Wambach, who helped the USA win the World Cup in July, has scored more goals than any male and female player in global football history with 184 goals in 255 matches.
Advertisement
Abby Wambach hugs forward Alex Morgan, facing, during a ceremony honoring her, before an worldwide friendly soccer match against China in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
“But I just think that this experiment that U.S. Soccer has given Jurgen isn’t one that personally I’m into”.
The USWNT lost, 1-0, and Abby didn’t score, but it was strangely fiiting for her recent history with the team. “It doesn’t mean you’re not going to try as hard and you’re not professional, but when you really feel it, when you hear the national anthem and you get goosebumps and your blood starts pumping because you’re proud to be an American and you love this country, that’s a much different feeling than ‘OK, I’m playing for a national team in a significant, exciting game'”.
In a podcast inverview with Bill Simmons, the worldwide women’s leading goal-scorer said she’d fire Klinsmann, and that the men’s team has too many large egos to be successful. “Sorry [U.S. Soccer chief] Sunil [Gulati], sorry U.S. Soccer, but I don’t think Jurgen and this litmus test on him has worked”. Wambach retired from worldwide competition after the game.
I’ve felt pride for Rochester-native Abby Wambach for a long time.
FC’s Julie Foudy talks about Abby Wambach’s controversial comments about Jurgen Klinsmann and foreign players on the national team.
“You guys won the World Cup without me on the field”, Wambach recalled herself telling Ellis. I didn’t play very many minutes, and that’s a good thing, because evolutionarily speaking, that’s the way I’ve wanted this game to go. And their reward came in the 58th minute, when Shuang volleyed a cross from the right by Wang Shanshan past American goalkeeper Hope Solo to put China up 1-0, stunning the US and their fans.
Lindsey Horan nearly had the equalizer in the 87th minute for the United States but the Americans were called offside and the frenzied Superdome crowd reigned down on the field with boos. “My family, my friends, you guys are up in the suites, I wish I was there right now”.
In a career spanning 14 years, the 35-year-old has amassed two Olympic gold medals, one World Cup, a FIFA World Player of the Year award and six U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year crowns.
The U.S. threw numbers forward after that, but could not get the equalizer. Wednesday was one last chance to watch a player unlike any we’ve ever seen, give our goodbyes and reflect on the greatness she brought soccer in America. “Yeah, I dream of that for our men’s team, I really do”. “They’ve also motivated me and challenged me to be a better person off the field and I think that’s something that I value the most”.
Advertisement
The U.S. had gone 104 home games without losing since falling to Denmark in 2004.
