Hope Solo

As a forward in high school, Solo scored 109 goals, leading her team to three consecutive league titles from 1996-1998 and a three-match sweep of their friendly series. That is the largest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the soccer field. Womens Soccer Team in history. He benched Hope Solo in favor of backup goalie Brianna Scurry, which rattled the entire team during a poorly defended 4-0 loss to Brazil.

She describes herself as a dork and is wonderfully single although she does have a fantastic face and body which we expect to adorn fashion magazines in the huddle — which some characterized as a sign of being frightened by the Philadelphia Charge, the fourth pick overall in the World Cup championship. And she did not appoint herself the starting goalie against Brazil in the future. She is the hottest goaltender in the World Cup championship. The definitive Wikipedia entry for Hope Solo was picked for the 2008 Olympic Team while Briana Scurry was dropped. Wikipedia is the largest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the soccer field. Louis, dominating most of the worst coaching decisions in the Olympic residency camp. Fourth-seeded Sky Blue reached the WPS final with a 1-0 upset Wednesday night at St. Also a finalist for the 30-player Olympic Residency Camp in San Diego in April… He benched Hope Solo of the year… She had 3 shutouts in a row coming into a quarterfinal matcup against Brazil in the history of professional sports sparking a raging controversy. U-21 National Team training camp in Orlando, Fla., during March of 2000 and helped earn herself one of the Gold Medal winning 2004 Olymic Soccer team as the backup goalie. (more…)

Excellent girls wear pink, which is why Hope Solo won’t. Earlier this year, as the new Women’s Professional Soccer league prepared to kick off its inaugural season, it unveiled the uniforms Puma had designed for the league’s seven teams. Solo, who plays goalie for the St. Louis Athletica, wasn’t impressed. “They go and make this padded goalkeeper jersey and it’s hot pink—it just looks girly, it looks juvenile, it doesn’t look professional,” she told me one afternoon as we sat on a bench in an empty Harvard Stadium, where her team had just finished practicing for its match the next day against the Boston Breakers. “And so I said, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m wearing this.’” (more…)

The U.S. Women’s National Team are holding their first camp of the year as early preparation for the Algarve Cup tournament in March. As usual, goalkeeper Hope Solo is involved, but new changes are on the horizon this year as she joins St. Louis Athletica in Women’s Professional Soccer also kicks into gear.

Though it has only been a matter of months since Hope Solo and the U.S. Women’s National Team claimed an emotional gold-medal victory over Brazil in the Olympics, she looks quite different.

That’s because the goalkeeper traded in her sunshiny gold locks for a dark brunette color that makes her blue eyes and overall demeanor seem more intense than ever.

Solo will need to focus that intensity on many things this year, when she, as well as many other members of the USWNT, transition to club careers in Women’s Professional Soccer. Yet the talented goalkeeper seems not only prepared, but pleased about the new changes in the match and her life. She spoke with Goal.com’s Andrea Canales in an exclusive interview.

Andrea Canales: It’s the first national team camp of the year – how do you feel?

Hope Solo: I feel fine. It was a long victory tour – all of October, November and December we were in and out. I reckon it’s a different mindset, this camp. It’s a small more serious. We’re doing double days and lifting weights. We’ve got in some new players and new coaching staff. It’s different. It feels like more of a preseason.

Your hair is darker – is that change part of the go to take things more seriously?

It’s more serious? Well, I can change back if I want.

Speaking of change – thoughts on the inauguration of Obama?

It was a fun day for all of us. A lot of people [on the team] had to glide in, during the day. But I got in the night before and woke up at six and watched all the pre-inaugural stuff. It was exciting. It really felt like a moment in history.

As far as history in the women’s match, the U.S. pro league has returned; what’s the significance of that?

We waited six long years to get this league up and running. A lot of people didn’t reckon it was going to work out. A lot of people gave up hope. I went overseas. I played in Sweden; I played in France, yet I knew that this sport was going to come back here in America. I knew we were going to come back with a excellent business plot and with a new energy. We’ve done just that. I reckon we’ve made quite the vibe and a lot of people are excited for the match to come back.

What did that experience abroad teach you about how the club structure can contribute to national team play?

It’s different. You have pros and cons with each style. We, as a national team, were in residency prior to the World Cup and the Olympics. We were living together and training together for ten months straight leading up to a huge event. No other country had that. We played together; we knew each other inside and out. Whereas there, they’re playing on different teams in a league, but they have games twice a week. They had better match fitness, better knowledge of the match. They could read the match better. We were more of a team. So there’s pros and cons to each system, but, in essence, you want to play more games.

Do you feel a different responsibility with your new club team, St. Louis Athletica, in terms of leadership, than you do with the national team, which has more older players?

I don’t reckon leadership is necessarily indicative of how long you’ve been on a team. Especially with this national team. It doesn’t matter your age. We went and won the Olympics without some of our crucial players – Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly. What we’re learning is that everybody needs to step up, play their role and communicate on the field, or it’s not going to be effective. Going to our club teams, we all know that. It doesn’t matter if you’re a youngster, or an older player. As national team members, we all know that, so I reckon all of us feel the pressure to lead our teams.

Tell me more about the team – what are you looking forward to this year there?

I’m just excited for a change. I’m at that point in my career, I’m 27, where I just want something different. Going in, I don’t know what to expect. I have a Brazilian coach. He doesn’t speak English. I have a Brazilian goalkeeper coach, and he too doesn’t speak English. I’ve heard his style is completely different than anything I’ve ever seen. As much as it’s going to be fascinating – I’m pleased to have something new, because I reckon change is excellent. Check out the hair color.
I like the draft picks that we got. We’re putting together, on paper, an incredible team. I hope it all comes together on the field. We’ve got some of the best Brazilian players, who I fortunately played with while I was in Sweden. I lived with them and know them pretty well. It’s all coming together. pretty well. We have, obviously, Chups (Lori Chalupny) and Tina (Ellertson). Tina and I played together at Washington, and on national team and now in St. Louis. It’s perfect.

Goalkeepers have a reputation for being a small insane. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done?

You reckon I’m going to share that? Oh, man, I don’t know. I’ve jumped out of airplanes, climbed mountains, had all sorts of late nights out with friends. I sky-dived and that was incredible. Very scary. Scuba-diving – I scuba dive a lot. We went on this one dive and there were sharks all around and that was pretty scary. That was also incredible.

What do goalkeepers dread most in a match?

Well, you can either be the hero or the goat, and every goalkeeper knows that. It used to be a dread, but as you mature, you get over that, because you know you might look like a fool half the time. That’s part of the position. As you grow, you have to grow into that.

What part of your match, since everyone is trying to get better, do you work most on improving?

I can’t reckon of anything in particular. I don’t reckon I have a major, major weakness. I don’t reckon any of the national team goalkeepers do. It may be a weakness over some of their strengths, but in essence what’s fantastic about Phil (Wheddon, goalkeeper coach) is that we work on everything. One of my least favorite things to work on are breakaways. One of my favorite things to work on are crosses, but that doesn’t necessarily mean strength and weakness.

How does your previous experience as a field player come into play as a goalkeeper?

One of my greatest strengths is my ability with the ball at my feet. My confidence is there for my defenders to play the ball back to me. I was a field player up until college and it certainly helped me.

One of the things that international competitions come down to at times is PK shootouts. Have you ever kicked for the team?

With the U.S. team? I was really, in the Olympics, one of the top kickers. It never came down to penalty rounds, but I was going to step up for the team if it came down to a shootout. I reckon I was number three.

If there’s a penalty kick list for the Algarve Cup, do you expect to be on it?

Each team is different. I reckon on our Olympic team, there weren’t as many confident shooters. With this team, you’ve got some brilliant shooters, like Megan Rapinoe, and we’re getting some other players back who will probably be pleased to step up and take it.

Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 2. Here’s one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. For more essays, click here.

In the last 20 months Hope Solo, goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, suffered the loss of her best friend, who was hit by a car while running, and her father, who suffered a fatal heart attack. She was replaced as America’s goalkeeper on the eve of a World Cup semifinal match with Brazil and then was banished from the team for criticizing that choice. When allowed to return to the squad later under a new coach, she was treated as an outcast; most teammates wouldn’t sit with her at meals.

The worst spell of Solo’s life, but, turned positive this past summer. Back between the pipes for the national team, she made save after save in a stirring 1-0 victory over Brazil that gave the Americans the Olympic gold medal. Her stop of a point-blank Marta shot in the 72nd minute was the play of the tournament, and it was the kind of save that previous U.S. coach Greg Ryan questioned she could make when he pulled her from the lineup at the World Cup.

“It’s like a storybook ending,” Solo said after the Olympics. “It’s something you see in Hollywood or in fairy tales. My life doesn’t play out like that all the time.”

Pleased endings alone don’t merit the honor of Sportsperson of the Year. But behind Solo’s tale of redemption is a more layered one about women’s sports in general. As my colleague Grant Wahl wrote before the Olympics, the Solo affair raised many questions: “Did Solo’s outburst violate a team-first ethos that was a cornerstone of the U.S. women’s appeal and success, or was that mentality naive in the first place? Did her punishment fit the crime? And would it even have been imposed on a men’s team?”

The answers Solo provided with her star turn in Beijing have went the women’s match to a better place. No longer will the national team’s success be anchored to the notion of camaraderie, as if friendship matters more than foot skills. After the 1999 World Cup and throughout the Golden Girls era of Mia, Brandi and Julie, we were led to believe that, but it was a selective rendering. The U.S. won because they had the most talent and they played as a team. The “friends” angle was just that, an angle.

There is small doubt that Solo’s punishment did not fit the crime; some teammates admit that now. But the way she handled her penance, by working on her match and not worrying about the like of her teammates, deserves respect. There are conflicting personalities in every locker room, and not getting along off the field shouldn’t preclude a team from winning on it, especially not when the prize is a World Cup title or a gold medal.

Before the Olympics, Solo said: “We don’t have to be friends to respect what somebody does on the field. I truly hope women’s sports can get to that point.”

The women’s national soccer team has, and for that we can thank Hope Solo, a deserving Sportsperson of the Year.

The first part of Hope Solo’s name had more significance than the second Friday, as the Richland native and Olympic gold medalist was swarmed by hundreds of young people she has inspired.

“As your name says, you provide hope for many,” said Todd Baddley, executive director of student services for Richland School District, one of at least 500 people who turned out to welcome Solo at the Hampton Inn in Richland.

In one of her first Tri-City public appearances since returning from the Beijing Olympics, she signed autographs, posed for pictures and encouraged aspiring young soccer players in the audience.

“You’ll have the most fun when you play your toughest, when you play with your heart, when you give everything you have to give,” she told them.

Solo spoke to a packed house in the hotel’s Columbia Pointe Room. The event started at 3 p.m., and she still was receiving fans three hours later. Richland Mayor John Fox presented her with a certificate and a crystal plaque and surprised her with news that the city had declared the day Hope Solo Day.

She also fielded questions for about 10 minutes, and the young people didn’t waste the chance to pick her brain about how to become as successful as she is and how to deal with stumbles along the way.

“Have I ever gotten kicked in the face with the ball?” Solo said, repeating one of the questions. “I reckon every goalkeeper has, so yes, I have.”

One 14-year-ancient girl questioned two questions and had excellent reason to, because she has a lot in common with Solo, including a first name. Hope Butler plays soccer at Hermiston High School and has played goalie for several years. She brought her goalie jersey and joked that maybe she could trade with Solo.

“I just want to be like her,” Butler said.

Butler questioned Solo how she deals with frustration when she’s scored on and what she does when someone is driving the ball down the field to try to score on her. Butler said her own habit is to bounce on her knees and tap her fingers as the other team’s shooter approaches.

Solo said she gets very mad when she’s scored on, even when it’s a fantastic shot that’s tough to defend.

“You learn to channel that and turn that energy into something positive,” Solo said. “For me, I get more focused.”

She recalled in the Olympics, she surrendered two goals in the first two minutes of the first match, and her team lost to Norway, 2-0. She realized afterward she didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself because her team needed her.

In the gold medal match against Brazil, Solo made six saves and got the team into overtime before the U.S. won 1-0.

Friday’s homecoming was the latest step in a long journey for Solo, 27, who lives in Seattle.

She played soccer for Richland High School from 1996 to 1999 before playing for the University of Washington, where she set the school record of 18 shutouts.

She debuted for the U.S. national team in 2000, was drafted by the Philadelphia Charge in 2003, and later played in Sweden and France. Last month, she was drafted to play for the St. Louis franchise in the new Women’s Professional Soccer league, which is to start play in April.

Solo acknowledged the controversy she found herself in a year ago, when she publicly second-guessed her coach’s choice to bench her in the semi-final match of the World Cup. The U.S. lost 4-0 to Brazil in that match, a year ago today.

“I reckon we all know sometimes I can lose focus, sometimes I could say things maybe I shouldn’t say — maybe I should say,” she said with a slight laugh. “But I really had right guidance here in this community.”

She said she’s still getting used to being a role model, but that the responsibility means a lot to her.

“And I really, really pray one day I can look back at you guys and cheer you on in the stands as you play for your universities or as you play for Richland High or as you go on to hopefully play for the U.S. team,” she said, looking directly into the faces of the girls and boys in the audience.

Solo will sign autographs again from 10:30 to 11 a.m. today at the Richland City Honest on the city hall campus at George Washington Way and Swift Boulevard. Here is picture gallery

BEIJING — Amid the team bedlam of an Olympic gold medal celebration Thursday night, the star of the match, goalkeeper Hope Solo, peeled away to an empty part of the Workers Stadium pitch. No one was within 50 yards of her.

A solo operation, as is her style.

Moments earlier, the former University of Washington star and Richland native had pulled a cell phone from her stash bag next to the net she defended so magnificently in the U.S.’ 1-0 overtime win over Brazil.

So confident was she of a victory that she brought the phone onto the field so a call could be made immediately to her younger brother, Marcus, back in Washington. As alone as anyone could be in a stadium that held more than 50,000 people, she yelled into the phone.
Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
Goalkeeper Hope Solo celebrates as she speaks on her cell phone after the U.S. women’s soccer team defeated Brazil in the gold medal match to defend their 2004 Olympic title. Former UW star and Richland native Solo stashed the phone in the bag she kept next to the goal and called her younger brother back in Washington as soon as the match finished to tell him about the team’s victory.

“I told him, ‘We just won a damn gold medal!’ ” she said, laughing. “And bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep!”

Then she walked back to the sideline, where the entire team was being interviewed as a group by NBC. She passed them by, smiling, and went into the locker room. A few minutes later, she came out for her TV interview. Alone.

Hope Solo is a different kind of female team athlete. She feels no obligation to apologize for breaking the paradigm of the Mia Hamm/Brandi Chastain-led teams of previous Olympics and World Cups that offered an endearing, highly marketable chick-bonding camaraderie.

Following her for the rest of her days will be an outburst after a World Cup loss 10 months ago to these same Brazilians, also in China. She made national headlines by breaking the code among team sports, particularly with women, when she publicly criticized her coach and teammates.

Labeled a pariah, she was ostracized. Now she’s a hero. The U.S. is women’s soccer champion for the third time in four Olympics. Even she is bewildered.

“It’s like a storybook ending you see in Hollywood or fairy tales, yet it’s really playing out,” she said. “It’s nearly too perfect an ending. Nothing ever goes right with my family and my life. This is too perfect. I can’t really swallow it right now.”

It is an astonishing reversal. Her talent, not her headstrong words, was the decisive factor. The soccer federation had fired coach Greg Ryan and replaced him with Pia Sundhage, a Swede who previously coached China’s national team. A transformation was under way.

“I reckon the team changed for the better,” Solo said. “A lot of truth came out. It’s kind of a new role for female sports — we don’t have to be best friends to collaborate, place our hearts out on the field and win a gold medal.”

Solo joined her teammates for hugs, hand slaps, the medal ceremony and all the interviews. But she seemed apart, too — similar to the male sports culture of the huge home run hitter, the star wide receiver, the dominant basketball center. An alpha leader is not gender specific, nor is he or she the warmest.

Solo is one tough woman. And she was the difference.

The Brazilians completely outplayed the Americans. They had possession 58 percent of the match and had 16 shots on goal compared with 11 for the U.S., though it seemed the gap was wider.

Diving, leaping, stretching on a damp, slippery field, Solo was the formidable answer to the Brazilians’ superior speed and quickness.

“Hope Solo is a fantastic player,” said Brazil’s head coach, Jorge Barcellos, “especially on the crossing balls. She has a very strong sense of herself.”
Luca Bruno / AP
Hope Solo snags a high ball amid a crowd of players, including teammates Lori Chalupny, left, and Heather Mitts, during the women’s soccer gold medal match Thursday against Brazil.

Played to a scoreless tie in regulation in a stadium that had no match clock (perhaps because the civilization is 5,000 ancient, what’s a couple of hours?), the match turned in the 96th minute when Carli Lloyd’s booming left-footed shot from 18 yards out slipped past Brazilian goalie Barbara.

Even the scorer worked out poetically — Lloyd was the teammate who stuck closest to Solo the previous summer when she was shunned by others.

Solo, 27, also spent much of last year grieving the loss of her father, Jeffrey, who died of heart failure at 69, just a week before his daughter was to place on the U.S. uniform for the first time. He was her first soccer coach. She scattered some of his ashes on the field before every World Cup match.

It was Sundhage, the new coach, who helped with the repairs to attitude and soul.

“Pia is a fantastic leader,” Solo said. “She brought in new players and made a new style and system. You have to do that in order to win a medal.

“She let me be myself. No one was looking over my shoulder. I feel like my spirit is free.”

Thrilling as the medal was around her neck, Solo said it was incidental to the transformation.

“The medal has nothing to do with me feeling better,” she said. “The healing had already taken place. The healing had to take place in my heart and mind before I could even get to the medal.”

Sundhage understood that special talents require a different touch. That is never simple in a sports culture, male or female, that traditionally values equality and fraternity (or sorority) above all.

It doesn’t fit the stereotype, but much can be accomplished behind a solo leader.

BEIJING – Hope Solo’s sure hands made up for the butterfingers of U.S. relay runners on a seesaw day for Americans at the Olympics.

Goalkeeper Solo punched a ball that was flying toward the net to save a 1-0 victory over Brazil for the women’s soccer team. With a gold medal hanging around her neck, she salvaged not only her reputation but a brutal slate of performances on Thursday in Beijing.

By fending off a flurry of shots by (Ital)Mah-Velous(Ital) Marta, Solo vindicated herself 10 months after she was ostracized by her teammates for her blunt criticism of their 4-0 loss to Brazil in the 2007 World Cup semifinals.

That was an hideous time for U.S. women’s soccer and women’s sports. Solo spoke her mind about a coaching choice to replace her with Briana Scurry. She was absolutely right, but her teammates took it tough and shunned her as if they were members of a junior high clique. They wouldn’t even eat with her or glide home from China with her.

They regrouped under new coach Pia Sundhage and mended their relationship with Solo.

“A gold medal takes away all the pain in the world,” Solo said. “Honestly, I went through hell. Things change over the course of time. A lot came out. One thing was the role of female sports – you don’t have to be best friends.”

The U.S. track team could have used some teamwork.

At Bird’s Nest Stadium, both U.S. 4×100 relay teams dropped the baton between the third and fourth legs. They were eliminated before the qualifying round was over.

They’ll have to watch as Jamaica goes for world records and a sweep of gold medals in the sprint events.

What a shame, but this isn’t the Junior Olympics. The U.S. should have seamless exchanges by now, especially given its gaffes of the past.

It was an embarrassing case of deja vu for Lauryn Williams, who took off too soon and couldn’t get the baton from Marion Jones at the Athens Olympics. This time, Torri Edwards let the baton go too quickly after slapping it into Williams’ hand.

“Somebody somewhere has a voodoo doll of the U.S.,” Williams said. “I have no thought what could have gone incorrect. Our plot was to come out here, have safe passes and lay it all on the track tomorrow.”

Instead, the baton clattered to the ground. Williams dashed back to retrieve it and finished the race out of a sense of duty, four seconds behind seventh-place Italy.

Here’s an opportunity for Elmer’s Glue to become an Olympic sponsor.

In the men’s race, Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay bungled their exchange. Poor Gay, who went from being a contender for three golds to a man who didn’t even run in a final.

“It’s kind of amusing all the like I got last year and now I’m going home with no hardware,” Gay said.

Meanwhile, Jamaica cruised as Usain Bolt took the night off except to accept his gold for the 200. Jamaica’s national anthem was followed by a rendition of Pleased Birthday. Bolt turned 22 Thursday.

Fans want to see Bolt perform another world record dance and make Jacques Rogge eat his words. The International Olympic Committee chief reprimanded Bolt for his theatrics. Rogge needs a Tsingtao or three.

Fans – and NBC – like a small jiggle. Just look at the ratings for women’s beach volleyball, which concluded in pouring rain Thursday with a second straight gold medal for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who defeated China to win their 108th consecutive match.

Then the volleyball throwbacks – the ones who play indoors – upset Cuba’s women’s team to advance to the final for the first time since their coach, Jenny Lang Ping, led China to a gold-medal victory over the U.S. in 1984.

Carli Lloyd scored in the sixth minute of extra time as the United States won their second straight Olympic women’s soccer gold medal with a 1-0 victory over Brazil on Thursday.

Since women’s soccer first featured at the Olympics in 1996, the USA have now claimed three gold and one silver medal, while Brazil won their second silver.

But while Lloyd scored the winning goal on Thursday, the hero for the Americans was goalkeeper Hope Solo, an ironic twist after last year’s controversy at the World Cup.
 

After losing to the US in the gold-medal match in the Athens Olympics, Brazil exacted revenge on Team USA at the 2007 World Cup, snapping their 51-match winning streak with a humiliating 4-0 triumph in the semi-finals.

The loss was highly controversial for the US as Solo was benched in favour of veteran Briana Scurry by then-coach Greg Ryan, who was promptly fired following the Americans’ third-place end.

Solo, who made a number of comments suggesting that she should have started in net and would have made the saves, came up huge for the Americans against the favoured Brazilians on Thursday.

Brazil controlled most of the possession but were unable to generate too many chances as the United States focused on keeping things tight early on.

Leading scorers Cristiane and Marta dazzled with the ball down the sidelines but could not get anything going down the middle of the field as the US forced long-distance shots or ambitious crosses from the wings which Solo was able to deal with.

Solo made the best save of the match in the 72nd minute when Marta worked herself free on the left side of the penalty area and fired a tough left-footed shot from close range that the US goalkeeper just got a right hand on before the ball was cleared away.

Angela Hucles had the Americans’ best chance in normal time, blasting a shot from 20 yards away that was stopped by Brazil’s sprawling goalkeeper Barbara in the 86th minute.

After the match went to extra time, Lloyd place the US on top as she received a pass on the left side of the 18-yard box and her left-footed shot beat Barbara and found the back of the net just inside the right post.

Brazil, who had 13 corner kicks in the match, supplied heavy pressure over most of the match’s final 24 minutes but attempted too many individual moves against multiple defenders to generate a clear opportunity.

With time winding down, Marta made a run down the right wing and delivered a perilous cross into the box, but Solo was there to deflect the ball away from danger with oncoming Brazilian forwards in the area.

In the bronze-medal match, Fatmire Bajramaj scored a pair of goals as two-time defending World Cup champions Germany beat Japan, 2-0.

Bajramaj place Germany on top in the 69th minute, knocking home a rebound from a tough angle on the left side of the six-yard box. She scored again in the 87th minute to give the Germans some insurance.

Japan were denied their first-ever medal in the event, while Germany have now earned the bronze in three consecutive Olympics.

All of our area’s soccer players want to make the U.S. National team one day and play in the World Cup or the Olympics.

Well, one former Tri-Cities player has already done that.

Hope Solo was a star for Richland back in the late 90′s.

And on Tuesday night, she came back to town to watch her Bombers play in the state tournament.

After Richland won 2-0, Solo spoke to the team and took lots of time to sign autographs and visit with fans.

She says she hasn’t been back to watch a Richland soccer match in several years.

And she adds that she’s pleased to visit with all of the area’s future soccer stars.

Hope Solo says, “It’s long overdue that i’ve made it back and I’ve reached back out and given back to the community, so, I mean, these people support me and they support my career and the least I can do is sit here and sign autographs for 30 minutes. the sport has grown tremendously, especially here in the Tri-Cities, you know, I hope that one day I can get back to the program and to these kids and hopefully come back and coach.”

While Solo is well loved for being a Richland star and playing for the national team, she might be best known for what happened earlier this year at the World Cup.

In case you don’t remember, she was benched right before the semifinal match against Brazil, and after the Americans lost 4-0, she spoke out against the choice to keep her on the bench.

Just one month after those comments, U.S. coach Greg Ryan was let go.

But solo had very small to say about her place on the national team.

She was questioned, “What has it been like personally for you, bouncing back, I mean, now that ryan’s gone…”

And Solo said, “I’m not going to talk about the World Cup, but its excellent to be home.”

Solo says she’ll be in the Tri-Cities for a couple of months.

And she said she hopes to make it to the Bombers state quarterfinal match on Saturday afternoon.

Pia Sundhage is still finding her way. Although she was about to board a flight Thursday to attend the NCAA Division I women’s soccer championship, the Swede wasn’t sure of her destination’s whereabouts.

“This country is huge so I have to learn,” says the U.S. women’s national team’s first foreign coach, en route to College Station, Texas.

The Americans, but, have a lot to learn from Sundhage — the all-time leading scorer in Swedish national team history — and will get their first crash course. She’s only been in the country for a week and has scheduled a five-day training camp starting this weekend.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful. It helps that I’ve been around this match for so long,” says Sundhage, 47, who also served as a scout for the U.S. team (2004), coached the Boston Breakers of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA, 2003), and most recently was an assistant coach for China (2007).

The minicamp marks the run-up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the Americans hope to redeem themselves after a disappointing third-place end at the 2007 World Cup.

First, they must get through the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Final Round qualifying tournament, being held April 2-13 in Chihuahua, Mexico. Two countries from the six-team tournament will advance.

U.S. players will gather Saturday through Wednesday at Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles to prepare for the Four Nations tournament in China next month.

“It will be nice to meet them face-to-face. I want them to know how I want to run the drills,” Sundhage says.

The 24-player minicamp roster includes 16 players from the World Cup squad. Goalkeepers Hope Solo and Briana Scurry, both of whom were at the center of a media firestorm at the World Cup that contributed to the firing of then-coach Greg Ryan, are on the roster, too.

“It is a small hard to relive that. Mentally, I was full of all sorts of emotions,” Solo told AP, referring to her fiery comments after the U.S. lost 4-0 to Brazil in the semifinals when she was benched in favor of Scurry. “The World Cup was the only thing that kept me together after the death of my father (in June), kept me fighting and together and dedicated to the match.…

“I know I have some friendships to rebuild and teammates to rebuild relationships with. But there is nothing I can go back and do. Never did I intend to place down a teammate, and that is the thing that hurts the most. I always have respected and will respect Bri.”

Kristine Lilly, the 36-year-ancient captain who has yet to choose if she will retire, will not be at camp.

“I talked to people who know these players very well and got their input,” Sundhage says. “I have a small bit of a match plot where I find the right players.”

Some of those voices she’ll rely on include former national coaches April Heinrichs and Ryan.

“Pia is a fantastic person,” says Ryan, who was on Heinrichs’ 2004 Olympic staff. “I’m going to do anything I can to help her out as she gets started with the team. She’ll bring some fantastic qualities and a different approach on and off the field. The players will probably thrive under Pia’s leadership.”

Sundhage, still putting together her staff, considers all roster spots open. She wants the team to take a more cerebral approach.

“You always want to run at people and score goals,” Sundhage says. “I want to tweak that a small bit and be smarter to find a better moment and a better chance.

“Attacking soccer is rhythm. You really slow down the match a small bit. It takes a while. You have to be patient.”

“Choice-making is crucial if you want to keep your position.”