After the U.S. women’s national soccer team lost a Rio 2016 shootout to Sweden, a game that ended 1-1 in regulation, goalkeeper Hope Solo was not in a diplomatic mood. She rarely is after losing, God bless her.

The Swedes got an early lead, then sat back and absorbed pressure, and when they conceded the tying goal they did not seem particularly interested in winning the game, apparently content to take their chances in the lottery that is “penalty kicks”. And they won the lottery.

Solo said the Swedes had played “like a bunch of cowards”.

Which may not have been Miss Manners levels of sweetness and light, but was at the least a fair comment. Solo called it as she saw it, as she so often does.

The U.S. Soccer Federation, however, has treated the “coward” talk with the same sort of blunt condemnation of a failed drug test, today announcing a six-month suspension for the colorful ‘keeper.

Which is a bunch of bull. (Or is that phrase poor sportsmanship, too, U.S. women’s style?)

What is astonishing is how key U.S. women’s players (past and present) seemed to be calling for some sort of punishment, though not even Julie Foudy (now a talking head who seems to disapprove of Solo’s truthy-ness) or Rio 2016 teammate Megan Rapinoe may have anticipated the draconian punishment handed down by federation president Sunil Gulati.

This is ridiculous.

Let’s recap.

Here is Solo shortly after the quarterfinal defeat to the Swedes.

“I thought we played a courageous game. I thought we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team. And I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today, I strongly, firmly believe that.”

She added: “They didn’t want to open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball. They didn’t want to play great soccer. It was a combative game, a physical game … And they tried to counter with long balls …

“I don’t think they’re going to make it far in the tournament. I think it was very cowardly. But they won, they’re moving on and we’re going home.”

Foudy decided it was “ridiculous and classless” for Solo to say what she did. Rapinoe told NBC she was “really disappointed, to be honest,” in Solo, adding: “That’s not our team, that’s not what this team has always been, that’s not what this team will be in the future.”

So a week later, Gulati dropped the hammer on Solo, and this is what the man who hired Jurgen Klinsmann had to say about bad judgment:

“The comments by Hope Solo after the match against Sweden during the 2016 Olympics were unacceptable and do not meet the standard of conduct we require from our national team players. Beyond the athletic arena, and beyond the results, the Olympics celebrate and represent the ideals of fair play and respect. We expect all of our representatives to honor those principles, with no exceptions.”

Gulati continued: “Taking into consideration the past incidents involving Hope, as well as the private conversations we’ve had requiring her to conduct herself in a manner befitting a U.S. national team member, U.S. Soccer determined this is the appropriate disciplinary action.”

Which is bull, as I may have mentioned. U.S. swimmers were dropping broad comments suggesting that drug cheats didn’t deserve a place in Rio, but you didn’t see U.S. Swimming suspending any of them.

Solo’s response to the suspension? In part, she wrote:

“I could not be the player I am without being the person I am, even when I haven’t made the best choices or said the right things. My entire career, I have only wanted the best for this team, for the players and the women’s game and I will continue to pursue these causes with the same unrelenting passion with which I play the game.”

That is not an apology, and good for her.

Solo had created some tension ahead of Rio 2016 with a social-media post suggesting she was taking a large kit of anti-mosquito equipment/medication to combat the Zika virus, which earned her the verbal abuse of Brazilian crowds. That is their right; it should not have affected the U.S. team.

She also has some brushes with the law in her past, and she famously trashed the U.S. coach, at the 2007 Women’s World Cup, Greg Ryan, for playing her up to the semifinals of the tournament — right up to when Ryan had the horrible idea of replacing Solo with the semi-fossilized Briana Scurry, who was beaten like a drum in a 4-0 defeat against Brazil.

(Here is a very interesting take, from Solo’s perspective in 2012, on how she was treated by her teammates in the hours after that match, particularly the “older” players who seemed to be convinced Solo had breached some sort of long-held U.S. women’s soccer protocol by calling out an idiot coach. “I was told that I had, in their opinion, basically committed treason.” Senior players said Solo needed to apologize to Foudy — who was not on that team. Just weird.)

Rich Nichols, executive director of the U.S. Women’s National Team players association, in an interview with Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, suggested Gulati was trampling Solo’s constitutional rights while at the same time holding her to a level of conduct not equal to that afforded those in the men’s side of the game.

“We have been notified by the U.S. Soccer Association of the suspension and termination of Hope Solo’s contract. Given the cited conduct and the alleged policy violation, we believe the proposed discipline to be excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate and a violation of Ms. Solo’s First Amendment rights.

“We also question whether this action ever would have been taken against a male player or coach who, in the heated moments after a frustrating defeat, questioned the tactics of the opposing team.

“Needless to say, we will file an appeal of Ms. Solo’s behalf.”

Excellent points. Elite male soccer players behave badly on levels never plumbed by Hope Solo and continue on in their jobs. (I seem to recall Alexi Lalas trashing Steve Sampson during the 1998 World Cup.)

And, hey, doesn’t the First Amendment allow Hope Solo to express an opinion? Or is that not allowed in Queen Foudy’s group-think realm?

Hope Solo is the most interesting and probably most honest player on the women’s team. She also has 17 years, as she noted, of performing to her best level for the U.S. national team.

Solo is 35. Maybe she has another World Cup and Olympics in her. If she is allowed to play. Or maybe she does not.

U.S. soccer officials should think long and hard about casting off the greatest goalkeeper in the history of women’s soccer — more victories, more shutouts than anyone else. As well as the one player the average sports fan can name from their team.

But it comes down to this: The punishment does not fit the so-called crime. If that is how U.S. soccer treats women’s players who dare to say something provocative … maybe a thoughtful player would not want to play for that team.