Such defiant—some might say diva-ish—behavior is nothing new for Solo. At the 2007 World Cup in China, she started for the U.S., until the coach benched her for a semifinal match against Brazil, which the team lost, 4–0. After the match, Solo pointedly told a reporter, “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves.” The team subsequently banished her from its consolation match—and from its flight home. The next year, at the Beijing Olympics, under a new coach, Solo found some redemption by leading the U.S. to a gold medal. But she was criticized as a showboat for her victory prance around the field with an enormous fake gold medal dangling from her neck and a cell phone pressed to her ear. “No one’s neutral about Hope Solo,” says Angela Tavares, a writer for the soccer Web site Goal.com. “They either like her or despise her.”

But Solo’s polarizing persona is what makes her so crucial to the new league’s fortunes. The last professional women’s soccer league in the U.S., the Women’s United Soccer Association, lasted only three seasons—largely because it lacked edge. “The WUSA sort of had a focus on preteen, ponytailed girls who aspired to play soccer someday, and so their messaging was around ‘cause marketing’: ‘This league is something girls deserve to have, and as a fan you ought to support this,’” says Tonya Antonucci, a former Yahoo executive and the new league’s commissioner. “We’re presenting an environment that’s not about babysitting kids but is an opportunity to watch the best and be entertained by the best.”

In most professional sports, a large measure of that entertainment typically comes from booing, or at least rooting against, a villainous athlete. The best players in men’s sports have legions of admirers and detractors, whether it’s Kobe Bryant in basketball or Terrell Owens in football. Alas, many of the stars of women’s soccer have been too bland (at least in their public personas) to inspire much in the way of strong feelings, especially negative ones. Could anyone, for instance, dislike Mia Hamm?

Solo doesn’t have that problem. Indeed, her outburst at the World Cup, which drew the attention of ESPN and sports-talk radio, was one of the rare instances when women’s soccer entered the country’s broader sports discussion. Although Solo is considered by some to be the best goalkeeper in the world, it’s her off-field as much as her on-field reputation that has garnered her endorsement deals from Nike and VitaminWater. “She’s one of the few women players in America that has marketing value right now,” says Peter Wilt, the president of the Chicago Red Stars. “And a large part of it is because of her opinionated nature.”

Solo relishes being known as, in her words, “that loudmouth goalkeeper”—if only because she wants to be afforded the same liberties sports fans typically grant to male athletes: namely, the right to be a cocky jerk. “For some reason, people want to reckon that we’re girls next door, who all get along and go shopping at the mall together,” she told me. “Treat us like professional athletes.”

At the match the next night, it seemed that Solo was a long way from getting her wish. Most of the 5,000 or so fans who came to Harvard Stadium seemed to be the very same preteen ponytailed girls and glassy-eyed parents who had led the WUSA to its ruin. But one small sign augured well: a group of 30 or 40 Breakers fans—all adults, some apparently well-lubricated—who banged on drums and kept up a raucous stream of chants: “We despise So-lo,” they sang. “So-lo sucks!” The object of their scorn never acknowledged the jeers, but she must have secretly appreciated them. After all, as promised, Solo’s jersey that night wasn’t pink; it was red—like a matador’s cape.

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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

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In her first public comments since a brutally frank TV interview in which she criticized her benching, Solo told The Associated Press she never saw it coming and wasn’t prepared for it.

“I had felt as though my childhood dream basically had been ripped away from me,” she said.

The starting goalkeeper for the U.S. soccer team in China, Solo played well in the opening round and quarterfinals. But then coach Greg Ryan benched her for veteran Briana Scurry against Brazil, and the Americans were routed 4-0.

After the loss, Solo said: “It was the incorrect choice, and I reckon anyone that knows anything about the match knows that. There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. … You have to live in the present. And you can’t live by huge names. You can’t live in the past.”

Ryan dismissed Solo from the team. She wasn’t allowed on the bench for the third-place match, did not participate in the medal ceremony and flew home from China on her own.

Until Thursday, Solo had only spoken with close friends and family about her ordeal. As she prepares for a training camp in Carson, Calif., where she will mingle with many of the World Cup players, Solo spoke to the AP by phone.

“It is a small hard to relive that,” she said. “Mentally, I was full of all sorts of emotions. 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.

“Moreso, the moment I realized we didn’t have the opportunity to win the gold medal, my world came tumbling down. I had nothing to immediately give back to my father. I was wound so tight emotionally, and the moment after the loss I broke.”

The worst part, Solo said, was her comments seemed directed at her teammates as well as at Ryan, who recently was replaced at coach by Pia Sundhage.

“Of course I know I have some friendships to rebuild and teammates to rebuild relationships with,” she said. “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. And that is the thing that hurts me the most.”

Solo issued an apology through U.S. Soccer just before an exhibition tour against Mexico in October. She and Scurry were together during that series, along with most of the World Cup players.

“I have reached out to her, but beyond the Mexico series we have not really spoken, which is not unusual with my teammates, because we’re often not together for long (stretches),” Solo said.

“I have spoken to a handful of different teammates here and there at different levels. In the end, we are all professionals and have a common goal to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. I can only hope we place our differences aside because we have a job to do.

“It’s vital we respect each other on the field; we don’t have to be best friends off the field.”

The 25-year-ancient keeper from Richland, Wash., chuckled at the irony of the Olympics, for which the Americans must qualify in April, being staged in China.

“China is going to bring back a lot of memories for me, no doubt,” she said. “But I’ve been through a lot of worse things in life.”

Particularly the death of her father, Jeffrey. Would getting that gold medal in the Olympics ease the pain from the World Cup fiasco?

“My father was even more excited about this World Cup than I was,” she said, her voice cracking. “Looking back, it is not just gold medals that I have to celebrate his life and give back to his passing. If I never see a gold medal in my life, I will be doing what I can to make my father proud.”

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