U.S. women's national soccer team G Hope Solo last night "walked onto the Winnipeg Stadium pitch" for the U.S.' 3-1 win over Australia to open the FIFA Women's World Cup and "demonstrated why she gets away with things few others could," according to Leander Schaerlaeckens of YAHOO SPORTS. It is "doubtful that the USA would have walked away" with a win without Solo's play, and that is "what you get" with her. Schaerlaeckens noted the new details that ESPN reported over the weekend regarding Solo's June '14 arrest for domestic violence and wrote, "With the bother of all those incidents comes the brilliance." Keeping Solo on the team and not suspending her for the incident "is a choice U.S. Soccer has made," knowing that her "baggage is heavy and her propensity for kicking up conflict sizable." The negative publicity that Solo garners away from the field "continues to be a stain on an organization that truly goes out of its way to do right by its women's team." But that negativity "is perhaps seen as the necessary collateral damage for a chance to win a World Cup" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/8). In N.Y., Juliet Macur writes it is "not a stretch to think that U.S. Soccer, and maybe even her teammates, can't handle Hope Solo the person anymore and have resorted to focusing on her as merely a goalkeeper." Macur: "Forget about what she does off the field ... That Hope Solo isn't at the World Cup, says U.S. Soccer. ... Focus on what she does on the field, which is brilliant." U.S. Soccer has "proved to be gutless in this whole mess because it failed to discipline Solo for her arrest in the first place." Instead of making a "quick and powerful message soon after Solo's arrest by punishing her in some way, U.S. Soccer now has a woman in goal who is accused of saying and doing some very ugly things -- not exactly the kind of poster woman you'd want for a team" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/9). In Dallas, Sharon Grigsby wrote fans "must hold women behaving badly just as accountable as we do men." Grigsby: "That requires a courage that U.S. Soccer has shown itself unwilling to exhibit" (DALLASNEWS.com, 6/8).
THE GOOD OUTWEIGHS THE BAD: In N.Y., Wayne Coffey writes Solo is a "wondrous talent who also provides drama and complication on an endless loop." U.S. Soccer "always seems quite content with enabling her errant behavior to go mostly unpunished, because she is very good at keeping soccer balls out of nets" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/9). FS1's Alexi Lalas said, “There’s a reason why the U.S. deals with the baggage and the drama that comes with Hope Solo off the field. It’s because she makes the saves that others can’t, and in doing so she keeps you in the game” (“U.S.-Australia,” FS1, 6/8). In Orlando, David Whitley writes under the header, "Hope Solo Benefits From Double Standard In Domestic Dispute Cases." U.S. Soccer is "apparently willing to employ anybody who'll help it win." As a result, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "looks strict compared to the powers running U.S. Soccer" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 6/9).
MORE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE: espnW's Julie Foudy asks since domestic violence is "really at the forefront of so many discussions and national conversations in this country," how could U.S. Soccer "not do some due diligence there?" Foudy: "Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of thinking she’s guilty or not guilty, shouldn’t you as a federation be doing that? They haven’t been. ... I don’t think they have done enough” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 6/9). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said U.S. Soccer “has to answer as to why they haven’t done” anything to Solo. The organization "probably should have addressed this, and I think they might even have to address it during the World Cup.” But ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said, "They’re not going to do anything now, and I’m not sure they should” (“PTI,” ESPN, 6/8).
