Solo joins race for US Soccer Federation president

LOS ANGELES, California: Former US women’s national team goalkeeper Hope Solo joined the crowded race for the US Soccer Federation presidency on Thursday.

Solo, 36, announced her candidacy with a post on Facebook titled “Why I’m running for President of U.S. Soccer”.Solo, a World Cup winner and two-time Olympic champion, last played for the USA at the 2016 Olympics.

After that tournament she was suspended for six months by US Soccer for calling Sweden, the United States’ quarter-final opponents, “cowards”.

She becomes the ninth candidate, and the second woman to voice interest in running, after Soccer United Marketing president Kathy Carter declared her candidacy on Tuesday.Solo, like all the other candidates, has until next Tuesday, December 12, to get the three nominations from delegates required to officially join the field.The election comes in the wake of the United States’ humiliating failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.