Hope solo suspended

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My mistake.

I would say she hasn't been the poster child for responsibility, to assume it's cumulative punishment.

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Guess who doesn't give a flying ****e - the team that won
Portugal doesn't care-because they have the trophy and you don't
the detroit Pistons won 2 championships UGLY -but those are the glory years in Detroit and they could care less what anyone else thinks about it

they play to win-thats why they keep score, style points are not relevant

Fine, but the fact that we're discussing what makes soccer more or less popular and discussing the effect of parking the bus DOESN'T necessarily mean that we're trying to Americanize the sport. It's just a discussion, and it happens all over the world when discussing the game. Lighten up, Francis.

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my understanding

Just to understand this: Sweden played by the rules and won. Americans lost. Based on these two very true statements, I don't see any justification in complaining about how the Swedes won.
That said, some seem to think that 'packing it in' and waiting for either a break-away or PKs is a cheap or weak way to win. Nevertheless, it is a win.
If we are going to complain about 'stall tactics' then why not complain about the two minutes it takes to substitute players in and out, or the falls and 'injuries' from with players, after a minute or so, seem to bounce right back up.
Unless the rules of soccer change, the Swedes won fair and square.

More arrogant is this seemingly privileged or entitled attitude by Americans to think that they should change the rules of soccer.

So between this whining and complaining about losing to the Swedes and this feeling that Americans know how soccer should be played best, is there anyone on this thread that doesn't see how ridiculous Americans appear???

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Just to understand this: Sweden played by the rules and won. Americans lost. Based on these two very true statements, I don't see any justification in complaining about how the Swedes won.
That said, some seem to think that 'packing it in' and waiting for either a break-away or PKs is a cheap or weak way to win. Nevertheless, it is a win.
If we are going to complain about 'stall tactics' then why not complain about the two minutes it takes to substitute players in and out, or the falls and 'injuries' from with players, after a minute or so, seem to bounce right back up.
Unless the rules of soccer change, the Swedes won fair and square.

More arrogant is this seemingly privileged or entitled attitude by Americans to think that they should change the rules of soccer.

So between this whining and complaining about losing to the Swedes and this feeling that Americans know how soccer should be played best, is there anyone on this thread that doesn't see how ridiculous Americans appear???

Americans also discuss improving the game of baseball (speed of play, introducing more offense, creating action), basketball (reducing intentional off-the-ball fouls), football (reduce injuries, improving officiating) and hockey (increase scoring, improve safety). Americans are not the only people around the world that seek to improve games where an opportunity exists to make them better.

It's just conversation on a forum about the game of soccer. USA Soccer isn't agitating for a bunch of rule changes just because they lost to a weaker team in a big tournament. I haven't seen any serious recommendations on this forum for the game to be changed, other than a few suggestions (which is what folks do when they're discussing something they care about). I don't see a lot of whining or bitching about how screwed up the game is.

I will say this: as much as I despise the boorish "Yeah, 'Murica is the best thing ever!" blowhards, I'm also tired of people who need to find every minuscule opportunity to hate themselves and their fellow Americans. Your final line goes way too far.

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Those slamming Sweden for their style of play don't get it. If you are not as good as your opponent, why should you try to "play pretty" if it means defeat? You play to your strengths if you are undermanned. It's why Jose Mourinho is more successful than Arsene Wegner. Jose will do what it takes to win, and he's a hero for it. Arsene is stuck playing beautiful soccer, and gets mocked for it. Kudos for Sweden for doing what they had to so they could advance. Sucks to watch, yes, but it's not about putting on a show...it's about winning the game.

As for her suspension, they really don't have much of a choice. Every Olympian takes the following oath:

"In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

The Olympics are a joke. The US dominates in virtually every sport, it is really not even mildly interesting anymore. And this mess hosted in RIO was especially awful. Can we stop going to 3rd world hell holes and hoping all is well?

Olympic Soccer is meaningless. It only matters for the women as they have only two meaningful tourneys, the WC and the Olympics as they have no viable professional outlet. Ellis got completely outcoached by PIA. Again, meaningless but a fact nonetheless.

US Soccer is happy to make an example of Solo vs. having to answer to the embarrassment of their performance. The men didn't even get there and the women got beat by a HS strategy of pack it in and clear it over the top. Woeful.

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I find myself increasingly turned off by the entire Olympic venture. The amount of money spent is absurd, even for wealthy countries. Do we need entire new Olympic villages and game sites? For a country like Brazil to spend that kind of money that it didn't have? It's turned into a vast corporate wasteland. Then some of the sports? O M G are they really "sports"? Then top it off with the incredible corruption and lavish spending at the IOC - it makes FIFA look like two bit players.

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The Olympics are a joke. The US dominates in virtually every sport, it is really not even mildly interesting anymore. And this mess hosted in RIO was especially awful. Can we stop going to 3rd world hell holes and hoping all is well?

Rio is hardly a hell hole (Favelas excepted), but true Brazil is not nearly as wealthy as the countries that have hosted before. They will feel that financial hangover for years. It also is a horribly run country so issues were not surprising. Sochi had some issues as well but much of that was corruption related - the Russians definitely spent money but it ended up in the pockets of others. It was the location of Sochi that was the joke - no snow! Those games were a blatant example of IOC corruption and Putin wanting to prove how big his di** is.

The last several Olympic cities were anything but hell holes.

winter: Sochi, Vancouver, Turin (Italy), Salt lake City
summer: London, Beijing, Athens, Sydney, Atlanta

Upcoming sites: South Korea and Beijing (winter), Tokyo

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The Olympics are a joke. The US dominates in virtually every sport, it is really not even mildly interesting anymore. And this mess hosted in RIO was especially awful. Can we stop going to 3rd world hell holes and hoping all is well?

Olympic Soccer is meaningless. It only matters for the women as they have only two meaningful tourneys, the WC and the Olympics as they have no viable professional outlet. Ellis got completely outcoached by PIA. Again, meaningless but a fact nonetheless.

US Soccer is happy to make an example of Solo vs. having to answer to the embarrassment of their performance. The men didn't even get there and the women got beat by a HS strategy of pack it in and clear it over the top. Woeful.

It is funny that the US dominates every single Olympics and probably because most states in the US are bigger than many of these countries....We should be sending 50 different teams to the Olympics, one for each state...Let's see how we'd fair in that situation....I totally agree on the soccer part that it's more for the ladies...Brazil gave a hoot this year in the mens Olympics because they had never won it before...I also like the U23 competition on the mens side...I think the women should do the same as this would give college players a chance to compete in the Olympics...

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It is funny that the US dominates every single Olympics and probably because most states in the US are bigger than many of these countries....We should be sending 50 different teams to the Olympics, one for each state...Let's see how we'd fair in that situation....I totally agree on the soccer part that it's more for the ladies...Brazil gave a hoot this year in the mens Olympics because they had never won it before...I also like the U23 competition on the mens side...I think the women should do the same as this would give college players a chance to compete in the Olympics...

And let's go back to a U23-ish men's basketball team. Having the world's best basketball players beat up on the rest of the world is painful and not in the spirit of the games - amateur competition

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NBA is a bad example as well- it is entertainment above sport

Who knew? And all this time tv execs, advertisers, and major professional sports club owners (to say nothing of viewers), with billions of dollars at stake, thought these sports were on television primarily because of the "entertainment" value. Please share with them the genius of your distinction -- though they might want more than lazy, semi-literate assertions to back it up.

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And let's go back to a U23-ish men's basketball team. Having the world's best basketball players beat up on the rest of the world is painful and not in the spirit of the games - amateur competition

Amen. That final was just pure pain. It's not competitive, just displeasurable. The NBA players don't even take it seriously - it's a party with your friends

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Who knew? And all this time tv execs, advertisers, and major professional sports club owners (to say nothing of viewers), with billions of dollars at stake, thought these sports were on television primarily because of the "entertainment" value. Please share with them the genius of your distinction -- though they might want more than lazy, semi-literate assertions to back it up.

the fact that you don't get the "entertainment" component makes you worse than Semi literate-it makes you blind- not PC to use the R word anymore

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Hope solo had been suspended and her contract has been terminated. What does that mean for the future of the USWNT? Will Naher step in?

Ryan Lochte behaves like a tool in Rio, becomes a National embarrassment and gets a slap on the wrist and prime time interviews. Hope Solo makes a comment about an opposing team's style of play and gets suspended. The gender inequality persists.

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Ryan Lochte behaves like a tool in Rio, becomes a National embarrassment and gets a slap on the wrist and prime time interviews. Hope Solo makes a comment about an opposing team's style of play and gets suspended. The gender inequality persists.

How many times must it be said it wasn't just about her comment (which wasn't quite as embarrassing as Lochte's behavior but still was heavily criticized in the press and by her teammates). She's been a train wreck for a long time (they should have cut her lose after the arrest and her husbands DUI joyride in the team van) but they kept her because she was the best. Now she's getting older (she'd be 38 for the next WC and 39 for the next Olympics), she didn't perform all that well and she's had multiple strikes against her and had been given notice. The NT has little happening for the next several months so it's a good time to determine who the new GK will be.

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Ryan Lochte behaves like a tool in Rio, becomes a National embarrassment and gets a slap on the wrist and prime time interviews. Hope Solo makes a comment about an opposing team's style of play and gets suspended. The gender inequality persists.

Lochte's troubles aren't over yet - he's lost his sponsors, Brazil is charging him, and the swimming federation has indicated he'll be suspended for quite some time (but hasn't announced officially yet). Like Solo he's getting older. Time for some new blood.