I never felt the same passion for the game in the States and there were a lot of headaches, a lot of obstacles to overcome - it didn't just run itself for the love of the game because soccer is not the No. 1 sport as it is in Europe.
Hope SoloMy father was never around. But I glorified my father, and I was always daddy's little girl. He was my first soccer coach.
Hope SoloIt was hard. I came to grips with a lot of difficulties that I've overcome. Each challenge kind of makes you who you are. It wasn't always a good thing. I have my own struggles in my life because of the things I was forced to overcome.
Hope SoloIt took putting one foot in front of the other every single day to get through it to the point where I made it back on the team and won a gold medal in 2008.
Hope SoloWith each year that's gone by, and as I grow up and get older, I've become more mature, of course, but you have a sense of who you are, and you find confidence in that.
Hope SoloMy father showed me so much love. He showed my brother so much love. He just, he had a rough life. You know, he grew up in a boys home in the Bronx. He didn't really know his own family. So I couldn't hold it against him that he didn't know how to parent. He didn't know how to be the perfect husband. But he loved as much as he could.
Hope Solo