Hope Solo Calls Swedish Team 'Cowards' After Olympics Loss

Hope Solo trashed the Swedish soccer team after the U.S. Women’s National Team was defeated in the quarter-finals at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

“I thought that we played a courageous game. I thought we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart,” Hope said in a post-game interview (via SI.com). “We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team.”

“And I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The better team did not win today. I strongly believe that. I think you saw American heart. You saw us give everything we had today,” Hope added.

When asked why she thought the Swedish team played cowardly, she said: “Sweden dropped off. They didn’t want to open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball. They didn’t want to play great soccer. It was a combative game, a physical game. Exactly what they wanted and exactly what their gameplan was. They dropped into a 50. They didn’t try and press. They didn’t want to open the game. And they tried to counter with longballs. We had that style of play when Pia [Sundhage] was our coach.”