Might Hope Solo actually resurrect her career with the United States women’s soccer team?
The parties took the first step toward doing so by settling the grievance Solo filed against the U.S. Soccer Federation after it terminated her contract in 2016, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Solo and U.S. Soccer reached the settlement last month, thus avoiding arbitration, but the legendary USA goalkeeper only announced it Thursday in a statement saying she and U.S. Soccer “have amicably resolved the matter and are moving forward in a positive way,” per the San Francisco Chronicle.
U.S. Soccer in August 2016 suspended Solo six months then terminated her contract after she branded Sweden’s team as “cowards” following its upset victory over USA in the 2016 Rio Olympics quarterfinals.
U.S. Soccer claimed it suspended Solo for an accumulation of “negative actions,” but she believed her players’ union activism amid contentious collective bargaining negotiations was the real reason for her exile from the national team.
Solo, international soccer’s leader in career appearances, wins and shutouts among goalkeepers, hasn’t played professionally since the Olympics, largely due to her recuperation from the shoulder surgery she underwent in September 2016. If she returns to the field in 2018, she could work her way back into peak form and displace Alyssa Naeher as USA goalkeeper ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Whether U.S. Soccer wants her there remains to be seen.
Thumbnail photo via John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports Images
