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Hope Solo's Future With NWSL Club In Doubt Following Suspension From USWNT

NWSL Seattle Reign G Hope Solo was absent from the team's practice on Thursday following her six-month suspension from the USWNT, and Reign coach Laura Harvey was "ambivalent when asked whether the goalkeeper will ever suit up for her club team again," according to Matt Pentz of the SEATTLE TIMES. Harvey said, "I don’t know whether they’re going to keep paying her to play in the league or not. ... The feeling was that she could play, but again, I haven’t spoken to anyone individually to know that that’s truly the case. I think it’s a complicated one, if I’m honest. I’m not sure it’s as cut and dry as maybe we all think.” Pentz reports Solo's "state of limbo provides a window into the strange dynamic between the NWSL and national federations," as players who represent their national teams "have their club salaries covered by their respective federations, resulting in a tenuous power dynamic." Harvey said that she has "never even seen" the contracts of Solo or Reign MF Megan Rapinoe, who also is a member of the USWNT. Pentz notes Solo is "getting paid three months of severance from U.S. Soccer," but what happens beyond that "is as open a question as everything else" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/26). 

OTHER ISSUES AT HAND: In Orlando, Alicia DelGallo notes Solo had been one of the "faces of an equal pay battle" between the USWNT and the U.S. Soccer Federation. NWSL Orlando Pride F Alex Morgan, who also is involved in the fight, did not believe Solo's suspension would hurt the effort. Morgan: "There's 25 players fighting for equal pay. We all play our part in it equally as much as Hope did, so I think that it will still be a very important issue, especially with the new contract supposed to be starting in 2016. It’s a very important time for this team" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/26). SI.com's Grant Wahl noted Solo behind the scenes has been "more influential than any U.S. player in pushing to fight U.S. Soccer for equal pay" with the USMNT. Solo’s suspension and contract termination "don’t necessarily prevent her from taking part in CBA talks" (SI.com, 8/25). 

LONG TIME COMING: In N.Y., Jonathan Mahler writes the Solo's national team suspension marks the end of a "fraught relationship between U.S. Soccer and one of its most prominent, most accomplished and most outspoken players." Mahler: "In the end, the one thing Hope Solo couldn’t stop was herself" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/26). In DC, Steven Goff writes Solo "is brilliant at what she does on the soccer field and often belligerent off of it." The USSF’s decision was "in response to Solo’s comments at the Olympics, but in essence, it was for cumulative missteps." Goff: "She deserved long-term banishment for continuing to embarrass the U.S. program and, in the broader scheme, the Olympic program" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/26). ESPNW.com's Graham Hays noted the decision "might well be the best thing for the national team," but in portraying itself as "doing the right thing, U.S. Soccer looks neither proactive nor pragmatic but like shallow opportunists." There were "so many years and so many opportunities to make a stand." But U.S. Soccer "chose pragmatism when results mattered, then changed its tune when it was convenient to do so." Hayes: "That is indefensible opportunism" (ESPNW.com, 8/25). ESPN's Rachel Nichols: "I understand being sick of dealing with Hope Solo -- she has been difficult for the U.S. Soccer Federation for a long time. But if you were going to lay the hammer down, the time to do it was when she had a domestic violence incident” ("PTI," ESPN, 8/25). ESPN's Reese Waters: "If they actually were concerned with Hope Solo’s behavior, they would have taken more major action well before now. Now is just a convenient time for them to take some action” ("His & Hers," ESPN2, 8/25).

I'M THE REALEST?  In N.Y., Ebenezer Samuel notes there was "no need to suspend Solo" for a statement that "hurt a few feelings, not for being the rare athlete willing to speak her mind." She "already served her punishment for saying something dumb: She had to hear everyone tell her how dumb and wrong and immature and fill-in-your-own-adjective-here that it was to call Team Sweden a 'bunch of cowards.'" While the statement "was unsportsmanlike as hell," Solo also deserves "credit." Samuel: "She was being the rarest of athletes in that moment, being real and authentic before the media (and the fans) and refusing to read from the Bible of Cliches that bores us all to tears" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/26). ESPN's Israel Gutierrez: "Even as a symbolic penalty, it was too much" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 8/25).

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