When it comes to the lore of Team USA women’s soccer, Hope Solo is not interested in kissing the ring of the 1999 World Cup team.
“They left us with a toxic environment,” Solo, 43, said in the Netflix documentary UNTOLD: Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer. “Teammates dating teammates. Players dating coaches. Coaches dating psychologists. It was this unhealthy, incestual web.”
Solo — who joined the U.S. women’s national team as a goalkeeper in 2000 — spoke bluntly about the 1999 World Cup-winning team the doc, which was released on September 3.
“The 1999 team left us with that winning tradition,” Solo, said. “They should be proud of that. That’s about the only thing they should be proud of.”
According to Solo, the historic 1999 team — which featured players like Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Briana Scurry — was less than proactive when it came to setting up the next generation of players for financial success.
“We got f–ked by U.S. Soccer,” Solo explained. “They left us no health insurance, they left us no retirements, no 401(k)s.”
So, when the new crop of U.S. women’s stars — led by Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd — emerged victorious in an equal pay lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2022, earning a $24 million settlement and a pledge to address equal pay in the future, Solo took notice of what happened next.
“A lot of the 1999ers, they jumped on the bandwagon and then they started taking credit for it,” Solo argued. “They were at the White House when they celebrated equal pay!”
Solo continued, “They had practically done nothing in this fight for equal pay and we are still just supposed to be talking about everything this 1999 team has done.”
Now, more than 25 years removed from the 1999 Women’s World Cup victory, Solo refuses to bite her tongue about the legacy left behind by her predecessors in the sport, referencing a 2022 independent investigation by Sally Q. Yates into allegations of past abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer.
While slamming the “toxic environment” and “incestual web,” Solo concluded, “They continue to believe that we are supposed to bow down to them in regard to everything U.S. soccer.”
Members of the 1999 team including Hamm, Foudy and Scurry all declined to participate in the documentary.
UNTOLD: Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer is available to stream now on Netflix.
