Olympic Soccer Crowd Trolls Hope Solo With “Zika!” Chants

The Brazilian crowd booed Solo mercilessly every time she touched the ball, and towards the end of the match shouted “Zika” in unison whenever Solo kicked it upfield.

The hostile atmosphere was a not so subtle response to a couple of tweets Solo posted about the Zika virus in the weeks leading up to the tournament.

On the pitch, everything about the New Zealand match went exactly as coach Jill Ellis would have wanted, from Tobin Heath’s flawless pass to set up Carli Lloyd’s headed goal in the ninth minute, to Alex Morgan’s strike inside the left post just as the second half was opening, to the fact the Americans didn’t have to overtax themselves to get a victory with France coming in the second group game on Saturday.

It was an ideal win, but not quite an ideal night.

“The Brazilians, they love soccer”, Solo said. Solo also says scars are handsome because they show us what a person has been through in their life.

Solo had said that she would “begrudgingly” play in the Olympics, this after initially indicating that she might skip the trip to Brazil over her concerns about the mosquito-borne virus.

Hope Solo is not very popular in Brazil.

They instead considered it a mocking gesture, so fans relentlessly booed Solo throughout USWNT’s victory against New Zealand. She posted a photo of herself on Twitter wearing a protective mask and holding insect repellant. In May, she said that she would do her best to leave the team hotel only in order to practice or travel to games.