Hope Solo Rips United States Soccer's Jill Ellis: 'She Cracks Under Pressure'
Hope Solo made her career between the posts, but she has never stayed between the lines.
The former U.S. women's national team goalkeeper unleashed her unabashed nature on current U.S. head coach Jill Ellis during an interview with the BBC Saturday.
"Jill—she's not the leader I wish her to be," the 37-year-old said, according to Reuters (h/t ESPN). "She relies heavily on her assistant coaches. She cracks under the pressure quite a bit. But oftentimes it doesn't matter because the quality of the players on the U.S. team is superb."
Ellis took over the national team in 2014. Solo was suspended for six months and had her contract with U.S. Soccer terminated following controversial comments at the Rio Olympics in which she called Sweden, who beat the U.S., "a bunch of cowards."
Prior to the falling out, Solo earned 202 caps with the national team and served as goalkeeper for the 2007, 2011 and 2015 World Cups. She also is the first goalkeeper to record 100-plus career international shutouts.
As the U.S. now tries to defend its 2015 World Cup title, Solo added that the team has a history to "find a way to win ... in spite of who the coach is."
The U.S. begins its 2019 World Cup play in France Tuesday against Thailand.
