Shots fired in the USA women’s soccer camp today as American goalkeeper Hope Solo took to twitter to rip former national team member Brandi Chastain for comments she made on the team’s performance. Chastain is currently an analyst for NBC and made comments which earned a reaction from the ‘keeper.
Here’s what Solo had to say.
Its 2 bad we cant have commentators who better represents the team&knows more about the game @brandichastain! #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
Lay off commentating about defending and gking until you get more educated @brandichastain the game has changed from a decade ago. #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
Its important 2 our fans 2 enjoy the spirit of the olympics.Its not possible when sum1 on air is saying that a player is the worst defender!
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
I feel bad 4 our fans that have 2 push mute, especially bc @arlowhite is fantastic.@brandichastainshould be helping 2 grow the sport #fb
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 28, 2012
Now, these two apparently have a well documented history of not liking each other and this certainly fits that narrative.
Still, the reaction from Solo seems to be a bit much. Realistically, Chastain’s job is to analyze games and offer her take on what’s going on — it’s not to wave a flag and say everything’s going alright. She’s taking on the role of a journalist, not that of a fan. She does a disservice to the audience by sugar coating what she believes to be the truth which seems to be the suggestion from Solo.
Furthermore, the comment that the game has changed in the past 10 years undermines Solo’s point that Chastain ought to be growing the game. She did her part for women’s soccer during her career and is contributing in a different way; the game can’t grow by way of homerism. It’s up to Solo to pull her weight and not complain when things don’t go her way.
