U.S. rematch vs. Brazil is new chance for Hope Solo

Goalkeeper Hope Solo, center, has reconnected with teammates since a falling-out at the World Cup last year.
Hope Solo was in doping control when she heard the news. Brazil had thumped Germany 4-1 and would be playing the United States in the Olympic gold-medal game.
She let out a cheer that echoed off the walls like a gun shot.
Solo was back.
This was the match she had waited 11 months to play. The match her coach had taken from her at the World Cup. This was the opponent she wanted to face. Eleven months ago her soccer career had fallen apart in China. Now everything was falling back into place in China.
After midnight, Solo, the former Washington star from Richland, patiently answered questions for almost 15 minutes after her team's 4-2 win over Japan in the semifinals. Then after most of the reporters left, she relaxed briefly and opened herself up just a little more.
"I didn't see myself back here months and months ago," Solo said barely above a whisper. "I don't know. I talked to my family about it. I can't believe I made it back.
"I was in no shape to go forward months ago, but it feels good after everything that's happened. It's amazing to get this chance to play against Brazil again."
Solo will get the chance that former U.S. coach Greg Ryan denied her in the 2007 when he benched her in favor of veteran Brianna Scurry in the World Cup semifinal against Brazil. The U.S. lost that game 4-0 and an angry Solo said she would have made the saves Scurry didn't, if she had been the keeper.
After those comments, Solo was ostracized. She wasn't allowed to sit on the bench for the team's third-place win. She wasn't allowed to eat meals with the team. She practically was under house arrest in China.
But Ryan was fired, and Pia Sundhage replaced him and returned the job of goalkeeping to Solo.
Truth, justice and talent have won out. Solo has faced down her fears and her critics. She has found something deep within herself that has allowed her to overcome.
"I feel great right now," she said. "I feel great with my teammates. I've never been that player that's been overly close with my teammates, just because we're all so busy.
"And I'm 27 years old. We have our lives at home. I have my good support system back at home. You come in here and you're as close as you need to be to get the job done. But I feel great right now. And I feel great with my teammates."
Maybe she still hasn't found that soccer sisterhood that was so much a part of previous women's Olympic teams, but Solo has found peace.
There is a mutual respect. An understanding that everything that happened in this country 11 months ago is ancient history. All that matters is the gold-medal game against the Brazilians on Thursday.
"It will be nice to get some revenge, I guess," Solo said. "It has nothing to do with those shots [that Scurry allowed]. That was 11 months ago. I don't think it's a personal thing any more. I think it's our team wanting to reclaim what we could have gotten at the World Cup. It has nothing to do with anything personal right now."
Solo was playing some of the best soccer of her life when she was yanked out of the lineup by Ryan. She was undefeated and hadn't allowed a goal in almost 300 minutes.
That Brazilian game should have been hers, and even though she says this gold-medal game won't be personal, it will be.
"I think it would be nice to play Brazil because you always want to reclaim what you could have had," she said. "But if they hadn't made it to the final, I still would have been happy, because we did what we needed to do to get here."
After an opening-game loss to Norway, the U.S. has blown through the field. This team doesn't have the glitter or the names of the past U.S. team — no Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy or Brandi Chastain.
With scorer Abby Wambach out with a broken leg, Solo is its only recognizable player.
"I think one of the most amazing things with our team is that we don't have that big-name player," she said. "People don't really know us, and I think our team is finding so much energy with that.
"We have numerous people scoring goals. We have numerous people stepping up. But for us, we like it that we don't have a big-name player. We have new faces. Everything feels fresh. It's like we're making our own statement. Writing our own script."
Brazil has been a metaphor for all of the injustice Solo has faced in the past 11 months. Brazil has meant despair. Now, in Thursday's gold-medal game, she will be given the chance to change the meaning of that metaphor.
Brazil can mean hope for Solo.