“We don’t have much of an offseason”, said Brian, who plays with Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League. Retiring U.S. women’s star Abby Wambach, talking on The Bill Simmons podcast, said she’d fire Klinsmann if the call were hers. To Wambach, this means the game can and will move on and grow without her. But Wambach’s achievements speak for themselves. No player was more feared by the rest of the world, her mere presence in front of the goal dictating the game plan for opposing defenses. In the best year of her 15-year national team career, Wambach scored 31 goals and added 13 assists in 33 games for the USA.
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Despite 10 people in the last two days that have come to Wambach’s hotel room crying because of her retirement, the forward has no doubt she’s making the correct decision at the right time. “She’s legendary to every single one of us…especially me”.
Abby Wambach (L) heads the ball over the defense of goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg of Germany during the semifinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on October 5, 2003 at PGE Park in Portland, Ore.
Winning a World Cup was the sole piece of unfinished business Wambach had late in her career, teammate Alex Morgan said before a training session at the Superdome on Tuesday.
Wambach has slowed down somewhat since first putting on the red, white, and blue in 2001, which is to be expected. “I sat next to a Canadian on the plane and he said to me, ‘You didn’t win that game, the referee gave it to you.’ I laughed, but I understand how he felt”.
Of the eight matches they’ve played so far on what will be a nine-game tour commemorating the World Cup victory, the Americans have won seven and drawn one while outscoring their opponents 40-2.
“You guys won the World Cup without me on the field”, Wambach recalled herself telling Ellis.
I will always appreciate your leadership in guiding and developing our very young U.S. National Team after the retirement of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, and Brandi Chastain in 2004. But she was never comfortable being the center of attention, preferring to be one of the crowd. She was named the MVP as she scored both goals, including the overtime victor with a sliding volley.
Yet before that, a celebration is in order: her final match, against a nation the us defeated 1-0 in this summer’s World Cup quarterfinals as well as 2-0 in friendly competition in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday.
For some, Wambach is still the best at what she does. “Ever. I am not going to scream it from the rooftops, but I sure want to share that moment with my better half”. Those Americans showed the country – and the rest of the world, to a degree – that it was cool for women to be strong, powerful and confident.
“If we had won the 2011 World Cup [Japan triumphed that year] and then the 2012 Olympics, I probably wouldn’t have continued playing, but because I did carry on and we won this World Cup, the minute the whistle blew in Canada I knew deep down it was time to walk away”. The standard is even higher.
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“Even when we’re playing our best anyway, we approach it like that”.
