This past Thursday Night, U.S. women’s national team goalie Hope Solo extended her shutout streak to a record 73 games in a 4-0 win over Mexico in an international friendly.
This accomplishment was largely forgotten by the public, however, as the NFL continues to struggle with its own domestic-violence crisis. While the NFL has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, they are not the only sport caught in the issue. Solo, one of the best female athletes today, has also been accused of domestic violence.
While NFL teams suspended or released their troublesome players who were accused or convicted of their transgressions, Solo continues to play for her pro soccer team, the Seattle Reign, as well as the U.S. women’s national team as she awaits trial in November. In light of today’s culture and the rising awareness of domestic violence, Team USA and the Seattle Reign have to suspend Solo immediately until her criminal case is completed.
Solo has pleaded not guilty to two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence in an alleged assault of her sister and 17-year-old nephew last summer in Kirkland, Wash. Unlike Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice and Greg Hardy, some of the NFL’s biggest stars, Solo, a superstar in women’s soccer and someone who is viewed as a role model, quietly goes about her business as if nothing happened. These NFL stars and Arizona reserve Jonathan Dwyer were suspended or released after tremendous public backlash, but Nike, who has a sponsorship with Solo and who severed ties recently with Rice, has done nothing as it pertains to Solo.
U.S. Women’s Soccer is not even in the same hemisphere as the NFL in terms of public stature, but these cases should not differ between the sports. Women’s soccer players are the equivalent of role models to young girls as football players are to young boys. The goalkeeping record is an important one, I get it, both for Solo and for the sport, but it should never trump domestic violence accusations.
If U.S. soccer wants to restore some of its lost credibility after botching this case, Team USA as well as the Seattle Reign have to suspend Solo immediately until her criminal case is completed.
Brian Kalchik is a Detroit Lions writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.
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