LONDON — If there was anything that was going to derail the U.S. women’s soccer team from winning Olympic gold and avenging that World Cup final loss to Japan that had been gnawing at its cleats for the last year it might have been its loquacious goalkeeper.
Hope Solo had some awkward moments in these Olympics. She said some things that should have embarrassed her and could have distracted her teammates.
But in the end, when it counted most, Solo was there for her teammates. She was the last line of defense in a furious, desperate onslaught by Japan in last night’s 2-1 gold-medal victory before 80,205 at Wembley Stadium.
With the gold medal swinging teasingly like a pendulum in front of the American players with some eight minutes remaining, all that stood between Japan forward Mana Iwabuchi and Solo was air.
With the U.S. leading 2-1 in the 83rd minute, Iwabuchi had stolen the ball from U.S. defender Christie Rampone, made a move toward Solo, who was naked in front of her goal, and unleashed a stinging shot.
Solo, leaping to her left and looking like a character in one of those Transformer movies, punched the ball away and punched the Japanese in their gut.
With that one beautiful SportsCenter highlight moment, Solo’s thin-skinned Twitter war rip of former U.S. soccer star Brandi Chastain for some TV commentary criticism was long forgotten.
When Solo batted away that shot — Japan’s last real chance at tying the match and sending it to extra time — the classless comments she made about how the U.S. “made’’ Canadian star Christine Sinclair “look good’’ after Sinclair scored a hat trick on the Americans in the semifinal match were dust in the wind.
“Honestly,’’ Alex Morgan said, “she saved us.’’
Solo called the Olympics “A strange tournament for a goalkeeper,’’ referring to giving up the two early goals against France in the first game and the three to Canada.
“I was hoping my time would come,’’ she said. “I wanted to make an impact in the game. Usually, in every tournament in my experience there’s one game where you have to make an impact. I was hoping it would come tonight and I had a feeling it would.’’
It did.
Though she made an acrobatic save on Japan’s Yuki Ogimi in the first half, reaching up and ticking the ball up off the crossbar, the true impact moment came in that 83rd minute.
“I knew I had to find a way to make the save,’’ Solo said.
“Hope was absolutely amazing,’’ Megan Rapinoe said. “That’s the best game I’ve seen her play in a long time. Every time Japan took a shot, she was right there. I don’t know how she did it. She’s one of the heartbeats of the team. She’s the best keeper in the world.
“She backs her words up. She does do a lot of talking, but that’s who she is and we’ve accepted that and we’re glad she’s on our team, because she backs up everything she says.’’
Solo defiantly said, “I don’t care how people perceive me. I am who I am and I’m here to win. It’s not always pretty. But I think I tend to play well under pressure.’’
That was the understatement, not of the night, but of these Olympics.
“Hope was big-time,’’ Carli Lloyd, who scored both U.S. goals, said. “She’s the best goaltender on the planet. Hope showed that she comes up with her biggest saves at the biggest moment. Having Hope Solo back there, she will save the day and that’s exactly what she did.’’
Solo didn’t just save the day, she saved the gold medal.