At what point is a superstar more trouble than she’s worth?

How many infractions of team rules does it take? How many run-ins with the law? And how many displays of poor sportsmanship and taste?

Before the collective heft of those actions outweighs the benefits of her contributions on the field?

Does Hope Solo the goalkeeper still justify having to deal with Hope Solo the person? The one who can’t keep her mouth shut after painful losses? The one whose criminal case for allegedly abusing her half-sister and her son has been reopened? The one who has had several other run-ins with the law? The one who has brought more negative attention to the United States women’s national team than every other player in its long and laureled history combined?

Those are the questions U.S. Soccer must have grappled with before deciding that Solo no longer justified the bother of having Solo on the team. On Wednesday, she was formally suspended from the women’s national team for six months, a year and a half after she was suspended for 30 days when her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, was arrested for driving a women’s national team van under the influence with Solo, reportedly also inebriated, in the passenger seat – an incident she failed to disclose to the federation before it was reported in the media.

This time around, Solo called the Swedish team that knocked the USA out of the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics on penalties “cowards” for its conservative playing style, just after the loss cemented the worst American performance at a major tournament. She was heavily criticized for her comments, including by several teammates.

View photos U.S. SOCCER SEEMS TO HAVE DECIDED THAT HOPE SOLO IS MORE TROUBLE THAN SHE’S WORTH. (AP) More

U.S. Soccer told several outlets that her suspension was the consequence of an accumulation of incidents, rather than a punishment meted out solely for the most recent one.

[Related: Brazil finally captures Olympic gold in men’s soccer]

Solo, 35, had a strong game against France at the Olympics, conserving a narrow victory, but a terrible miscue and a missed punch against Colombia gave away a win in the USA’s final group stage match. And those flubs conspired to form an impression that Solo’s prime might be slipping away. She was named the best goalkeeper at both the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, but it’s conceivable that she has already played in her last big tournament.

After all, she wasn’t merely suspended – a punishment with a relatively modest scope, since the Americans will play just two games in that six-month span, an unusually low volume of matches by their standards. Her contract with the federation was also canceled. The established women’s national team players have a full-time deal with the federation that pays them a salary and benefits. Solo’s was terminated with three months’ severance, per FourFourTwo USA. It has been widely reported that her contract with the Seattle Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League remains in force, even though it is tied into her USSF deal.

This is the letter informing Hope Solo her contract with the USWNT has been terminated. pic.twitter.com/MtYwV9S6ed — Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) August 25, 2016





The U.S. women’s national team’s players’ association lawyer has said that he will file a grievance on Solo’s behalf. The lawyer also charged that Solo’s First Amendment rights are being violated, which is absurd, since her speech isn’t being impeded by a government – she’s merely been kicked off a team that had included her voluntarily.

This wasn’t an employee sent home for a while. If hers was a regular workplace, Solo would have been told to clear out her desk and escorted off the premise. There is no guarantee that she’ll return to the program when her suspension is up in February of next year.

Consider that the women’s national team has no big games until the Women’s World Cup rolls around again in 2019. By that time, Solo would be almost 38, old even for a goalkeeper. Old especially for a goalkeeper with a history of severe shoulder injuries. That gives head coach Jill Ellis plenty of time to get a replacement accustomed to the glare of the starting women’s national team job. In Alyssa Naeher and Ashlyn Harris, she has two capable alternatives. And while neither is Solo’s equal, the drop-off isn’t enormous, especially if there’s an eagerness to construct a Solo-less team.

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