Abby Wambach said the U.S. played like it “didn’t have a soul” at the Olympics and said she “had big problems” with Hope Solo‘s comments in Rio.
“They kind of looked like a team that were trying to define themselves, but trying too hard,” Wambach, talking on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, said of the U.S. team that lost in the quarterfinals to Sweden.
Additionally, Wambach criticized goalie Hope Solo‘s “coward” comments about Sweden.
“I had big problems with that,” said Wambach, a teammate of Solo’s at the 2012 Olympics and at three World Cups. “You never call another team coward after you’ve just been beaten. The rules in the game are the rules in the game, and you don’t want to be a sore loser — not when you’re the best team in the world, right? That, to me, looks weak.
“That’s like playground stuff. Be a professional. Stand up and say, ‘You know what, they beat us at our own game. They played better than us today.’ Call a spade a spade.”
Wambach said she and Solo “butted heads” often when their careers overlapped on the U.S. national team. She called Solo’s six-month suspension “a lifetime achievement award” for her conduct.
“Was she difficult to work with at times? Hell yeah,” Wambach said. “Was I? Probably. Because we’re these big personalities.”
Wambach also said she would have retired after the 2012 Olympics had she won the 2011 World Cup.
VIDEO: Hope Solo’s immediate reaction to suspension
Follow @nzaccardi
