SoccerAmerica - Solo disciplined for tweets 09/14/2010

[WPS] Women's Professional Soccer's disciplinary committee has suspended Atlanta Beat goalie Hope Solo for the first game of the 2011 season, issued a fine of $2,500 and given her eight hours of community service for her tweets critical of the refereeing in Saturday's season finale against Washington.

After the last-place Beat's 1-0 loss to the Freedom, the U.S. national team goalie tweeted, "Its official, the refs are straight bad. Its clear the league wanted dc in playoffs. I have truly never seen anything like this. Its sad. A goal taken away with no explanation, one offsides call against dc, many against atlanta. An amazing all ball tackle for a red. We play with 10, DC with 12. Players punched in the face. Free corners. I am done playing in a league where the game is no longer … In control of the players."

Solo, who can appeal, was upset that referee Kari Seitz disallowed a goal in the 59th minute for a foul by a Beat player on Freedom star Abby Wambach on a free kick played into the penalty area.

Solo's tweets had gotten her into trouble last month when she apologized to Boston fans for not signing autographs after the game because the Breakers were an organization that "blatantly disrespect[ed] the athletes that come to play" and asked that they "take a stance to the profanity, racism and crude remarks that are made by their so called 'fan club.'"

While the Breakers and Beat in a joint statement acknowledged that inappropriate comments were made by unidentified individuals, they weren't organized or coordinated by Boston's Riptide supporters group.

Solo is most famous for ripping then-U.S. national team coach Greg Ryan after she was dropped for the semifinals of the 2007 Women's World Cup, which the USA lost to Brazil, 4-0.

0 comments

Margaret Manning

commented on: September 15, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.

Maybe her "community service" should consist of sitting down with the officials and a game tape. Does she have a point or not about the calls? Why are officials treated like gods?--they don't often demonstrate god-like behavior.

David Sirias

commented on: September 15, 2010 at 10:01 a.m.

Solo is outspoken to say the least and lacks umm tact Perhaps a minor character defect. But she is honest and usually correct when she opens her mouth (tweet) The league has many problems, including the refs. The league should not be dismissing the merits of her assertion if that's what's happening.

Guenther Rieder

commented on: September 15, 2010 at 11:29 a.m.

There needs to be some serious discussions about the future of the game in this country. I believe the refs should reward a team for skilled play and take some of the aggression out of the game. WPS is hard to watch and referees in general should not be immune to criticism.

David Huff

commented on: September 15, 2010 at noon

The league should introduce some form of electronic review perhaps from a "video official" rather than wait for guidance from the dithering FIFA officials who protect parochial concerns.

john haley

commented on: September 15, 2010 at 12:20 p.m.

Solo is correct, suck it up referee's. Major changes to the game need to be made. We need two centers, one is not enough. As a competitive coach of over 18 years, I have seen many games decided on a call by a center who is 40-50 yards from the play, and or a linesman's call waved off by the offending center. They cannot physically keep up with the speed of play for 80-90 minutes. You cannot out run the ball. Drop/change offsides, it will never gain a large following in the US until that happens. What you are saying is that if my wide receiver is faster than your defensive back, the receiver has to slow down and stay even with the less athletic/slower DB. How exciting would a soccer game be, if we saw 100 shots on goal, instead of 3.

Robert Schaefer

commented on: September 15, 2010 at 2:27 p.m.

@john, while I agree that added officials might help with blown calls, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about regarding the offside rule (it is not called "offsides" BTW). The offside rule rewards skillful, athletic play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Comparing it to American football wide receivers is comparing grapes to watermelons. 100 shots on goal is not what football is missing. It isn't missing anything. Some of the most exciting, edge-of-the-seat games I have ever seen were 0-0 ties, and some of the most boring fixtures had a large number of shots on goal. Just watch the fan reactions to the USA-Algeria game (1-0) for evidence. People were glued to the TV for all 90+ minutes. What is happening in the USA, is that more and more people are beginning to understand why football (soccer) is so incredibly special, and the sport is growing in popularity year after year. There is no reason for the beautiful game to change substantively in any way. Small changes? Sure (perhaps electronic goal line tech to ensure the ball crosses the goal line; perhaps adding an additional official, etc.) but if you remove the offside rule, you are no longer playing the beautiful game. Period.

Bill Richter

commented on: September 16, 2010 at 1:35 a.m.

Remove the offside rule and attackers will just hang out in the opposing penalty area all game long. Boring.

Gerrard Eight

commented on: September 16, 2010 at 9:02 a.m.

Spoiled bratt comes to mind. Officals everywhere need to be at a higher level, but no one respects anything coming out of Solo's mouth. Intersting that she isn't well known because of anything she's done on the field.

David Huff

commented on: September 16, 2010 at 8:54 p.m.

@ Gerrard, she is only a 2008 Gold Medalist and perhaps might have been a 2007 WC Champion too if not for that awful Greg Ryan who in one of USSF's few logical moves was promptly canned after his poor performance with that extremely talented squad. I don't have a problem with a player criticizing refereeing, afterall its only her opinion and we are not living in a country like North Korea.

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