American goalkeeper Hope Solo isn’t known for being shy and retiring.
You may remember her ripping former U.S. team head coach Greg Ryan for benching her in the 2007 World Cup in favor of veteran Brianna Scurry. The team was humiliated, 4-0, by Brazil in the game. She dropped this line five years ago:
“It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that,” Solo said. “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. And the fact of the matter is it’s not 2004 anymore. … It’s 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can’t live by big names. You can’t live in the past. It doesn’t matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics three years ago.
And that was before Solo got her hands on a most dangerous weapon — Twitter.
Solo took to her personal pulpit after the United States beat Colombia 3-0 to bash Olympics commentator and former gold medalist Brandi Chastain. (You know, the sports bra lady.)
Its 2 bad we cant have commentators who better represents the team&knows more about the game @brandichastain! #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
Lay off commentating about defending and gking until you get more educated @brandichastain the game has changed from a decade ago. #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
Not exactly endearing herself to the older generation that paved the way, is she?
Chastain was very critical of the U.S. defense in the team’s opening match, a comeback win over France in which they fell behind 2-0 early. To be fair, I watched the game and their defense was terrible. Even late in the game, leading 4-2, they were forcing the action and opening themselves up for counterattacks.
After a 3-0 shutout against Colombia, Solo clearly couldn’t wait to hop on Twitter and call out Chastain just two hours after the game ended. But a little feistiness is fun and it has certainly proved to fire up Solo in the past. There’s no question she’s the best keeper in the world.
Chastain took the high road, complimenting Solo and saying she was intentionally drawing the attention to herself and away from the criticism of her teammates.
“She plays the villain and I think at times she likes to walk that line,” Chastain said. “You have to have that swagger to play the position.”
But can’t we all get along ladies? Former U.S. men’s national team player and current ESPN commentator Alexi Lalas said it best.
I’m going to drive alone through the night and try to forget that I live in a world where @hopesolo and @brandichastain are at odds.
— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) July 28, 2012
Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports. Maybe Hope Solo and Brandi Chastain are just mad at each over their dueling semi-nude modeling careers.
