Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: the a guarantee from the goalkeeper.
Hope Solo joined Dave "Softy" Mahler from KJR in Seattle to talk about whether or not she realizes how big the win was for the United States, how tough it will be stay focused on the remaining two games following such an incredible win, if she lost confidence after Brazil scored their second goal, overcoming what happened in 2007, and how tough it was for her to stay composed throughout the game with the poor officiating.
Whether or not she realized the magnitude of the win:
"I don't think we realized the magnitude of it until the day after. I'm starting to get told that LeBron James started tweeting about it and Tom Hanks. It's the NBA, it's the NFL, it's the celebrity fans, and it's all over the place. We had no idea. We're just taking care of business here in Germany and trying to get the job done. We have two more games to do it so for us it's getting control of our emotions and trying not to just remain in yesterday. We have to move forward."
On trying to move on after such an amazing win:
"I don't want to forget it. That was a moment in history. Never has that happened. Coming from behind, coming back from a man down, all the controversial calls, the officiating, the highs, the lows, and that's a moment that I never want to forget. I can tell you I took a moment to myself before the penalty kicks and I sat on the field and I took every aspect of what was going on around me. I just took it in, locked it in, and I will never forget that moment."
If she still believed to the very end that they could beat Brazil:
"I would've believed it. (Host: Come on!) I'm not lying to you. You know I'm as real as you're gonna find out there, but I'm not lying to you. I wasn't kidding myself. I knew that it may not be our destiny to win, I knew the clock was winding down, and I thought maybe it was not our time, but I did know that we were the best team out there and I did know that not one player lacked the confidence and the drive to find a way to win. Of course I knew that we were coming to the end of that third minute of stoppage time, but we were pushing. We were throwing people at the goal, we were throwing the ball into the six yard box, and doing everything we could to get Abby (Wambach) at the end of one of those crosses."
On moving on from what happened in 2007 and living in the moment:
"Absolutely. Everybody knows four years ago, everything that happened in 2007, I didn't get to enjoy the process, enjoy every step, enjoy the moment, enjoy the crowd, and enjoy that emotional side of the game and that was because I was grieving, I was grieving the loss of my father. You fast forward four years later and I took a moment to enjoy everything around me. The crowd, the energy in the stadium to see how far along women's soccer, women's sports has come, and you felt it. It's going to continue to grow and be even that much bigger way past my time. I feel like a part of it and it was a bigger moment than I could ever explain here on the phone with you but I had my moment and I enjoyed the process."
On keeping her emotions in check despite some poor officiating:
"I play with emotions. I play with intensity and passion. That can be a faulty line because it can go one of two ways. You can get too involved with the emotion of the game and not play, not continue your focus and not play to the best of your ability or you can manage those emotions. I found myself extremely overwhelmed with anger towards the ref, towards the Brazilians, the players, their antics, and their unsportsmanship. I found myself just incredibly angered, but I knew there was still a way to win this so I did everything I could to manage my emotions, to stay focused, to stay in the zone, and that's what I was able to do."
On her desire going beyond just the field:
"My entire career has been about playing for my family, playing to prove people wrong, playing for the little town of Richland, and I play for much more reasons than the game alone. Of course personally it's going to mean everything to me, to my family, to all the people that have supported my career along the way. With that said, this team, it's been 12 years since we brought the World Cup home. There's something special about this team and I do believe that this is the team to do it. We want to write our own storyline and we want to write our own destiny. To be honest we're tired of hearing about '99. It's time for a new team to come in here and make history."
Thanks Hope. Good luck.
"Alright we'll be bringing home the Cup guys."
This post, written by Chris Fedor, appears courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews. For the complete highlights of the interview, as well as audio, click here.
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