[U.S. WOMEN] Three days before the opening of training camp to prepare for 2011 Women's World Cup qualifying, the U.S. women's national team announced that starting goalie Hope Solo will undergo surgery on her right shoulder Wednesday and be sidelined five-six months.

Solo, the USA's first-choice goalkeeper since the beginning of 2005, should return in time to compete for a spot on the U.S. Women's World Cup team, assuming it qualifies.

The qualifying tournament will held in Mexico in late October and early November, and the finals will kick off June 26 in Germany.
 
“These next two years are huge for the national team with the World Cup and Olympics on the horizon and I wanted to make sure that I would be giving my team and my country my best on the field,” said Solo, who plays for WPS's Atlanta Beat. “I’ve been having some painful issues with the shoulder for a while and for a goalkeeper it’s been difficult physically and mentally to play with this kind of an injury, so it was time to get it taken care of. I know I’m in the best hands and I plan on working diligently on my rehab to get back to one hundred percent. In the meantime, I know my teammates will get us to the World Cup and I can’t wait to join them next spring.”

Dr. James Andrews will perform the procedure in Birmingham, Ala.

On Tuesday, WPS suspended Solo for the first game of the 2011 season, issued a fine of $2,500 and gave her eight hours of community service for her tweets critical of the refereeing in Saturday's regular-season finale against Washington.