Hope Solo act may be wearing thin with U.S. Soccer

Solo, a passenger in the vehicle, was not arrested. U.S. Soccer officials felt Solo exercised poor judgment by staying out so late during camp and getting in a car with an impaired driver. They were also livid that Stevens was driving a team van — opening up serious liability issues.

The incident occurred less than a week after a judge in Kirkland, Wash., dismissed misdemeanor domestic assault charges against Solo, who was arrested last June after a scuffle with her half-sister and 17-year-old nephew.

Solo continued to play during legal proceedings, a decision that prompted U.S. Soccer to be heavily criticized.

Solo showed contrition after her suspension, saying in a statement that she “accepts and respects” the federation’s decision, and she apologized for “disappointing” her teammates, coaches and the federation.

But neither soccer’s governing body nor U.S. Coach Jill Ellis has outlined the stipulations for Solo’s return or guaranteed she would be reinstated before the World Cup begins in Canada, leaving many people — including Solo’s teammates — to wonder if faith has finally been lost in Hope.

“Hope has created too much controversy over the years and recently has made too many mistakes,” said Tony DiCicco, who coached the U.S. women to their last World Cup title in 1999. “I think her teammates and coaches may be giving up on her and are considering going to the World Cup without her.”

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati confirmed as much. Asked on a conference call last month if he could envision a scenario in which Solo would be left off the team, he said, “Sure.”

“Hope has been given time to deal with some issues,” Gulati said. “And there are a number of things she is being asked to do.”

The feelings of Ellis and the players remain private for now. The team has refused to make them available for comment about Solo. The goalie declined to be interviewed for this story.

“I think this is a tipping-point moment, for sure,” said former national team midfielder Brandi Chastain, whose dramatic penalty-kick shootout goal gave the U.S. the win over China in the 1999 World Cup final. “It’s a critical moment for Hope because she has to prove to everybody that being on the national team is more about the team than it is about her, and that hasn’t been her M.O.

“I think she definitely possesses qualities that make her incredibly valuable as a goalie, but is she invaluable? No. There’s not one player in the world, even Messi or Marta, who is invaluable.”

Ellis and U.S. Soccer have time to determine whether Solo’s talent and experience on the field are worth the controversy that follows her off it. How backup goalies Ashlyn Harris and Nicole Barnhart perform in Europe will weigh in the decision. The U.S. women lost to France, 2-0, Sunday with Harris in goal. The U.S. plays England on Friday.

“It’s another distraction that’s not wanted,” former U.S. team midfielder Julie Foudy said in an interview with espnW.com. “It’s more questions, more drama.”

DiCicco, who has worked as an ESPN commentator and will join Fox’s crew for this summer’s World Cup, believes the U.S. is better off with Solo.

“In my opinion, she’s still the best goalie out there,” DiCicco, 66, said. “As a coach, I would not give up on Hope because she has played every minute of the last two Olympics and the 2011 World Cup. For other keepers, playing in friendlies and the Algarve Cup doesn’t come close to replicating the World Cup.

“I think it’s up to Hope if she will be in the World Cup or not. She has one last chance to get it right. She will have to come back and be the model teammate and citizen.”

That’s been a challenge for Solo dating back to 2007, when her outburst after she was benched for a World Cup semifinal against Brazil got her sent home from Beijing a game before the tournament ended.

Solo arrived in China that September with a heavy heart. Three months earlier, her father, Jeffrey Solo, a Vietnam veteran who left his family and decided to become homeless while Hope was in grade school, had died of heart failure.

The two reconnected while Hope played at the University of Washington from 1999-2002, Jeffrey living in a tent in the woods a few miles from the Seattle campus yet finding a way to attend every home game.

Before the World Cup opener against North Korea, Solo sprinkled a portion of her father’s ashes between the goal posts.

After a shaky start — she gave up two goals in the first game — Solo shined in shutouts of Sweden, Nigeria and England, showing the kind of athleticism, aggressiveness, instincts and confidence that have helped her amass a U.S. women’s record of 77 shutouts in 161 games.

But before the semifinals, then-coach Greg Ryan, playing a hunch, started 36-year-old goalie Briana Scurry, one of the heroes of the 1999 team who had a history of strong performances against Brazil. The U.S. lost, 4-0, and Solo fumed.

“It was the wrong decision,” Solo said. “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. You have to live in the present. You can’t live by big names. You can’t live in the past.”

Solo’s reaction made her something of a pariah on the team, though it didn’t prevent her from anchoring Olympic gold-medal runs in 2008 and 2012 and earning the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper in the 2011 World Cup, where the U.S. lost the final to Japan in a penalty-kick shootout.

But controversy seems to be a constant companion.

Solo was a guest on NBC’s Today Show during the 2008 Olympics. She admitted a few years later that she was drunk during the appearance. She tested positive for a banned diuretic before the 2012 Olympics but received a warning, not a ban.