Hope Solo, the Olympic gold medalist, World Cup champion, and former U.S. Women’s National Team goalkeeper, thinks her former team celebrated a little bit too much.
After the U.S. soccer team beat Thailand 13-0 in its first game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, not all viewers were cheering with them. Some thought the boisterous way the team celebrated after each goal of the blowout, even its 12th and 13th goals, was in bad taste.
“I am no stranger to controversy, but let me tell you: I am a proponent of respecting my opponents, and I always have been,” Solo said on “CBS This Morning.”
The U.S. team scored the most goals ever scored by a team in a World Cup match (men’s or women’s), but it was always expected to beat Thailand. So was its celebrating actually gloating?
The subject of much of the controversy’s attention was Megan Rapinoe. After the forward scored the team’s ninth goal, she spun around, slid on the field, and dove toward her teammates for a group hug. It looked like the way to celebrate a comeback, not a blowout.
RAPINOE JOINS THE PARTY! 9-0 USA!
Come for the @mpinoe goal, stay for the celebration ? pic.twitter.com/DhF7Th17qj
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2019
What if it had been the first goal? Fine. The controversy isn’t about celebration, or about running up the score (goal difference matters in the World Cup group stage), but about showmanship. And no, it’s not about sexism, either.
Solo has been “no stranger to controversy” since 2016, when she said Sweden’s team “played like cowards.” But maybe she’s the right person to remind the USWNT that decorum still matters, even if you’re winning. She was suspended for her comments about the Swedish team, and maybe now she just wants to make sure other players can enjoy their success without creating controversy.
At the same time, the members of the USWNT had a lot more than image on their minds. As Andrew Joseph wrote in For The Win, “Why celebrate like that against a far inferior opponent that lacked the support and resources from its federation? But you also have to think of where the USWNT was in that moment: It was the first game of the World Cup. They were playing exceptionally well and having fun playing the game they love.”
The controversy over the USWNT’s excessive celebration may simply be a good reminder as the U.S. goes into its match with Chile on Sunday. There’s nothing wrong with savoring a win, but it’s politeness, not political correctness, that reminds us sometimes to pull back.
