BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — Bug off, Brazil.
For daring to make fun of the Zika virus scare, goalkeeper Hope Solo has been cast as the ugly American at the Summer Olympics.
During a 1-0 victory against France, when Solo made a breath-taking save, a cascade of boos rained on her shoulders. Each time she lined up a goal kick, the crowd whistled in derision. And when the most notorious U.S. athlete in Brazil put the ball in play, every corner of the stadium echoed with a shout of protest so loud it sounded as if it had been shot from a cannon: “Zika!”
“I really don’t care what is chanted at me at any point in any game, to be honest. Whatap important to me is that I play my best quality football that I can play …,” Solo said Saturday, after she kept the tournament favorites unbeaten after two games in pool play. “If they’re having fun, great. I like a loud stadium. But, really, it doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Solo insisted the chant doesn’t bug her. But I think she is fibbing.
ZEE-KA! This is definitely a thing now.
“I think the crowd only gets going when Hope has the ball,” U.S. captain Carli Lloyd said. “I think they’re probably having fun with it at this point. I think it will probably go for the whole tournament with her.”
My pitiful attempts at Portuguese barely allows me to order lunch, but I think when soccer fans in Brazil scream Zika it loosely translates as: Yankee, go home. And take your filthy rich arrogance with you.
“I’m not turning anyone against me or on my side,” said Solo, insisting she only takes the pitch to keep the ball out of the net. “They can love me or hate me. I’m going to continue to do the same things.”
Letap be honest. Solo brings this stuff on herself. For her, controversy is like air. And the 35-year-old goalie created it with her Twitter account, posting photographs of so much mosquito repellant it made it seem her mission in Brazil was to attack Zika with shock and awe. In July, while wearing a beekeeper’s hat on her head and holding a bottle of industrial strength bug juice, Solo tweeted: “Not sharing this!!! Get your own! #zikaproof #RoadToRio.”
Maybe the humor escaped Brazil, a proud country that isn’t necessarily amused by what has become a broad-brush portrayal of bugs in the air, thugs in the street and dung in the water.
ZEE-KA!
Give Solo trouble, however, and she fights back.
Solo made five saves. Every one was big time, and she saved her teammates’ bacon in the first half, when the Americans seemed more interested in a game of chess than attacking or scoring. But when Tobin Heath created a beautiful chance in the 63rd minute and her shot off the post rebounded directly to Lloyd for an easy score, Team USA had the only goal it needed. And Colorado teenage sensation Mallory Pugh, who dinged an ankle during the opening match against New Zealand, wasn’t needed at all, as coach Jill Ellis admitted it was going to be a 50-50 call to sub Pugh if the offense sputtered in the second half, but was glad to let the 18-year-old forward sit all 90 minutes to allow whatap believed to be a minor injury heal.
There’s always a razor on Solo’s tongue. She plays with that same steely edge. Itap what makes her great. Itap what makes her intimidating standing tall in the goal frame or coming off her line, a lioness turning a scorer into the hunted.
And that edge is what makes it easy to cast Solo in the role of big, bad Uncle Sam. (Or should we say mean Aunt Samantha?) But believe this: The most loved – and least loved – team at any Summer Olympics is the one that brings a contingent of loud and proud fans chanting: U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
When tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams showed up with their fabulous collection of Grand Slam titles last week, there was a foreign journalist that dared to ask a question often on the mind of people from Europe to Asia that both admire the United States and cringe at our tendency for snarky dismissal of anything thatap not made in America.
If the Olympics are all about the world coming together rather than building walls, the reporter asked in broken English, then whatap the deal with Donald Trump?
Well, that escalated quickly.
ZEE-KA!
“If people having fun, great,” Solo said. “I hope they aren’t missing great play, though, because they’re too focused on other things.”
This is all in good fun? Isn’t it? Well, kinda. Sorta.
Everybody at the Olympics loves Uncle Sam? Right?
