Brennan: Do-nothing U.S. Soccer must do something with Hope Solo

Christine Brennan | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Women's World Cup preview: USA vs. Sweden USA TODAY Sports' Laken Litman previews the second Women's World Cup match between the U.S. and Sweden.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo, soccer's Ray Rice without the video, will be on the field Friday in Winnipeg when the U.S. soccer team plays its second game of the 2015 Women's World Cup.

She shouldn't be.

The powerful, 5-9, 150-pound veteran, charged nearly a year ago with beating her half-sister and nephew in an ongoing case that has not been resolved, should have been suspended by U.S. Soccer right then.

Because the sport's leaders did nothing at the time, they should do it now. They won't, of course, because Solo is just too valuable to the team when it matters most, in the vitally important games being played in the highest profile and most prestigious tournament in the world.

What a statement that is: The renowned U.S. women's national soccer team, which has historically stood for what is best in sports, and the best of us, is now protecting -- even promoting -- an alleged domestic abuser.

Just nine months after our nation embarked on a conversation about the horrors of domestic violence, a topic that carries on to this day in the NFL and throughout society, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and the federation's other leaders continue to fail to take domestic abuse by a woman seriously.

By doing nothing when the issue first arose, Gulati ensured that it would come to a head at the worst possible time: during the Women's World Cup, as the U.S. prepares to play Sweden in the second game of group play.

That it has. On Thursday afternoon, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., released a letter he sent to Gulati, calling for U.S. Soccer to "conduct a thorough investigation into this incident.

"In the interim," Blumenthal wrote, "I urge U.S. Soccer to reconsider Hope Solo's position as an active member of Team USA. As boys and girls tune in to Friday's game, watching the women on TV as role models, it sends exactly the wrong message to start Hope Solo at goal."

Blumenthal, who was outspoken in his criticism of the NFL's handling of the Rice incident last year, told me in a phone interview Thursday afternoon that U.S. Soccer's lack of action was troubling.

"It's the attitude that is most offensive here in my view," he said. "This is a profoundly important issue of domestic violence that U.S. Soccer has an obligation to at least review and investigate, which it so far really has declined to do."

Solo was arrested last June and charged with punching her 17-year-old nephew in the face and tackling him during an argument at Solo's half-sister's Kirkland, Wash., home. The teen's mother told ESPN that Solo "grabbed him by the head and she kept slamming him into the cement over and over again." When she tried to intervene, Solo allegedly attacked her as well.

According to police reports obtained by the Seattle Times and ESPN, when officers arrived on the scene, the nephew's T-shirt was torn and he had scratch marks on his arms and a bleeding cut on his ear.

Solo pleaded not guilty to two counts of misdemeanor domestic violence. Her case was originally dismissed on procedural grounds, but prosecutors have filed an appeal and arguments are set to begin July 13, according to ESPN.

The U.S. soccer team and its supporters will no doubt blame Blumenthal and the news media for creating this controversy at the worst possible time, but 100% of the blame for this debacle should fall at the feet of Gulati, who has never taken the Solo news seriously enough.

Gulati and U.S. Soccer were shown the way by the NFL after the Rice elevator video surfaced on Sept. 8, 2014. They failed to take it. The NFL immediately suspended its abusers, alleged and real. U.S. Soccer did no such thing.

In fact, Teresa Obert, Solo's half sister, told ESPN that neither she nor her son was contacted by U.S. Soccer.

(As a comparison, the WNBA certainly got the message. It suspended both Brittney Griner and Glory Johnson for seven games each after their domestic violence arrests in April.)

What an irony this is: Gulati, the man who has been so vocal in voicing his concern for transparency and modernity in corrupt-to-the-core FIFA, blundering so badly when given the chance to take a stand with the nation's most beloved and iconic women's team -- on an issue that is so vitally important to women.

Why are Women's World Cup fans still wearing Hope Solo jerseys? For The Win's Laken Litman asked fans outside of Winnipeg Stadium about their choice in wearing Hope Solo jerseys.

GALLERY: HOPE SOLO THROUGH THE YEARS

