
The popularity of youth soccer has skyrocketed in America over the past decade. With a generation of boys and girls who are growing up with a love for soccer, it could possibly become as beloved as American baseball. Collectively, soccer is immensely popular all over the world, but the sport never found a professional home in North America. With David Beckham’s $250 million contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy and a soon-to-be generation of men and women who will have grown up on the soccer fields, could soccer one day be as popular as baseball in America?
When Pele, the golden boy of soccer, suited up with the New York Cosmos in 1975 Americans made it clear that we didn’t give a darn about soccer. Pele was the greatest soccer player in history; he was a purist and the very embodiment of the game. We didn’t care and it all went bust.
On the other hand, David Beckham has never been ranked as the greatest soccer player in Europe, not even for a single year and he has been awarded with a $250 million contract debut in Los Angeles. The guy definitely has skills; don’t forget about that free-kick assist he pulled off for England against Brazil in June. However, he isn’t the greatest player the game has ever seen.
What David Beckham represents is so much more than just the game of soccer. He is about the endorsements, the merchandise, and the celebrity lifestyle. It is his superstar image that Beckham will sell to America, not soccer. Beckham is married to Victoria, A.K.A. Posh Spice, a woman who gets as much, if not more, tabloid time as he. The combination of the two of them generates a paparazzi dream-come-true. The couple also has some superstar American friends including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Jennifer Lopez. We can’t forget about Beckham’s agent, Simon Fuller, a guy who knows how to sell British culture to American. Fuller has already proven that he can export British traditions to America with his little project called American Idol. When Beckham gets suited up in his Galaxy uniform at the Home Depot Center, while his mega-famous wife and superstar pals look on, it is likely that America will take notice too. Other celebrity soccer fans like Drew Carey and Colin Farrell just might be in the stands too. And when a couple of celebrities go to a place, others follow. Justin Timberlake might bring Jessica Biel. Best buddies, Tobey Maguire and Leo Dicaprio, might buy season tickets. Celebrities take note: you won’t have to sit in the stands with “common folk” as they have recently installed a VIP entrance at the Center. Expect the front row at the Galaxy matches to start looking like a younger, more cosmopolitan Lakers courtside. When that happens, soccer could be the biggest game in America.
Hope Solo (born 30 July 1981, in Richland, Washington) is an American Soccer goalkeeper presently playing for Saint Louis Athletica of Women’s Expert Football and is often a member with the United States women’s national Football team.
Soccer career
Hope Solo played Soccer using the Three-River’s Soccer Club inside the Tri-Cities. She played forward until the end of high school, when she switched to goalie. Solo played for several U.S. junior national Football teams prior to joining the full U.S. national team in 2000. She was named a member of the Olympic team in 2004, making the 2004 Olympics in Athens as an alternate. Hope Solo became the team’s beginning goalkeeper in 2005. She has recorded various clean sheets and when went 1,054 minutes with no permitting a aim (a streak that ended in a 4-1 victory against France in the Algarve Cup).
As a forward in high school, Hope Solo made 109 goals, leading her team to 3 consecutive league titles from 1996-1998 and a state championship in her senior year.[1] She was twice named a Parade All American.
At the University of Washington, Solo switched to the goalkeeper position and was the team’s all-time leader in clean-sheets, saves, and goals-against typical (GAA). She was a 4-time All-Pac-ten selection as well as a three-time NSCAA All-American.
Following her college career, Hope Solo was drafted for the now defunct WUSA team Philadelphia Charge in 2003. She also played for Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC of Göteborg, Sweden inside the Swedish Premier Division in 2004 and for Olympique Lyonnais within the French İnitially Division in 2005.
On September 16, 2008, Hope Solo was 1 with the 3 players drafted for Saint Louis Athletica within the WPS allocation of national team members, using the new league (a revival of the WUSA) starting play in April 2009. Solo let in six objectives within the very first 4 games as Athletica got off to a very slow 0-2-2 begin in their first season, but she (along with the rest of the team) stepped up right after that, with Solo only letting in eight goals in her subsequent thirteen games, finishing the season with eight shutouts.
In 2009 was named the WPS goalkeeper with the Year.
2007 FIFA Women’s Globe Cup
Hope Solo was the beginning netkeeper for the United States inside the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, giving up two goals in four games such as consecutive shutouts of Sweden, Nigeria and England. Heading into the semifinal match against Brazil, U.S. manager Greg Ryan benched Solo in favor of 36-year-old veteran U.S. keeper Briana Scurry, who had a strong history of performance against the Brazilians but had not played a total game in three months.[2][3] The U.S. lost to Brazil 4-0, ending a 51-game (regulation time) undefeated streak, when playing significantly of the match with 10 players soon after midfielder Shannon Boxx received a second yellow card in the finish with the initial half.
Post-2007 World Cup fallout
In an impromptu interview following the match, a clearly upset[4] Hope Solo criticized Ryan’s conclusion. “It was the bad decision, and I believe anybody that knows something regarding the game knows that. There’s no doubt in my thoughts I would have made those saves. Plus the reality with the matter is it’s not 2004 anymore. It’s not 2004. And it is 2007, and I think you must live inside the present. And you cannot live by huge names. You can’t live previously. It does not matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics 3 years ago. Now is what matters, and that is what I feel.”[5][6] Many viewed her comments as being critical of Scurry’s performance, while Hope Solo released an apologetic statement the following day saying that was not her intent.[7] On September 29, 2007, coach Greg Ryan announced that Hope Solo would not be using the team and wouldn’t play within the third-place match against Norway the following day.[8][9] Team captain Kristine Lilly stated that the selection on Solo was produced by the team as a group.[ten] The U.S. went on to win against Norway 4-1.
Hope Solo was named towards the U.S. women’s national Football team roster for the post Globe Cup tour, but she did not attend the initial workout ahead with the initial game against Mexico. The players’ contract with the confederation stipulated that anybody on the World Cup roster had the correct to play inside the tour. Greg Ryan stated, “We’re initiating a process of reconciliation, and in doing that you simply can’t mandate reconciliation. This is not a created for Hollywood passion story, this can be a genuine story, and we’re all working at that.”[11] She was present for, but did not play in any of, the 3 games against Mexico, becoming replaced by Briana Scurry for the very first and third matches, and Nicole Barnhart for the second. The third match against Mexico, on October 20, 2007, marked the end of the U.S. women’s national team’s 2007 season. The team reorganized in January 2008 to begin preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[12] Ryan left the team right after his contract was not renewed in December 2007 [13]
Beijing Olympics 2008
On June 23, 2008, it was declared Hope Solo could be the starting goalie for the U.S. team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a reversal of roles from the 2004 Olympics, Brianna Scurry didn’t 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 modest measure due to Solo’s outstanding performance as she stopped an energetic Brazil attack, producing save right after save.[14]
Personal life
Hope Solo‘s parents divorced when she was 6; even though she lived with her mother, she stayed close to her father, a sometimes-homeless veteran who remained a major influence in her life until his sudden death in June 2007.[15] [16] She attended Richland High School as well as the University of Washington.
