American Great Abby Wambach Announces This Will Be Her Last World Cup

Image courtesy of Zimbio

Having surpassed Mia Hamm almost two years ago to the day as the all-time American leader (male or female) in international goals, on Sunday 35-year-old superstar forward Abby Wambach announced formally that the current Women’s World Cup will be the last of her career.

Given her age, Wambach’s decision didn’t come as much of a surprise, not that the timing of the announcement wasn’t without drama. Although the U.S. was heavily favored going into their Monday matchup against Colombia, the bad blood between the two teams made many wonder if the Americans would be upset.

Team USA ended up winning easily 2-0, but it must have been emotional for Wambach, who was obviously hoping (if not counting) on more than 24 hours between her announcement and her retirement from World Cup competition. Making the timing a bit curious.

Perhaps Wambach was hoping her news would inspire her teammates, rather than distract them, which may very well have been the case. After a scoreless first half, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd both scored to give them the win. But Wambach missed on a penalty kick early, which immediately had tweeters tweeting.

It’s very clear that the American legend is passed her prime, but that doesn’t mean she’s no longer an asset to the U.S. team, and won’t remain so for the foreseeable future. Wambach is currently expected to compete with Team USA at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Although the odds of Team USA winning the World Cup and Olympic gold in consecutive years are probably slim to none, what a way for Wambach to go if it did happen. The perfect end to the best career in the history of American soccer.