Name |
Hope Solo |
Height |
5 ft 9 in |
Naionality |
American |
Date of Birth |
30-July-1981 |
Place of Birth |
Richland, Washington, U.S. |
Famous for |
Soccer Player |
Hope Solo is an American soccer goalkeeper and a double Olympic gold medallist from Richland, Washington who currently plays for Seattle Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League. She has been goalkeeping for the United States women's national soccer team since 2000. After playing for University of Washington, she played in Women's United Soccer Association league, a Swedish league and a French league.
She played in Women's Professional Soccer league during its entire existence from 2009 through 2011; for the clubs Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat and magicJack. Since 2012 she has played for the Seattle Sounders in W-League. Solo played for U.S. junior national soccer teams before joining the full U.S. national team in 2000. Her senior debut came in an 8–0 win over Iceland at Davidson, North Carolina in April 2000. She was named a member of the Olympic team in 2004, making the 2004 Olympics in Athens as an alternate. Solo has been the team's first choice goalkeeper since 2005. She has recorded several clean sheets and once went 1,054 minutes without allowing a goal, a streak that ended in a 4–1 victory against France in the Algarve Cup. On June 23, 2008, it was announced Solo would be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a reversal of roles from the 2004 Olympics, Briana Scurry did not make the team, though she was an alternate. On August 21, the U.S. women's team won the gold medal by defeating Brazil 1–0 in extra time, in no small measure due to Solo's performance as she stopped an energetic Brazilian attack, making save after save.
After the team won gold, Solo appeared on NBC Today Show, and she stated in a 2012 article appearing in ESPN The Magazine that she was drunk while on air. "When we were done partying, we got out of our dresses, got back into our stadium coats and, at 7 a.m. with no sleep, went on the Today show drunk".