It's not exactly a surprise that Hope Solo won't be taking her 6-month suspension lying down.
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The embattled U.S. Women's soccer star is blaming her punishment on her part in a federal gender discrimination suit that claims the U.S. Soccer federation engaged in wage discrimination by paying the women far less than the men, as well as her role in lobbying for a new, more equitable collective bargaining agreement.
Solo, 35, made the claims in an episode of the soccer documentary "Keeping Score."
"Seventeen years on this team and then to be treated this way in the end is not surprising from U.S. Soccer, to be honest," she said on the program, which aired Friday on FOX Soccer. "I feel like I'm being pushed out because it can't be based off performance, my health. It can't be based off anything but they don't like me, because they know I've been fighting so hard for equal pay."
For its part, the U.S. Soccer Federation asserts that Solo's suspension was a result of the sum total of her transgressions, legal and otherwise, over the years. The latest being a classless rant after the U.S. was eliminnated in the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics last month, in which she called Sweden "a bunch of cowards."
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"They're going to use my comments as an excuse to get rid of me forever so that they don't have to deal with such a strong voice and opposition to field conditions and playing conditions and pay," Solo said on the show. "I think I'm just a thorn in their side and it's time for them to cut their losses."
Solo's suspension could indeed have some red tape around it. Some have suggested that the wage discrimination lawsuit she's involved in is little more than an employer and employee having a spat over wages. And taking Solo out of the mix via a six-month suspension could be viewed as U.S. Soccer's way of silencing the fight's loudest voice.
Fellow national team teammate Megan Rapinoe agrees.
"I think that there's probably some legal strategy going on with it all," Rapinoe said in the episode.
