Hope Solo

Hope Solo's latest field concerns add to USWNT labor issues

Published Mar. 9, 2016 1:45 p.m. ET

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Hope Solo is unhappy with the pitch the United States will play on when they take on Germany in the final match of the SheBelieves Cup. The goalkeeper took to Twitter to complain about the playing surface at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fl. in the latest chapter of the national team's ongoing labor issues with U.S. Soccer.

The national team has long been upset with being forced to play on artificial turf and that came to a head last year when the entire 2015 Women's World Cup was played on artificial surfaces. A group of players filed suit in Canadian court citing discrimination because the men have never been asked to play on anything besdies natural grass. That U.S. Soccer then scheduled a Victory Tour for the second half of 2015 with many of the matches on turf only angered the players further. That frustration boiled over when they refused to play a scheduled match in Hawaii because of the field conditions.

The surface at FAU Stadium is grass, but Solo felt it wasn't fit for the national team, especially against a fellow world powerhouse like Germany.

So far in 2016, the U.S. women have played exclusively on grass. That included a friendly to open the year, all of Olympic qualifying and the SheBelieves Cup.

The U.S. men have played at FAU Stadium before, taking on Honduras there in 2014.

Solo's criticism comes in the midst of labor tension between the national team players and the federation. The two sides are currently governed by a memorandum of understanding agreed to in 2013, and set to expire at the end the year, but the players have challenged the validity of the agreement.

U.S. Soccer filed a lawsuit in federal court to have the memorandum of understanding declared a binding contract to remain in place through 2016. If the courts find in favor of the federation, the players will not be able to negotiatite a new labor deal until after the end of the year and would not be able to strike, potentially ahead of this summer's Olympics.

Playing surfaces have been a key point of contention for the players and it appears they intend to push for more than a guarantee they play exclusively on grass going forward. That, as well as many other things will certainly be part of their talks with U.S. Soccer when they work on a new labor deal, whenever that may be.

The players aren't going to be silent about their grievances either. They will go public, as they have for the better part of the year, in an effort to make the public aware of what they believe is unfair treatment on the part of U.S. Soccer and world soccer as a whole.

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