Two of the United States’ biggest and most troubled soccer stars have a turbulent relationship, and it escalated this week.Abby Wambach had some scathing words for Hope Solo during Thursday’s appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” over the goaltender calling Sweden “cowards” after a stunning penalty-kick win over the US in the quarterfinal of the Rio Olympics.
“I had big problems with that,” Wambach said on the show, while promoting her new memoir “Forward.”
“You never call another team cowards after you’ve just been beaten. The rules in the game are the rules in the game, and you don’t want to be a sore loser — not when you’re the best team in the world. To me, that looks weak. That’s like playground stuff. Be a professional. Stand up and say, ‘You know what, they beat us at our own game. They played better than us today.’ Call a spade a spade.”
Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan also were outspoken in their frustration with Solo, whose comments, they felt, reflected poorly on the team. Rapinoe was “disappointed” in her goalkeeper for not handling the situation as “graciously” as the rest of her teammates, while Morgan disassociated herself from Solo’s insults, saying those were opinions she didn’t “share.”
US Soccer President Sunil Gulati showed he shared players’ sentiments when he made the decision to suspend the star goalkeeper from the team for six months for her inappropriate behavior.
Wambach and Solo have been controversial figures over the past couple of years. Wambach was arrested for drunk driving in April, and revealed her years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction in a startling interview on Monday. Solo was arrested for domestic violence in 2014 following an alleged altercation with her half-sister and nephew.
Wambach’s interview quickly turned personal when she was asked if she liked being teammates with Solo.
“That is a very pointed question,” she said. Period.
Expanding on her answer later on, Wambach admitted she and Solo were forced to work around their differences for the sake of the team.
“I think that I respected her ability on the field. Hope and I clashed a lot,” Wambach said. “We found a way to manage and work with each other because throughout the time that I played, there was no better goalkeeper. And that’s something Hope will always have, in my mind. But was she difficult to work with at times? Hell yeah. Was I? Probably. Because we’re these big personalities.”
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