Hope Solo

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.

New coach selects both goalkeepers in preparation for Olympic qualifying

Goalkeepers Hope Solo and Briana Scurry, who were at the center of a World Cup firestorm, were invited to the U.S. women’s national team training camp by new coach Pia Sundhage.

The camp marks the beginning of the run to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The United States plays in the CONCACAF finals for Olympic qualifying April 2-13 in Chihuahua, Mexico. Two countries from the six-team tournament will advance to China.

It was in China where Solo was benched for the World Cup semifinals by then-coach Greg Ryan, who started veteran Scurry instead. The Americans played poorly, Scurry was beaten four times in a shutout loss to Brazil, and Solo bitterly criticized Ryan for the go.

Solo then was dismissed from the team, which won its third-place match.

Ryan subsequently was replaced by Sundhage, who invited 24 players to the training camp Dec. 8-12. The first games under Sundhage will be at the Four Nations Tournament in China early next year.

The minicamp roster features 16 players from the 2007 Women’s World Cup squad, along with seven players who recently finished their collegiate seasons. Defender Heather Mitts returns from a torn knee ligament last May that required surgery and caused her to miss the World Cup.

Longtime star and recent captain Kristine Lilly was not on the roster; Lilly has yet to choose if she will continue playing next year.

“It’s a small camp, but it will be valuable time spent together as a team and a unique moment for me to have a chance to work with the best players in the United States for the first time,” Sundhage said. “It will give us the chance to get to know them as players a small bit more, they’ll get the chance to learn my style and I’ll also get the chance to get to know them off the field. It will be a excellent start to something new.”

The roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart, Briana Scurry, Hope Solo.

DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler, Marian Dalmy, Kate Markgraf, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Cat Whitehill.
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