U.S. Soccer Kicks Hope Solo off the Team

U.S. Soccer announced on Wednesday that goalkeeper Hope Solo has been suspended from the women's national team for six months and her contract has been terminated. The federation said she earned the sharp rebuke for "conduct that is counter to the organization's principles."

Solo drew widespread criticism at the Olympics earlier this month for comments she made when the United States lost to Sweden on August 12. Scorning the defensive techniques that Sweden used to win, Solo, 35, deemed the winners "a bunch of cowards" and asserted that she and her teammates were more talented. "The best team did not win," she said. "I strongly believe that."

This latest incident isn't the first time Solo's behavior has been scrutinized. She was arrested in 2014, charged with assaulting two family members. In 2015, her husband was arrested for drunk driving a team van; Solo was a passenger in the van and served a 30-day ban imposed by U.S. Soccer after the incident. In a statement issued on Wednesday, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said that her previous lapses factored into the organization's decision to terminate her contract.

"Taking into consideration the past incidents involving Hope, as well as the private conversations we've had requiring her to conduct herself in a manner befitting a U.S. national team member, U.S. Soccer determined this is the appropriate disciplinary action," he said.

Solo, who has been a goalie for the United States since 2005 and is by all indications one of the best goalies in the world, said in a statement that she was "saddened" by the organization's decision to let her go.

"I could not be the player I am without being the person I am, even when I haven't made the best choices or said the right things," Solo, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, said. "My entire career, I have only wanted the best for this team, for the players and the women's game and I will continue to pursue these causes with the same unrelenting passion with which I play the game."

Rich Nichols, a representative for the women's national team's players' association, has already said he would file a grievance and petition for the penalty to be reconsidered. He characterized the actions taken against Solo as "excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate, and a violation of [her] First Amendment rights."

"She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for," Nichols said.

With several of her teammates, Solo filed a complaint in the spring with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a bid to earn the same pay that male soccer players do. The EEOC has not yet announced a decision in the case.