Hope Solo

The U.S.’ greatest soccer goaltender, St. Louis’ own Hope Solo, told radio host McGraw Milhaven yesterday morning that she’s looking forward to a three-day trip to the Super Bowl in Miami this weekend.

“There’s a ton of parties and I have a feeling it’s going to be like Las Vegas You go for three days, you party tough, you socialise, you do all the events, you come back and you get sick for a week.”

Our kinda woman. But guess what, the St. Louis Athletica netkeeper is also nervous about the trip.

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She might be able to get air with a football ball. But what about a pigskin?

ESPN requested Hope Solo on an all-expenses-paid junket so that she could kick some field goals in a pre-match competition held on Sunday.

Hope Solo said she’ll be vying against Robbie Gould of the Chicago Bears soccer squad….and she’s kinda freakin’ about it.

“I kicked a football probably three years ago, messing around, and I couldn’t even get it off the land. It’s going to be entertaining.”

The United States Soccer Federation gave out their yearly awards for 2009 on Monday. Among those honored was U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper Hope Solo, who took home the honor of “Female Athlete of the Year.”

Hope Solo’s 2009 featured her grow to prominence on both the international and league scenes. She won both the MVP award at the Algarve Cup in Portugal as well as WPS Goalkeeper of the Year for her club team, the St. Louis Athletica.

In a video placed on USSoccer.com, Hope Solo gave thanks those who voted for her for the honor. Hope Solo said on the website, “It’s a huge honor but also a really nice surprise to be voted the female athlete of the year for U.S. Soccer. I particularly want to thank everyone for voting for a goalie, as well as our netkeeper manager Paul Rogers for helping me reckon about the position in a more sophisticated way, both technically and tactically.”

The other prize winners were Landon Donovan, who was named “Male Athlete of the Year,” plus Tobin Heath and Luis Gil, who were named USSF “Young Athletes of the Year.”

See video of Hope Solo having her award and giving thanks her fans below:

Speaking of US football, Hope Solo was the goalie for the team in the 2007 World Cup. She really was brought to our attention when she was yanked in a semifinal match (despite giving up just two goals in four games) for the older Brianna Scurry, who had played well against Brazil before, but hadn’t played in three months.

Obviously, the US lost, Hope Solo criticized her coach, which is how we came to know this hot small number. She took the tale from, “I could not care less” to “Hey, have you seen that netkeeper from the US team? Niceeeee.”

Here is the full list!

Former MetroStars goalkeeper Tim Howard and midfielder Michael Bradley have been named finalists for the U.S. Soccer men’s athlete of the year.

Also on the ballot are Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan, Fulham FC forward Clint Dempsey and AC Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu.

Two players from the WPS Champion Sky Blue, Forward Heather O’Reilly and defender Christie Rampone were named finalists for the U.S. Soccer women’s athlete of the year. Also on the ballot were Shannon Boxx of the Los Angeles Sol, Abby Wambackh of the Washington Freedom and Hope Solo of Saint Louis Athletica.

U.S. Soccer also announced the finalists for the young female, and young male – athlete of the year.

Fans will have the opportunity to make their selections for each of the four athlete of the year categories once a day until Dec. 13.

The male and Female athletes of the year awards are the oldest awards of their kind, dating back to 1984 for the men and 1985 for the women, while the young male and young female awards were added in 1998.

The finalists for each award were nominated on the basis of:

* Competing and excelling at the highest level (at the national team and professional level) during the calendar year

* Exhibiting decorum on and off the field that reflects well on U.S. Soccer

* Contributing toward the growth, development, credibility and popularization of soccer in the USA. A player can only win a Youth Athlete award once in his or her career (past winners).

Online votes for the annual award will be tallied and equivalent to 50 percent of the total votes. As in years past, the other 50 percent will be represented by votes compiled from members of the national media and U.S. Soccer representatives (from national team coaches to the National Board of Directors).

Fans also can vote daily for the eighth annual edition of the Best of U.S. Soccer awards until Dec. 13. The 2009 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards span 12 categories in an eclectic ballot. The winners of the 2009 Best of U.S. Soccer awards are chose entirely by online fan votes submitted during the next few weeks.

Male Athlete candidates

Michael Bradley, Midfielder, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Clint Dempsey, Forward, Fulham FC
Landon Donovan, Midfielder, Los Angeles Galaxy
Tim Howard, Goalkeeeper, Everton
Oguchi Onyewu, Defender, A.C. Milan

Female Athlete candidates

Shannon Boxx, Midfielder, Los Angeles Sol
Heather O’Reilly, Midfielder, Sky Blue FC
Christie Rampone Defender, Sky Blue FC
Hope Solo, Goalkeeper, Saint Louis Athletica
Abby Wambach, Forward, Washington Freedom

Young Male Athlete candidates

Marlon Duran, Midfielder, U17 MNT/Latino American
Luis Gil, Midfielder, U17 MNT/Pateadores
Jared Jeffrey, Midfielder, U20 MNT/Brugge (Belgium)
Brian Perk, Goalkeeeper, U20 MNT/UCLA
Tyler Polak, Defender, U17 MNT/Capital Soccer Academy

Young Female Athlete candidates

Tobin Heath, Midfielder, North Carolina
Christine Nairn, Midfielder, Penn State
Sydney Leroux, Forward, UCLA
Kelley O’Hara, Forward, Stanford
Katie Schoepfer, Forward, Penn State

On the field, they’re all business. Off the field, hilarity ensues.

Exhibit A: Sand castle competition in Albufeira, Portugal.
Scenario: As a team building exercise for the ‘09 Algarve Cup, the team is divided into fours, grouped by position (poor goalkeepers).
Best moment: Angie Woznuk and Megan Rapinoe unintentionally making a kid weep.
Best line: “The mermaid wasn’t even original!”-Amy Rodriguez exclaims in the background while Head Coach Pia Sundhage tells the camera her favorite is the goalkeepers’ mermaid.
Runner-up: “A small overdressed.” Heather O’Reilly while Heather Mitts shows off her beach dress

Exhibit B: Stephanie Cox’s birthday party
Scenario: The team surprises Cox on her 22nd birthday in a hotel in Juarez, Mexico.
Best moment: Heather O’Reilly trying, unsuccessfully, to push Tobin Heath into the pool. Hope Solo sees an opportunity and pushes both of them to the pool (goalkeepers are powerful ninjas).
Runner-up: Natasha Kai hitting herself instead of the pinata.
Best line: “It’s my first…I didn’t know what was going on.” Swede fitness coach Helena Andersson on all the pinata madness

Exhibit C: Funnel match
Scenario: Heather Mitts and Natasha Kai team up to pull a prank on a few of their teammates
Best moment: Abby Wambach laughing at Heather O’Reilly (you gotta hear it to appreciate it).
Best line: “I knew you were gonna do something! It was against my better judgement!” Kacey White.

Exhibit D: Bus wave-back match
Scenario: Always competitive, even on a bus ride during the Olympics, the team starts a contest of which side of the bus will get the most waves.
Best moment: Picture this: Baby-faced Lori Chalupny, in a bus, with a lollipop, waving.
Best lines: “The back of the bus doesn’t count.” “Yes it does!” “Dude they’re gonna… they could get a lot.”

This week, women’s soccer has a matchup any sports promoter want to make.

The USA is ranked No. 1. Germany is No. 2.

The USA won the 2008 Olympics. Germany has won the last two World Cups and the 2009 European championship.

The USA has a well-established college match and a new professional league, WPS. Germany is the only major European country to keep its players home in its domestic league, the Bundesliga, which has three of the final 16 teams in Europe’s new Champions League.

Thursday’s match (1 p.m. ET) has no Olympic or World Cup ramifications but is nevertheless a clash of superpowers in Impuls Arena in Augsburg, Germany, one of the venues for the 2011 World Cup.

“I wouldn’t say it’s friendly,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage says. “It is really an vital match for all of us.”

“The buildup to this match feels different,” goalkeeper Hope Solo says. “We’re having more meetings, we’re watching film on Germany. They just got done winning the Euros, putting on quite a performance in the final (6-2 over England). Everybody knows they’re on top of their match right now.

“We’re getting the opportunity not only to play one of the best teams in the world, as prepared as they could be at this point in time, but also in a stadium with 30,000-plus people. You really can’t beat that.”

The U.S. team has noticed excitement in Germany. The match is sold out and will be on live television in Germany, though not in the USA.

Solo says she has seen signs all over town and some animated ads in the subway, and a group of players traveling in Munich attracted some curiosity.

“You can tell there’s a sense of pride for their women’s football team,” Solo says. “The last World Cup, they brought home the trophy to thousands and thousands of fans waiting for them when they stepped off that plane. To this day, seeing that, it gave me hope for something so much larger for what football for women could be.”

Small wonder Germany is placing such an emphasis on its World Cup defense on home soil. The players are remaining in the Bundesliga to be closer together heading into the tournament.

“Some of the games and some of the teams in the Bundesliga are as excellent as WPS,” Sundhage says. “The largest difference — all the players are professional in WPS. Every single match is competitive. I wouldn’t say that’s the same thing in Germany or Sweden or Norway. That is unique for WPS.”

With WPS’ first season completed, this match is the first chance to answer a couple of questions: How much has that sort of week-to-week pressure helped the U.S. players? And how will WPS play change the talent pool?

Ella Masar (Chicago) and Brittany Bock (Los Angeles) are looking for their first international appearances, and WPS play has helped Amy LePeilbet (Boston), Lori Lindsey (Washington/Philadelphia) and Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue) emerge or re-emerge with the team.

“We’re a very different team right now, no doubt about that,” Hope Solo says.

Lori Chalupny and goalie Hope Solo of the St. Louis Athletica helped lead the United States Women’s National Soccer team to a 1-0 win over Germany in an international friendly match Thursday in Augsburg, Bavaria in front of more than 30,000 at a sold-out Impuls Arena. Solo kept a shutout for the U.S. in a match between the two top-rated countries in the FIFA world rankings. The U.S. came into the match ranked first in the world, just 35 points ahead of Germany.

Hope Solo helped set the tone early in what would become a frustrating day for the Germans. Hope Solo’s diving stop in just the fourth minute of play denied Germany the early opener. Solo punched clear a perilous ball from the left corner, fully laying out to reach it, and stopped what would be the best German chance of the first half.

Chalupny and Solo teamed up in the 15th minute. This time Chalupny cleared away a loose ball on the edge of the six-yard box. Solo had gotten a hand to the ball, just enough so that Chalupny could come in and relieve the pressure. Later, in the 29th minute, Germany’s Kim Kullig volleyed an 18-yard shot right at Solo who saved comfortably.

Abby Wambach, from the Washington Freedom, place the U.S. ahead in the 34th minute when she headed in a goal from 12 yards. Wambach was on the end of a cross from Sky Blue FC’s Yael Averbuch that deflected off a German defender. Wambach rose to meet it with a solid header, getting over the top of the German defender and goalkeeper.

The second half started with Chalupny right back in the middle of the action. Chalupny’s 46th minute clearance halted an early German attack. Chalupny dug out the ball from a scrum inside the goal box, sending it out of the penalty area and into midfield.

Hope Solo found herself with some more work to handle in the second half. She raced to the edge of the penalty area to prevent a chance from materializing in the 57th minute. One minute later, she easily handled a cross from the right that could have become problematic.

Germany had two excellent chances during the rest of the second half, but Solo stopped each. In the 69th minute Anja Mittag found herself with some space at the edge of the penalty area, but her resulting shot was no test for Solo. Germany’s last excellent effort came in the 87th minute on a lofted ball straight into the goalmouth. Solo, taking no chances, punched it away. Afterwards Solo had high praise for the Germans.

“I have never seen a team so patient in their attack,” Solo said. “They attack with so many numbers, and they keep possession in the final third of the field. They are just plain excellent.”

The match in Augsburg was played at the new Impuls Arena, which will be a venue during the 2011 Women’s World Cup which will be played in Germany. The win by the U.S. will keep it ranked first in the FIFA world rankings.

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…)

A promotional video featuring WPS Goalies for the new Trojan Vision TV show, On the Ball, about the Women’s Professional Soccer league.

For more information about the show, check out the ON THE BALL website at www.areyouontheball.com

Featuring:
Nicole Barnhart and Allison Whitworth – FC Gold Pride
Karina LeBlanc and Val Henderson – Los Angeles SOL
Caroline J̦nsson РChicago Red Stars
Hope Solo – Saint Louis Athletica
Erin McLeod – Washington Freedom

photographs and animation by Julie Logan.