try to investigate the altercation last June between Solo and her half-sister and nephew, saying the federation had asked for the police report but received only a redacted version.
But Gulati did admit the federation never bothered to talk to Solo’s half-sister or her nephew, relying on Solo’s version of the story instead.
VIDEO: Hope Solo timeline
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USA Today Sports’ Martin Rogers reports on the lastest news surrounding USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo.
“Based on the public reports of the incident and the partial police report, we understood that the complaining witnesses would likely contradict Ms. Solo’s version of events with equal vehemence,” Gulati wrote. “… The federation knew it would be faced with a `he said, she said’ situation where the credibility of the witnesses would be determinative.”
In other words, U.S. Soccer didn’t investigate because it didn’t want to know. It didn’t investigate because it didn’t want to takeI the chance of having to discipline the world’s best goalkeeper just as the U.S. was beginning qualifying for the World Cup.
Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey used this same kind of illogic to defend signing Ray McDonald, and the reaction was blistering. As well it should have been.
The rash of domestic violence incidents involving NFL players last fall has forever changed the way the U.S. views this horrible crime, and it’s time U.S. Soccer got on board. It’s no longer acceptable to write off abuse as a “family matter,” or minimize an incident because a woman is accused of being the perpetrator.
VIDEO: U.S. scrapes to scoreless draw
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USA TODAY Sports’ Martin Rogers recaps the USA vs. Sweden World Cup match.
USA TODAY Sports
And it’s certainly not appropriate to give a player a pass because he or she is a star.
U.S. Soccer can spin this all it wants – and it’s trying, hard – but this isn’t going away. So long as it refuses to acknowledge it messed up, anything it does at the World Cup will continue to be overshadowed.
Solo didn’t talk after the game, flashing a smile as she declined requests for comment. Captain Carli Lloyd probably should have done the same, not doing herself, U.S. Soccer or Solo any favors with her take on the latest developments.
“Hope Solo news, that’s so old news,” Lloyd said. “… Hope is my roommate and we don’t even talk about it. It’s all old news, we just laugh about it.”
Yep, that’s right. Laugh about it. Laugh about an issue that has cost women and children their lives.
This is no laughing matter, and it’s high time Solo and U.S. Soccer owned up to that.
Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter – @nrarmour
PHOTOS: U.S. vs. Sweden
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