[dramatic music plays]
[Jimmy Fallon] Please welcome
the best goalkeeper in the world,
Hope Solo!
[crowd cheering]
[commentator 1] Saved by Solo!
[commentator 2] Hope Solo
came up big-time.
Hope Solo, I mean,
who doesn't know her name?
One of the greatest goalkeepers
ever for the women's game.
[man 1] Greatest of all time. Period.
And the only one tough enough
to battle this juggernaut, U.S. Soccer.
The U.S. Soccer Federation is
the most draconian sports organization
I've ever dealt with.
Ever.
They wanted to snuff
Hope Solo out of this game.
[woman 1] And then Hope was gone.
[Solo] Seventeen... [bleep] ...years
and it's over!
That's how f*cked up this is!
[woman 2] She just disappeared.
[man 2] She's been giving U.S. Soccer
headaches for 15 plus years.
[man 1] If you wanna be involved
in soccer in the United States,
you have to toe the line,
you have to kiss the ring.
[reporter 1] Everyone has been waiting
to hear what she has to say.
[reporter 2] She is not talking
to the media.
[reporter 3] She's making
more headlines off the field.
[reporter 4] Hope Solo
went on the offensive.
[man on phone] Hope Solo
is going psychotic.
[photographer] Hope! Hope!
[reporter 5] We heard their side
of the story. What's yours?
[Solo] "Let's just not ever
talk about Solo."
"People will forget about her."
I was blackballed.
Blackballed.
[poignant music plays]
[murmur of voices]
[light, purposeful country music plays]
[Solo] Nobody was aware how much money
the federation was making off us.
And in 2015,
I knew that I found something out
that I shouldn't have found out,
but in that moment, I had no idea that...
perhaps I made an enemy.
- Is this one mine?
- I don't know, man. But I'm...
[Solo] And a year later, I was fired.
They said, you know,
"She was a poor sport."
But really, I think it was...
I was getting into the money
of U.S. Soccer.
Never had a shot of champagne...
[Solo] Now, the team was told that
they were not allowed to reach out to me,
that they could not talk to me.
And it was a way for the federation
to make me feel completely removed.
- Tomorrow, okay?
- Let's have a toast to Hope!
[Solo] And I don't hear
from my teammates, coaches,
anybody.
I've won tournaments with these women.
We've had each other's backs.
We've seen each other
go through ups and downs,
deaths of family members.
We've been there, living,
eating, breathing together, for years.
So I think these women are cowardly
and controlled by the federation.
[purposeful music continues]
[crowd cheering]
[Solo] I was hurt.
I felt betrayed by a lot of people.
I don't think people knew how...
how dark of a time it was for me.
Uh...
[Solo] I don't know what to say,
other than
these were the people that
have been there through and through.
I'm not sure I could get through
this weekend without you guys, so...
Truly, it's an honor to be here
because of you guys. Thank you.
- Yeah.
- [man] All right!
[all] Cheers!
[Solo] Sitting here today,
I refuse to bow down
to the federation and these players.
I'm ready to tell the truth
about what it was really like,
um... throughout my time on the US team.
[interviewer] Okay, first question.
When you look back on your life, how
would you describe yourself in one word?
Tough.
It's the way I was raised.
We fight.
[woman] Hope's turn to eat a pepper.
That was good!
[man] That's the toughest
little girl I ever seen in my life.
[purposeful music continues]
[Solo] I grew up in Eastern Washington,
in this small agricultural town.
Sure, our family
struggled to make ends meet,
but we spent every weekend on the river.
- [man] On our way.
- [Solo] Camping.
- sh**ting g*ns.
- [g*nsh*t echoing]
[Solo] We had fun.
[man] Going over to get a bear,
is that it?
[Solo] Now, my mom truly was
a one-of-a-kind badass.
She was a black belt in karate.
First female correctional officer
in a men's prison.
But really, she wanted to smoke weed,
and she was a hippy.
And my dad, he was the best.
Big dude, Italian,
jet-black hair, gregarious.
And he just made me laugh.
RBI time. Right here, bud. Here we go.
Two out, round time, here we go! Yeah!
[Solo] And we watched
a ton of sports together.
I don't know how much
my dad knew about soccer,
but he was my first coach.
Soccer, I was good at.
I was not just good, I was great.
And I loved... Even as a little girl,
I loved being great.
I met Hope summer before fourth grade?
I think we connected really well
because I had a competitive side
that was probably the most like her.
Never like her, but the most like her.
For Hope, winning is
a requirement. [chuckles]
[Solo] Before he left,
I remember my dad told me,
"I never could have guessed that
you're the true athlete of the family."
[Hirss sighs]
I've been up since two a.m.
thinking about this.
It's important to understand
that her story, um,
does have some nuances to it that are,
um...
are complex.
It was a rougher than most upbringing.
Most soccer players,
most people on that national team,
did not have the context
of the background that Hope had.
When I met Hope,
her father was not a part of her life.
[poignant music playing]
[interviewer] Where was her father living?
Um, at the time, I didn't know,
and at the time, I don't think she knew.
Um...
I don't think...
I don't know
if he had a home at that time.
[interviewer] It seems like your father
has a very interesting backstory.
What can you tell me about him?
Yeah, my dad is a very mysterious man.
He always was.
[sighs] How do you... I don't know
how to explain the man to this day.
I don't think he ever fit into society
when he got back from Vietnam.
If he was in Vietnam.
I don't even know if that's right.
He has
two different social security numbers.
Two different families.
He supposedly was in witness protection.
Found out he had
a different last name than Solo.
So there's a lot about his life
I don't really know.
And then after my parents divorced,
he was homeless.
He lived in the woods most of his life.
But I never judged him
for his shortcomings.
I never judged him for not being able
to be what everybody wanted him to be.
You know, my father...
We had love.
[Solo] When I was seven,
my father asked my mom
if he could take my brother and I
to Seattle for the weekend.
- I was excited.
- [child] Dad said it wasn't!
[Solo] It was my first time
in the big city.
[father] There's the Emerald City!
[Solo] He took us
to do all these amazing things.
We finally got to go to the Space Needle
and the Seattle Science Center.
We were supposed to be gone for two days.
And another day went by,
and then another day went by,
another day went by.
And when I woke up one morning,
he goes, "Oh, you just missed...
Your mom called."
"She said you can
stay another couple of days."
I didn't quite feel right about it,
but I was having the time of my life.
So what happened, obviously, was shocking,
when the police came
with their sirens on in downtown Seattle
and handcuffed my dad
and threw him in the back of the car.
- And we're standing there...
- [siren wails]
And I was scared.
When my father
was processed into jail for kidnapping,
I remember my brother went to hand him
a $100 bill that he gave to us
before he left in the police car,
and said, "Here, you guys
might need this."
And my brother goes,
"Dad, I think you're gonna need this more
than we're gonna need it."
And after that,
um, I didn't see him again
for a very, very long time.
I believe it was close to a decade.
Many, many, many years.
[wind whistling]
[reporter] Tonight we have
a very special segment for you,
as we catch up with Richland's Hope Solo,
one of the best
high school soccer players in the nation.
[Solo] When I got to high school,
I was driven. I had dreams.
All I wanted was
to be a professional soccer player.
And I would score goal
after goal after goal
in almost every game.
[commentator] Hope Solo gets the ball.
Right past four defenders and the goalie.
Two goals in the night for Hope Solo.
Hope Solo says enough is enough.
Nice shot with the left foot to boot.
[Hirss] She was more fierce.
She was hungrier for the ball.
She had the special sauce.
[commentator] Hope Solo heads it in.
Three goals on the night.
Sixteen for the year.
I mean, there was us,
and then there was Hope.
[commentator] Big shot by Hope Solo.
The athlete of the week is one of the best
high school soccer players in the country.
Right. One of the best for sure.
Hope Solo is the Michael Jordan
of Big Nine girls' soccer,
and she has the Richland Bombers
playing like the Chicago Bulls.
[Solo] As my soccer progressed,
it got really expensive.
My mom sat me down and said,
"We can't afford for you
to play travel soccer anymore."
And luckily, the community
really stepped in.
People wanted to support her,
um, knowing that there were parts
of her life that weren't wholly supported.
[Solo] Coaches and parents
paid for my lunches,
paid for gas money,
drove me to tournaments,
gave me hand-me-down cleats.
And so Hope came to live with me
when we were in high school.
[Solo] We did everything together.
We went to lunch together.
We got into trouble together.
We went on dates and dances,
and she was always there for me.
[crowd cheering]
[Hirss] Because of the volatility
of her family life,
I think she wanted to get out of Richland
and prove her greatness.
[commentator] Hope Solo
scores three first-half goals.
I ended up the record-breaking goalscorer
in the state of Washington.
Made the All-American team.
Heavily recruited all over the country.
Oh. We had two state championships too.
[crowd cheering]
- [commentator 1] Richland.
- [commentator 2] Richland wins!
They go to State!
[reporter] A record-breaking
season for Hope Solo.
She boasts a grade point average of 4.0
and is being recruited by the top
women's soccer colleges in our country.
I had verbally committed
to the University of Virginia.
I was going to get
as far away as possible from everything.
Everything.
[birdsong]
[Solo] But after the season,
I was playing with my club team,
with my best friend Cheryl,
at a park in Seattle
with this huge... wooded area,
and before the game,
I see this big man.
Homeless.
Jet-black hair.
And I just got numb and... and... and stopped.
Hope turns white.
Completely white.
And I was like,
"Cheryl, I think that's my dad."
And she was just like, "That's my dad,"
and I was like, "What?"
[poignant music plays]
[Solo] She walked over with me,
and I was like,
"Dad?"
And he just turned around
and gave me the biggest hug.
There was no love lost. None.
I didn't need to forgive him for anything,
because I knew he was doing his best.
[Hirss] For the first time,
Hope let me in on that part of her life,
and she asked me
if I could help her bring him food.
So I remember specifically, we made
this big thing of macaroni and cheese,
and we put hot dogs in it.
And we put it in this tin with a fork,
and we drove... to the woods.
And we walked to his...
his place that he was living,
and we delivered him his food,
and then we left.
And that was beautiful.
And that's just a sad thing to think,
for me, but, um...
he really loved Hope.
[Solo] It was so powerful.
I knew in that moment
that this is where I wanted to be.
Here we are. We come back live,
and Hope Solo joins me.
You got over 200 letters of inquiries
from colleges.
You got a bunch of family and friends
over there, who admit to us
and are shaking their heads,
because they don't really know.
You're the only one that knows.
So tell them, and tell everybody
where you're gonna play in college.
Next year I'm gonna play
at University of Washington.
[applause]
[reporter] All right. She's staying
home and she's gonna be a Lady Husky.
[interviewer] It's been very difficult
getting people to interview
for this project.
Why is that?
It... it's a difficult thing to talk about.
When you support Hope
or you stand up for Hope,
you're automatically seen
as being in her camp
and not in someone else's camp.
And so I think people are hesitant.
What's difficult for the two of us is
we're these people, too,
that have been in the game
for much longer than she has.
Amy and I both
have worked for U.S. Soccer,
still continue to be
heavily involved in the game.
So we have many people in our lives
that are very, very dear friends of ours
that do not care for Hope.
And maybe have reason not to.
And that's their prerogative.
But we were entrusted to help her
in a time in her life
where she probably needed it the most,
which is the first time
that she left home.
Her dad was living
on the streets in Seattle.
Um, her family life was not great.
She had this opportunity to...
to really make something of herself
and entrusted us
to know all these things about her
that not everyone knew.
And so, when somebody
gives you that kind of trust,
you really don't wanna betray it.
Ever.
Yeah, I... She's worth fighting for,
and that's not...
Yeah, it's not hard.
[crowd cheering]
[dramatic music plays]
[Solo] When I got
to University of Washington,
my coaches, Lesle and Amy, said,
"Hope, you wanna make the US team."
"You could make it. You could
make it as a goalkeeper, like that."
And I wasn't sure how I felt about it.
Historically, the goalkeeper
is for the kids on the field
who were not as athletically gifted.
The cool kid on the field
was never the goalkeeper.
[Gallimore] I'd played with and coached
a lot of great goalkeepers in my time,
and I'd just never seen
a female goalkeeper
do the things that she could do.
She could make the big, athletic save,
but she could also put a ball down
and kick it a country mile.
Throw in the fearlessness,
the competitiveness,
and she was like the perfect storm.
[Solo] I remember at practice one day,
my coaches said,
"You know, you could
be the best at being a goalkeeper."
And it became this lifelong pursuit
to be the best goalkeeper in the world.
[Griffin] Honestly,
the only thing holding her back
was that she did not wanna
learn how to read the game,
which is well before the shot happens.
[Solo] The hardest part was learning
the intricacies of goalkeeping,
and Amy, my goalkeeper coach in college,
she helped me learn
to love the art of goalkeeping.
The positioning, the angles.
How far to be off my line.
How to organize a defense.
Minor movements.
Pulling a midfielder in instead of out.
And my dad,
he loved watching me play goalie.
He took the city bus.
Came to every single home game.
There hours early watching me
warm up right behind the goal.
If I was warming up Hope in goal,
you know, every pregame,
he'd say, "Let's go, Baby Hope."
And we'd hear it, you know,
and she would know he was there.
[Gallimore] From the outside,
looking at Hope's family,
there were some things
that were eccentric about them,
that were different,
that were clearly dysfunctional.
But here's where I'll get emotional.
The thing that has always impressed me,
especially when she was younger,
is that Hope is proud of her family.
It was a time in her life
where she felt comfortable and supported
from all sides.
From her family, to us,
to Cheryl, who ended up
playing at Washington as well.
In college, Hope was
intensely dedicated to her craft.
[crowd cheering]
[Hirss] And once the season started,
nobody was scoring on us.
Nobody was scoring on us,
[commentator 1] Right foot.
Deflected by Solo!
[commentator 2] Back post, Ward.
Saved by Solo.
Got a hand on it on the line.
[commentator 1] And the Huskies
remain on top of the Pac-10.
They're six and 0 in conference play.
Every successful keeper
must have the ability
to react quickly in pressure situations.
And for Hope Solo, those catlike reflexes
just come naturally.
She's a unbelievable shot-stopper.
She makes the goal about this big.
She covers it so well.
So, um, she's a pretty special player.
[Solo] When I switched positions,
I didn't know what I was doing,
and I didn't know
where I wanted to go with this.
And I think I've stuck with it because
I wanna get the most out of my life,
and I wanna go as far as I can in life.
And the only way I could do it
was just learning to love goalkeeping.
[Gallimore] She just had
this inner drive to prove to people
that she's someone,
and that she could
achieve greatness on her own.
[commentator 1] Shoots. Deflected by Solo.
Still in play! In front! Still loose.
Solo there with her body,
and the Huskies deny again.
[Hirss] We started the season unranked.
We got to a point where
we were second in the nation,
and that is heavily on the heels of Hope.
- [commentator 1] Huskies win!
- [commentator 2] Wow!
[commentator 3] Pac-10 champions
for the first time in school history.
What a season for Hope Solo.
[reporter] Recently awarded
Pac-10 Player of the Year,
leaving many to consider Hope Solo
as one of the best keepers in the nation.
[Gallimore] She does a lot of things
in goal that are so spectacular
that I really do think
she's got the potential
to be one of the best
this country's ever seen.
[crowd cheering]
[helicopter hovering]
♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪
♪ At the twilight's... ♪
[woman] Gosh, it's been
just a journey of its own
understanding why the hell
was that '99 World Cup
such a tidal wave of change
for women and women's sports.
[crowd roaring]
[Akers] And to make sense of it all,
I think you gotta
go back to the beginning.
When the Women's National Team
started in the '80s,
we didn't get paid anything.
You had to bring your own cleats.
We wore the men's old uniforms.
But then we went to China...
[commentator 1] ...field, there's Akers...
[Akers] ...and won the first ever
Women's World Cup.
[commentator 1] She scores!
[commentator 2] The USA are
the Women's World Championship winners.
[team] ♪ We are the champions ♪
♪ Of the world! ♪
[Akers] And then we went to Athens,
where we won
the first ever Olympics in '96.
[crowd roars]
[commentator 3] The United States has won
the first ever gold medal
in women's soccer!
That kind of opened
the doors to more awareness,
more money into our program,
and then, from there
it was the '99 World Cup,
which the USA was gonna host.
[cheering]
[man] The '99 World Cup
took the world by storm.
There's 90,000 people here.
The television viewing audience
was enormous,
and this 99er team
was really the first women's team
to cross over into popular culture.
The Women's World Cup
of Soccer begins this Saturday.
They say it's the largest
women's-only sporting event in the world.
[Solo] I was in college
watching the World Cup in 1999,
and that's honestly one
of the first women's soccer events
that I recall actually watching.
[David Letterman] Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm.
[announcer] Soccer mamas!
[Bennett] These 99ers created
a huge marketing apparatus
to try and make the game,
uh, even mildly popular.
They're on the front of Wheaties boxes.
They're on commercial
after commercial after commercial.
Mia Hamm even had her own Barbie.
[Akers] It was insane.
Every time Mia would walk out,
it was like, "Mia!"
[crowd yelling] Mia! Mia!
[Bennett] And then came
the most important part.
- [commentator 1] Mia drives! Goal!
- [Bennett] They had to win.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator 2] In the air...
Chastain! Goal!
The USA is going
to the final of the World Cup!
The fever pitch around
this team just snowballed that summer,
and obviously, the crescendo
was the 110,000 people in the Rose Bowl
for the final.
[commentator 1] I can't believe it.
The winner will be
decided on penalty kicks.
- [player] We need to score.
- [commentator 1] Visualizing.
There was no one
better than Briana Scurry.
She was a pure, power-diving shot-stopper.
[commentator 1] The shot. Save, Scurry!
[commentator 2] The USA could win
the World Cup on this next kick.
Chastain will take it.
- Goal!
- [crowd roars]
Goal!
[Akers] That moment... I can't even...
Uh...
It's just... it's...
almost incomprehensible.
[Bennett] When Brandi Chastain
dropped to her knees
and showed the world
just that ferocious image,
it stated, "We can compete
with the men's game."
It was really a taste of the promised land
that thousands of young girls
had yearned for
but had never been possible before.
[Bill Clinton] Everybody in
the whole stadium was weeping with joy.
I cannot thank you enough
for the gift that you have given
to the United States.
The 1999 team left us
with that winning tradition.
Um... they should be proud of that.
That's about the only thing
they should be proud of.
[reporter 1] Hope Solo has done
just about everything
an 18-year-old soccer standout
can do in the US.
Now she could be adding
something else to her résumé.
Solo is one of four goalies invited
to try out
for the U.S. Women's National Team.
[reporter 2] She will now spend
the next five months training
with this year's World Cup champions
and, at 18, is one of
the youngest players in the camp.
So just being invited, one of 30
in the entire country, is a big honor.
[waves breaking]
[thunder rumbling]
[moody electronic music playing]
[Bennett] Publicly,
the 99ers were utterly lovable.
They were known as the Ponytail Posse.
There was a very suburban image
constructed...
Manicured lawns.
In reality, the team's training camp was
one of the most ferociously competitive
sporting environments
the world has ever seen.
[Solo] When I first got to residency camp,
Mia Hamm was on my team for a scrimmage.
She calls for the ball,
and I punt the ball.
And she just stops,
put her finger at me, and said,
"Do not ever f*cking
give me a ball like that again."
"You better f*cking learn
how to drop-kick."
And I stayed after practice
every single day
working on a dropkick,
just trying to get better.
It was a strange world to live in.
Lots of women together, 24-7,
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
There can be jealousies.
It can be emotional.
It's just exhausting.
It's constant competition,
even off the field.
[Akers] Look, entering
that Women's National Team,
it is very, very competitive.
Everything matters.
Every competition matters.
Every shot matters.
You're always being scrutinized.
So you have to be damn good
to stay in camp.
[Solo] I got cut for the 2000 Olympics.
I get cut from the 2003 World Cup team.
And then I'm a third-string goalkeeper
for the 2004 Olympic team.
But didn't see any action.
So I worked even harder.
All I could think about was
training, training, training.
I wanted to show my family, my hometown.
I wanted to prove
to myself that I belonged there.
By 2007, I finally made
the full roster for the World Cup.
There was a lot of questions around who
was going to be the starting goalkeeper.
Briana had a completely different style.
We were completely different goalkeepers.
She was a legend.
When the starting lineup
was finally posted,
I just looked for Solo. [laughs]
I did it.
I am going to be
the starting goalkeeper at a World Cup.
My dad followed that 1999 team,
had a binder filled
with all of their newspaper articles,
Brandi Chastain on top.
So when his daughter
actually became a part of the team,
gosh, he was so happy and so proud.
It was official.
We were going to China.
But then, right before we took off,
I got an early morning phone call,
and I thought that was strange.
It was this very cold voice...
asking me what
I wanted to do with the body.
And that's how I found out
that my father was dead.
I was there with Hope
when she said goodbye to her dad.
She asked me to go in the room, um,
and see him...
in his casket before she gave
her final goodbye to him.
That was really difficult.
[Solo] I don't tell people
much about this.
He was
in his purple Washington Husky sweatshirt
and a wooden box.
A simple man in a wooden box.
I fixed his hair.
I wiped his ears and his eyes and...
For me, that was kind of
my way of saying goodbye
in a physical and emotional way.
Yeah.
[interviewer] Did you ever doubt
that you'd be ready
to get back to the World Cup?
[laughing tearfully]
[crowd roaring]
[reporter] This is your first
World Championship.
It must be
a great feeling of accomplishment
to actually have finally arrived
at a World Cup.
It's been a long journey. Let me tell you.
Sometimes I can't believe I'm really here,
because the journey has been so long.
But I never took my eye off the end goal,
and this has been
my goal since I've been a little girl.
Now, this is a bit
of a special tournament for you
because, uh, you're playing
in honor of your dad.
I'm sure you feel
he's with you somehow in this tournament.
Um... his spirit will always be with me, um,
and he was more excited
for these games than anybody I know.
[commentator 1]
And the 2007 World Cup is underway.
That North Korea game,
I was very focused, very intense,
very inspired to play for my father.
[commentator 2]
And that is excellent goalkeeping.
Hope Solo saw the danger early.
[Solo] I remember the moment
where I finally accepted,
"You're starting in goal."
"I mean, you're leading this team, Hope."
[commentator 1] Quick shot, taken.
Oh, what a save by Solo!
That's the save of the game.
[commentator 3] The USA gets ready
for their second match, against Sweden.
[commentator 1] Wambach, the shot.
It's a goal for Abby Wambach!
The US leads!
[commentator 3] Here come Sweden.
[commentator 1] Into the box it goes,
but Solo's right there.
[commentator 3] The United States
has defeated Sweden.
[Bennett] In that '07 World Cup,
Hope was spectacular.
She put the fear of God into her opponent.
She was so intense,
screaming, organizing her back line.
I mean, she looked utterly impenetrable.
[commentator 3] Here's the cross.
Solo comes around.
Chikwelu... Stop! Rebound! Solo's got it!
[commentator 1]
Hope Solo ending it in style.
[Solo] Going into the quarters,
I knew that I was
going to play a pivotal role
if we were going to win that World Cup.
[commentator 1] Right-footed pass inside.
And what a collision that was, though.
[commentator 4] Solo just taking charge.
[commentator 1] Kristine Lilly.
Floats one up there. Brown came up late.
A goal for the US!
The USA will advance to the semifinals.
Hope Solo's shutout sweep continues.
The United States women
rolled into that semifinal,
and the goalkeeping
of Hope Solo was one of the prime reasons.
And then, Greg Ryan made a decision,
for reasons that
are still not completely clear,
um, to drop Hope Solo.
Coach Greg Ryan shocked
the American soccer community yesterday
by naming Scurry the starter.
Hope Solo had played
every minute of this tournament,
including pitching
back-to-back-to-back shutouts.
I think this is the wrong decision
to make at this time.
Going into the semifinal,
you stay with your starting goalkeeper.
I remember watching ESPN,
and it was across the ticker
that Hope wasn't gonna start
the next game.
I had to go wake Amy up. I'm like, "Amy!"
"They... they're not playing her
in the next game."
I was just dumbfounded.
I got benched.
I was playing out of my life.
You know, I... I never saw it coming.
Nobody did.
I'm extremely disappointed
in his decision.
Uh... I... I have no understanding towards it.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
It's a change in the lineup.
It's, um... not a huge deal.
I have full confidence in Bri.
And now as a team,
we go out and play against Brazil.
[Solo] I found out it was
Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach,
the captains of the team,
who went to Greg Ryan
and asked to play Briana Scurry.
This was her last tournament,
and she had been an icon,
she had been a legend,
and those '99 players,
they wanted to give her
that Cinderella story.
[commentator] Semifinal match.
The United States and Brazil.
Goalkeeper story,
though, is the big issue.
Formiga drives at near post.
Brazil has scored!
Here's Brazil attacking.
It's Marta sh**ting low!
Brazil leads by two.
[Bennett] The decision to bench Solo
turned out to be
one of the worst in US women's history
in terms of self-inflicted wounds.
[commentator] They're wide open.
Cristiane with Scurry coming out!
And Cristiane!
You hate to see
the look on Briana Scurry's face.
She was put in a very difficult situation.
Hope Solo the same.
[Solo] On the bench, they nudged me.
"Hope, Hope, Hope."
"You look like you have a bad attitude."
And I'm like, "Why the f*ck
would I be smiling at this point?"
[commentator] There's another move.
She was tugged.
She still has it. Nice cut there. Marta!
She's got another!
Brazil are going to the final.
[Solo] After the game,
I was broken. I was hurt.
I gave it everything to win.
Pissed me off.
And then a reporter asked me,
"Hope, do you think
you would've made those saves?"
It was the wrong decision.
And I think anybody that knows
anything about the game knows that. Um...
Uh... there's no doubt in my mind
I would've made those saves.
She said what?
Goalkeeper Hope Solo
went on the offensive.
[Akers] I was no longer on the team,
but I remember thinking,
"Holy sh*t, Hope. That... that's uncool."
"You shouldn't be saying
that about your teammates."
The Women's National Team
had a series of true tenets, of values
that are passed down
from one generation of players to another.
And in that moment,
Hope Solo had shattered
possibly the central dominant tenet,
which is never criticize
a fellow teammate in public.
You know, for women's sports,
there's a huge component
of this loyalty factor.
I became the pariah.
When we got back to the hotel,
I remember getting
into a pool for a recovery session
and a lot of the players got out,
like they couldn't
even be in a pool with me.
And then Greg Ryan says,
"All right, everybody, meet in this room."
He lined up all the chairs in a circle.
Every player was encouraged
to tell me everything
they didn't like about me.
I had people telling me, "Hope, you used
your father's death as an excuse."
It was... it was...
It was evil, what they were doing.
And then, for the bronze medal match,
I'm told by the coach that
the team doesn't want you at the game.
I helped them win a bronze medal,
and I'm not allowed in the stadium?
[Gallimore] I got calls
from people saying,
"I've never seen anything like this."
"Like, she's literally just being
left to twist in the wind by herself."
I couldn't travel home
with my team.
I was left in China alone.
Somebody couldn't just
come up to me and say,
"Hope, that was f*cked up of you. I don't
like that interview, but you know what?"
"You're still... you're still our teammate."
"Let me reach out my hand
and help pull you up."
Nobody did that.
They're mean human beings.
[Gallimore] That was a real tipping point
for how people perceived Hope
moving forward
and even how Hope behaved moving forward.
I think it changed
the course of who Hope was.
[director] All right,
whenever you're ready.
Ah...
My name is Pia Sundhage, and I am
the coach for your Women's National Team.
[director] Put "U.S." at the beginning.
I am Pia Sundhage,
coach for your U.S. Women's National Team.
- [director] And we're done!
- Oh, great.
[Sundhage] I'm a little bit crazy,
I'm new.
I'm not American,
and I wanted them to follow my lead.
Okay, so who am I?
[Akers] Pia was the captain
of the Swedish women's national team.
[singing in Swedish]
The Swedish mentality is
very kind and inclusive.
No one player is better than the team.
[reporter] You're looking at the head
coach of this USA squad, Pia Sundhage,
taking over for Greg Ryan.
[Sundhage] I was not with
the American team in 2007.
But whatever happened,
people were hurt and disappointed,
and that is a feeling
that is hard to overcome.
Tough way for Pia to begin, inheriting
a goalkeeping controversy on this team.
You can imagine, in the very beginning,
was a little bit, like, shaky.
I look around. I did not know what to say.
And the first words
I told this fantastic team was...
♪ Come gather round, people
Wherever you roam ♪
♪ And times, they are a-changing ♪
[laughs]
And then I met with the federation.
I told them,
"I want to win. Do you want to win?"
"We need the best goalkeeper."
[Solo] Pia brought me back.
But at the time, I was weak.
Like, depressed.
Not leaving my house. Nothing.
Hope was hurt.
Hope was sad.
And I said, "I don't expect you to forget,
but I hope that you will forgive."
I think I have to credit Pia
for bringing people together.
She just brought the fun back to the game.
[Sundhage] We should create
that winning and good feeling.
Then we are unstoppable.
Now, did she follow my lead?
Did she follow my rules? No.
[laughing] Not always.
Uh...
But I would like to believe
that she trusts me a little bit, at least.
[Solo] At the end of the day,
I think we all realized that
if we were going to win the 2008 Olympics,
then it's time to move forward.
[crowd cheering]
[Solo] Well,
2008 Olympics,
ten months after 2007 World Cup,
is back in China.
And who do we play in the finals?
Right now, let's go
to the gold medal match in women's soccer.
The US taking on
an expl*sive team from Brazil.
[commentator 1] As this team approaches,
it appears that coach and goalkeeper
are now on the same page.
Hope did very well under pressure.
She embraced the challenge.
And against Brazil, showed
that she was the best player in the world.
[commentator 2] The score is tied, 0-0.
[commentator 1] Marta with the ball.
Quick shot taken!
What a save by Solo!
That's the save of the game!
Because after that save,
Carli Lloyd scored the goal.
We won the gold medal.
[commentator 2] Lloyd steps up.
Left-footed shot!
Goal!
Gold medal winners are the United States.
Hope Solo, I mean, this has
to feel especially sweet for her.
[Solo] Defense won today's game.
The confidence
that Pia brought to this team,
it was a different energy,
and... and it felt so good tonight.
[Solo] I got my Olympic gold medal.
It was a dream of mine
since I was a little girl.
Okay, check that one off the list.
But I still wanted that World Cup.
[girls chanting] Solo! Solo! Solo!
[Solo] Those next years were
a real turning point
for the popularity of women's soccer.
And for me,
what a very strange time in my life.
Hope became very popular
and famous.
- [reporters clamoring]
- Hope, smile! Hope, Hope!
Please welcome Hope Solo!
All of a sudden, I'm thrust
into Hollywood.
[Griffin] This has gone beyond soccer.
She was one of the first female athletes
outside of tennis
that is bigger than the sport.
Oh my God. That's Hope Solo.
[Gallimore] When she signed with Nike,
I remember thinking,
"How cool that this little kid
from Richland, from not much,
is gonna be able
to make a living and help her family."
[Solo] And even though we lost to Japan
in the 2011 World Cup final,
things just kept getting bigger.
[Hirss] You couldn't leave her
a voicemail. Hers was always full.
But she'd call and give me
literally the dump
of everything that's been going on.
[Solo] I was meeting celebrities
and movie directors,
doing photoshoots
and Dancing with the Stars.
World Cup star Hope Solo.
[Sundhage] She came into the locker room,
and she, uh, showed a couple of moves.
I was like...
"Huh?" [laughs]
[Solo] Sure, I went
to a lot of great parties.
I met a lot of great celebrities.
It was fun, but I had social anxiety.
To be honest, I felt out of my element,
and I always needed to take
the edge off with champagne or wine.
So it wasn't all glitz and glamour.
It was exhausting.
Very exhausting and lonely at times.
[Hirss] Hope doesn't live
an emotionally consistent life.
Within her family,
there was a lot of fighting.
[crows cawing]
[Hirss] What is real in her life is
volatility.
[phone line ringing]
[operator] 911 emergency. Hello, sir?
[Solo] My half sister Teresa
is from my father's previous marriage,
and he left that family
when he fell in love with my mom.
My mom didn't know about them
until after they got married,
but we were still forced
to become this blended family.
There were jealousies
that probably
never could have been healed.
[operator] Do you need the police
or an ambulance?
[man] Uh, police.
[Solo] That night at my sister's,
my nephew,
he got really worked up,
and he was adamant about me leaving,
and he grabbed me and tried
to push me out the glass door.
[phone line breaking up]
[man] Hope Solo is going psychotic.
She's... [bleep] ...beating people up,
and we need help.
I remember him just... on top of me.
He's 6'9" and almost 300 pounds.
He went and grabbed this broom,
and he started swinging it
and beating me over the head with it.
[shakily] My sister tries to break it up.
She has both my arms.
And I'm like, "I will punch you, Terry,
if you don't get off me."
And I punched her.
I punched my sister in the face.
Hope Solo was arrested
early this morning in Washington State.
She's been charged with hitting
her sister and her 17-year-old son.
I got wind of
the situation first on the news.
I remember watching it
and being like, "Oh God."
Hope Solo has been arrested
on two counts of domestic as*ault.
It was bad. The whole thing.
On everyone's part.
Just really no excuses
for anyone to behave like that.
Solo is being held without bail
and is scheduled
to appear in court on Monday.
[woman] For the better part of my career,
I was that person
who got those three a.m. calls
when things went wrong,
specifically for a lot
of high-profile athletes.
Um, I guess I was a crisis manager.
I... I'd like to think of it
as an adviser to someone
in one of the most difficult
times of their lives.
She really was in a tough spot.
This was her family.
[reporter] Teresa Obert says
she once considered Hope her best friend.
She kept slamming him
into the cement over and over again,
and I pulled her over.
And then once she got off,
she started punching me.
I spit out a piece of tooth,
and I said, "Call 911."
[man] One of the witnesses is now stating
that the defendant slammed his head
against a cement wall during this event.
According to briefing,
this witness made no such statement
to the police during their investigation.
[Travis] Hope's family members
did not want to cooperate,
because under oath, in front of a judge,
their stories would not have held up.
[reporter 2] The charges
against Hope Solo have been dismissed.
[Travis] The strategy was containment
'cause, at that point,
Hope was preparing for the 2015 World Cup,
the most important tournament of her life.
[reporter 3] The U.S. Women's
National Team is back together.
It's a new era for the US team,
with a new head coach,
and the excitement is ramping up.
[reporter 4] Have Hope's legal issues
been a distraction to the team?
No, I mean, we've moved on, and she's
been a fantastic player and teammate.
When it comes to Hope Solo,
she shouldn't be on the field.
[reporter 5] If you're Solo's teammate,
at what point
does it become a distraction?
[reporter 6] You might not like her.
You might not wanna hang out with her.
But you want her on your team.
[reporter 7] The Women's World Cup
kicked off in Canada this weekend,
and Team USA is hoping
to win for the first time in 16 years.
[Bennett] The United States needed to win
in a way no team has needed
to win a World Cup more.
[Gallimore] They were playing
under the shadow of the '99 team,
and that was becoming a lot of pressure.
I mean, that had been building for years.
- [commentator 1] Sent in. Save, Solo!
- [commentator 2] Incredible.
[Solo] Despite my personal issues,
I knew I would never forgive myself
if I'm not at my best.
She saved us. I told her, "Thank you."
[commentator 3] USA wins.
[Akers] We needed to recapture
our world dominance.
And I thought, "Man, we're doing it.
We're doing it!"
[commentator 1] It's the semifinal.
The United States and Germany.
- Okay, Rog. What do you think?
- USA! I love 'em.
It's the greatest lockdown defense
in the tournament.
Hope Solo, she'll be busy tonight.
Goalkeeping is a deeply lonely position.
The pressure is excruciating.
[commentator 1] It's a mistake!
They're looking for a penalty here.
There's one instance
that you can win the game
as a goalkeeper.
[commentator 1] She's given the penalty
against the United States.
[Griffin] Penalty kicks.
[commentator 1] The World Cup semifinal
has a dramatic moment.
Goalkeepers, by definition,
are always crazy.
I think they need to be crazy.
But some goalkeepers
are crazier than others.
[Solo] A penalty kick against Germany.
Me versus
the best penalty kick taker in the world.
[commentator 1] The World Cup top scorer,
Célia Šašić,
against one of the world's
best goalkeepers in Hope Solo.
Such a crucial moment.
I'm good at pressure.
I can handle pressure.
I went to the corner flag,
and I drank some water.
I stepped off the line.
Stared at the German player.
[commentator 2] Solo took a stroll away.
It's mind games
between goalkeeper and sh**ter.
And I needed to make that save
in order for us to win.
[commentator 3] Solo's just trying
to freeze Šašić,
make her think about missing.
[commentator 2] Oh! Drives it wide!
And the biggest roar
of the night from USA throats.
Two-nil!
The United States to the World Cup final!
[Bennett] The US had to face Japan,
the team that had beaten them
in the previous World Cup.
Hello, darkness, my old friend.
[commentator 1] The 2015 FIFA
Women's World Cup final.
The USA haven't
conceded a goal for 513 minutes.
[Solo] We needed to win. We had to win.
We wanted to win bad.
[commentator 1] And the United States
have a corner. The first of this final.
Driven in towards Lloyd!
What a start for the United States!
Carli Lloyd, the captain!
Flick from Johnston.
And it's slammed in for a second.
It's Carli Lloyd again!
Here they come again.
The long-range effort from Lloyd!
Oh my goodness!
The United States of America
are the 2015 World Cup winners.
I just felt like, "g*dd*mn, we did it."
"f*ck, we did it."
It was my moment of saying,
"f*ck everybody."
I got it done.
[reporter] And the winner
of her second Gold Glove Award,
presented to
the most outstanding goalkeeper,
is going to be Hope Solo!
[Rapinoe] Mr. President, how are you?
I'm not as good as you,
but I'm pretty good.
[laughter]
The next time I see the men's team,
I will have to remind them
that you guys beat the men in viewership.
- [Rapinoe] Yeah.
- [player] Whoo!
[Solo] I remember, after the World Cup,
I was trying to get a home loan,
and I had to get my employer contract
to prove how much money
I make with the federation.
And that's when I found out
I did not have a working contract.
I reached out to the head
of the players' association
'cause I needed proof of my income.
But I wasn't getting answers.
Eventually I was told,
"You're asking questions
that are beyond your pay grade."
"Just shut up and play."
U.S. Soccer? It's a crap sh**t.
You're not set up for success.
You're getting paid sh*t.
And how about some money,
um, for those World Cups?
The federation could toy with us.
They were the puppet masters.
We got f*cked by U.S. Soccer.
We had no health insurance.
We had no 401(k)s.
We had no pregnancy leave.
I had five surgeries on one shoulder.
Thirty surgeries on one knee.
And U.S. Soccer said,
"We're not gonna cover it."
[Solo] We played in
horrible stadiums and field conditions.
We played on turf.
Meanwhile, the men get charter planes,
and we're traveling to the Olympics
in middle seats by the back toilets.
And they can't even win tournaments?
There were so many problems to address.
I brought in Rich Nichols,
and we were in for a battle.
The U.S. Soccer Federation
is the most draconian sports organization
I've ever dealt with.
If you wanna be involved
in soccer in the United States,
not just playing in the game,
but coaching,
broadcasting, youth associations,
basically anything, you had
to get the blessing of U.S. Soccer.
You have to kiss the ring.
[man] We'll hear from the U.S. Soccer
Federation president, Dan Flynn.
The US women team, for the victory,
was compensated $2 million.
And the men's team was compensated
$35 million. Is that right?
- I think it was 32, but it might be 35.
- [Klobuchar] 32 million. Okay.
[Nichols] When you look at the success
the women had in that time period,
they had accrued $20 million in revenue
and the men had
only accrued $5 million in revenue.
[reporter] This is an utter embarrassment!
With the amount of money
in men's soccer and in this sport,
you don't deserve to go to the World Cup.
[Solo] We were the moneymakers.
People knew our names around the world.
They knew the women's names.
$72,000 a year Hope Solo's being paid?
$72,000 a year Abby Wambach is being paid?
The inequities were just unbelievable.
I brought Rich Nichols
to have a formal conversation with us.
We knew this was something that has
never been done, to sue your employer.
Not everybody was on board.
People don't want to ruffle any feathers.
There's a lot of fear.
Fear, intimidation,
threat of being kicked off the team.
That was why.
We finally convinced the team
that this was an important step.
Five players, including stars
Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo,
filed an Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission complaint
for workplace discrimination.
[Nichols] That was the beginning
of our campaign
to basically excoriate U.S. Soccer
for discriminating against
women in the workplace.
This had never been done before
by professional athletes.
Never been done by women.
We continue to be told
we should be grateful
just to have the opportunity
to play professional soccer
and to get paid for doing it.
We make it clear to them we're serious.
We're gonna get equal pay.
[crowd cheering]
[Bennett] The US have never failed
to reach the gold medal match,
and they are unbeaten so far.
[Bennett] In the Olympics,
the United States were facing Sweden,
who played a very conservative game,
a very cautious game.
[Bennett] For Sweden, that line
of five midfielders parking the bus.
"How do we bait them?"
[Bennett] And this time,
the Swedes are led by a new coach.
[laughs]
When you play the world champions,
you have to be smart.
And when it comes to tactics, you can
control the game by good defending.
[Bennett] It's blocked.
Desperate defending by the Swedes.
You could say that we were, uh... boring,
but we won the game.
- [crowd roaring]
- [Bennett] The United States are out!
[Solo] It was a very frustrating match.
I just don't believe
in that style of play.
[Solo] You know, the best team did not win
today. I strongly, firmly believe that.
We played a bunch of cowards.
I'm scrolling Twitter, and I see,
"Hope Solo calls Swedes cowards."
And I was just like, "Oh my God."
- [reporter 1] Solo needs to grow up.
- [reporter 2] Solo should be fried.
Even Pia Sundhage in response said,
"I don't give a crap what Hope Solo said."
"We're goin' to Rio,
and she's goin' home."
I'm not proud of that, uh... [laughs]
...uh, of that comment.
Sorry.
But it was true.
Eventually, I get... a call
that Dan Flynn wanted to meet with me
in Seattle in a downtown hotel.
And I was like, "Hmm."
[door opens]
[Hirss] I can't believe this.
They f*cked you so bad.
Six months' suspension. No pay.
- It's okay.
- Terminated contract.
- Effective immediately.
- [Hirss sighs]
Terminated contract.
- How can they say...
- Not just a suspension.
That's how f*cked up this is!
She was terminated, embarrassed.
Greatest of all time, fired like that.
[Travis] "Effective immediately,
your contract is terminated
for conduct that is counter
to the organization's principles."
[Nichols] They claim she was fired
for making those comments.
Well, that's BS.
They knew why she was being fired.
It was because she was leading the charge
for equal pay. Period. End of story.
That's what... that's what we wanna do,
is call them out on the bullshit.
And I want people
to know that it's bullshit.
It's not fair to Hope.
She cannot play
and is not eligible for camp
and won't be able to be
on the national team.
I'm shocked.
I just don't know why
they wanted to do it this way.
I was fired. Completely fired.
You're stripping somebody's dreams,
money, awards.
I lost contracts.
They stripped me of so much,
and you're lookin' at me for my...
my comments?
And all I could think about were...
"These... are cowards."
Do you think that Hope Solo's
prominent position in this fight
had anything to do
with her being kicked off the team?
I think there were multiple things that
led to Hope's suspension and termination,
but I'm not sure.
I think that the suspension was
a lifetime achievement award.
- Right? The... uh... Well, it was.
- [laughter]
[Solo] It was just over.
I mean, I didn't get a celebration.
I didn't get a retirement game
that every single veteran player
in the history of U.S. Soccer
has basically received.
I've played in three Olympics, three
World Cups, over 200 caps for my country.
I've given my life to the game, to my
country, to the sport, to the federation.
Nothing.
[thunder echoing]
[Travis] When U.S. Soccer terminated her,
suddenly, she's completely unencumbered.
She's not worried about retaliation.
So now she's completely free
to say what she wants
and really shine a light on things.
So she fights harder.
[Solo] The time had come.
I reached out to my teammates
and said, "I'm finally going to file
in federal court
against U.S. Soccer for violation
of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII."
And... no response.
[Nichols] Hope filed a lawsuit
in the federal court
in the Northern District of California
against U.S. Soccer
alleging violation of the Equal Pay Act
and violation of Title VII.
We alerted the media.
No response from them either.
They didn't cover it.
"Oh, it's just Hope Solo
doing what Hope Solo does."
No coverage at all.
I believe the federation has lost its way.
The establishment represents
disunity, discord,
and more, failure.
[Solo] The fight for equal pay
became my new passion.
The fight was on.
U.S. Soccer has invested
more in women's soccer
than any country in the world.
[crowd clamoring]
[chanting] Equal pay! Equal pay!
Equal pay! Equal pay!
- [Solo] We were making headway.
- Equal pay!
[Solo] And then, guess what?
The other players filed
their own class-action lawsuit.
There is major news this morning
in the years-long fight for equal pay
by the Women's National Soccer Team.
The team and the U.S. Soccer Federation
have reached a settlement
for a total of $24 million
in their equal pay...
A big day for women, uh, in sports
and hopefully every other sector.
The Women's National
Soccer Team scoring a goal,
reaching a $24 million settlement.
[reporter] After years
of frustration and pounding the table,
now this playing field has been leveled.
It was celebrated like
this hero moment in time
where there's finally equal pay.
They did not get equal pay.
The world thinks
they settled for equal pay. No.
What they got
was $24 million to settle the litigation
and a pledge from U.S. Soccer
that, if certain conditions
are satisfied in the future,
we'll agree to equal pay.
We weren't in it for a settlement.
We were in it to change the landscape
for women across the country
for the rest of time,
for the rest of history.
[Rapinoe] For us as players, I'm just
so proud of the way we stuck together
and something that
we could only have dreamed of.
It's really what we set out to do,
equalize on all fronts.
And we've been able
to achieve that, and it's...
it's a really proud moment,
I think, for all of us.
We failed. We failed.
Yes, we made improvements,
but that's not what we set out to do.
I think they took the easy way out.
[man] Known for her creative play
and leadership,
Megan Rapinoe challenges
and inspires millions of people
who believe in themselves
and the possibilities of our nation.
[audience cheering]
[Solo] A lot of the 1999ers,
they jumped on the bandwagon, and
then they started taking credit for it.
They were at the White House
when they celebrated equal pay.
They've practically done nothing
in this fight for equal pay,
and we are still
supposed to just be talking about
everything this 1999 team has done.
They left us no health insurance.
They left us no retirements, no 401(k)s.
They left us with a toxic environment.
Teammates dating teammates.
Players dating coaches.
Coaches dating psychologists.
It was this unhealthy, incestual web,
and... [laughs]
...they continue to believe
that we are supposed to bow down
to them in regard
to everything U.S. Soccer.
- [air whooshing]
- [knocking]
[man] Why are you sleeping
out here in the parking lot?
[air conditioning stops]
[Solo] I was parked,
waiting for my husband.
Keys in the ignition
so I could turn on the heater.
And, um...
I found myself in, probably,
what was the worst day of my life.
[Solo] There's no pointing fingers.
I made a bad decision, a bad mistake.
And it's something that I'm going to have
to answer to to my kids later in life.
Something I will never, um, live down.
She disappeared, um,
and I don't think anyone knew
how low she was.
[Solo] I finally gave everybody
a reason to actually hate.
That's what pisses me off.
'Cause I did that. I did that.
[Griffin] I don't know how many people
were around to facilitate
a different outcome.
I know the people that I keep close to me...
would have made that happen for me.
And that's the saddest part
for me in Hope, is I don't know
who those people are for Hope.
[Solo] It's game time.
- Very excited.
- Cool. Well, congratulations, honey.
- Thank you.
- [boy] There's a dog.
But I can still feel my heart,
like, racing right now.
[Solo] My first year eligible for
the Hall of Fame, I didn't get voted in.
The following year rolls around, I didn't
get inducted for the second straight year.
Finally, this year I got inducted,
and I still didn't know
if I would accept it.
[sighing] And then it hit me.
This is for my family.
This is for my kids.
I would be selfish
not to accept this award
for my mom, for my grandparents,
for everybody who has supported me.
[Akers] I think it's really unfortunate
that Hope's controversies
have overshadowed her greatness.
[Stevens] Ladies and gentlemen,
consider the true magnitude of 202 caps
and over a hundred shutouts.
To be able to steel yourself
on the biggest stage in the world,
carrying the weight
of the nation time and time again,
is nothing less than
the epitome of athletic greatness.
[Akers] But it took me years to realize,
"What if a male athlete
made those same comments?"
And the consequences for her
were much more intense
and fierce, um, so
that, to me, is heartbreaking.
[Stevens] Hope has the courage
to back her beliefs at almost any cost.
These beliefs and traits
were developed as a product
of Hope's ravenous pursuit
of becoming the best,
being the best, and now
finally being recognized as the best.
["Daughter" by Pearl Jam plays]
♪ Young girl ♪
♪ Violins ♪
♪ Center of her own attention... ♪
[Sundhage] Hope Solo is
the best goalkeeper of all time.
Holy sh*t. She is the best goalkeeper
in the world, not just in this country.
Like, she is the best.
[man] Hope Solo, certainly the best
American goalkeeper to ever play the game,
man or woman.
And, as far as I'm concerned,
the best American soccer player
ever to play the game.
♪ Don't call me... ♪
[Stevens] Hope Solo changed goalkeeping
from the position of the left-out kid
to the most athletic, most badass,
and most respected position on the squad
in the minds of children across the world.
[man] What happened?
[crying] I met Hope Solo!
[girls] Hope Solo!
Hope shattered
the glass ceiling of expectation
and redefined the world's concept
of what a female superstar is.
[Gallimore] It's been very intriguing
to watch her journey along the way.
Good, bad, indifferent, expl*sive.
She's a wild child.
Um, that's her upbringing.
[interviewer] What are your thoughts
on Hope never getting a farewell game?
I'm... I... I know it's probably
the thing that bothers me the most.
I'm like, "Wow, that was a..."
"There was zero swan song
for one of the best players
to ever play the game."
This was so good!
[Stevens] The reality is, there has been
so much said and written of Hope Solo.
- But I dare you, I dare anybody...
- ♪ Don't call me, daughter... ♪
- [clears throat]
- ♪ Not fit to... ♪
...to deny the fact that there's
never been a Hope Solo before,
and, sadly, there will never be
a Hope Solo again.
And so with that,
it's an honor and a pleasure to present
for induction
into the National Soccer Hall of Fame,
the one and only Hope Solo.
♪ Don't call me daughter ♪
♪ Not fit to... ♪
[Solo] My father loved the peace and quiet
of his tent in the woods.
♪ Don't call me, daughter... ♪
[Solo] And after everything that happened,
I knew that I needed a fresh start.
And out here,
I feel closer to him than ever.
And, uh...
And strong. And strong.
[dramatic music playing]
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