Hope Solo’s sordid Olympic Games — bug spray, anyone? — went up in smoke with the U.S. women’s team’s stunning shootout loss to Sweden in Friday’s quarterfinals. The outspoken goalkeeper’s withering postgame comments stoked the flames and set the Internet alight.
Sweden Coach Pia Sundhage, who guided the Americans to gold in 2008 and 2012, shot down her former goalie’s verbal onslaught as casually as an Olympic skeet shooter aiming at a low-flying hot air balloon.
“I don’t give a crap,” she told reporters. “I’m going to Rio; she’s going home.”
Sundhage also added: “It’s okay to be a coward if you win.”
Game. Set. Match.
Solo, already booed throughout this tournament for her controversial comments about the Zika virus, made herself even more unpopular right before the shootout’s final penalty kick. As Lisa Dahlkvist approached a kick that could send Sweden into the semifinals, Solo waved to the referee and called for time. She stepped aside, peeled off her gloves and waited for a U.S. assistant to bring her a new pair. Basically soccer’s version of icing the kicker.
It didn’t work.
As a 45 year long football player, that Hope Solo glove swap on the final penalty was the most cowardly thing I have witnessed in that sport
— 💉 Richard Ings : 8.5 billion doses and counting (@ringsau) August 12, 2016
Hope Solo had too much bug spray on those gloves...#USAvSWE
— Sam Friedman (@SamDFriedman) August 12, 2016
Try these gloves next time @hopesolo pic.twitter.com/VWkr04x0pj
— Sportbladet (@sportbladet) August 12, 2016
Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl wasn’t too impressed either.
“What she did was an act of panic,” Lindahl said of her counterpart’s time-wasting tactics.
It wasn’t Solo’s first embarrassing moment on the pitch in these Olympics. The 35-year-old star also badly misjudged two free kicks Tuesday, resulting in a 2-2 against Colombia.
Following Solo’s verbal flamethrowers Friday, Sports Illustrated soccer writer Grant Wahl tracked her down to seek clarification on the “coward” comments. Her milquetoast response:
Just heard from Hope Solo. Here's what she had to say. pic.twitter.com/qnWgRirUjE
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) August 12, 2016
This was the full context of my comments today. Thank you @GrantWahl. Losing sucks. I'm really bad at it. https://t.co/s5Mckg8o6B
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) August 12, 2016
Former USWNT star and current ESPN analyst Julie Foudy took issue with Solo’s sore-loser attitude.
“To call them cowards for playing a tactically smart game is ridiculous and classless and it really doesn’t represent the house that we built in the U.S. team,” she said.