America at Large: US women’s soccer icon has already changed world

After the final whistle sounded in last summer's women's World Cup final, as the United States celebrated its 5-2 victory over Japan, Abby Wambach ran towards the stands.

The oldest player on the American team at 35, the holder of the world record for goals scored in international matches, she reached up to embrace her wife Sarah Huffman. Wearing matching Wambach number 20 shirts, the couple kissed, the stadium cheered and the symbolism of the moment was lost on nobody.

Just over a week had passed since the United States Supreme Court legalised gay marriage across the nation, and here was the most iconic female footballer of her generation enjoying the crowning moment of her sporting life in the arms of the woman she loves. After 184 goals in 253 international appearances, two Olympic golds and, finally, a World Cup winner's medal, that tender moment witnessed by the largest American television audience ever to watch a soccer match may have been as significant as any other in Wambach's illustrious career.

"Abby said that she wanted her final World Cup to be like a fairytale," said President Barack Obama last month. "And I'm not sure she could have written a better ending: a world champion at last, draped in the Stars and Stripes, showing us all how far we've come – on and off the field."

Obama was speaking at the White House during a reception for the team, at which he also mocked the notoriously loud Wambach for what he called her “not-so- quiet dominance”. The same day, US Soccer announced that a friendly against China in the New Orleans Superdome on December 16th will mark her final cap before retirement.

Having made her international debut in 2001, a time when women’s soccer still didn’t even have Under-17 or Under-20 World Cups, she’ll take her bow in the final fixture of a 10-game victory tour that has taken the squad all over the country since their heroics captured the national imagination back in July.

The extent of that itinerary illustrates again how America may be the only place where several members of the women’s team are not just household names, but arguably enjoy greater fame than many of their male counterparts. The protracted send-off is fitting and deserved because, while there have been more talented individuals than Wambach, she will be remembered as one of those who found her best form in the biggest games against the toughest opponents.

Intangible

“I know some people roll their eyes at the word ‘intangible’,” wrote her team-mate Megan Rapinoe. “They want every athlete to be broken down into perfect metrics: Here’s how fast she can run, here’s how high she can jump, here’s how hard she can kick a ball. Maybe those are good measurements of a player during a nice, friendly training session on a sunny day. But when you’re down by a goal in a World Cup and you look at the clock ticking away in the final minutes, a lot of players simply shrink. They hide. That’s the time when you need an Abby Wambach.”

For casual fans, her legend was forged in the 122nd minute of the 2011 World Cup quarter-final against a Brazil side containing the great Marta. Having played nearly an hour down to 10 women, USA was trailing 2-1 when Wambach rose to meet a Rapinoe cross at the far post; an equaliser that underlined her status as the best header of a ball the women’s game has seen, a title she’ll hardly relinquish to an American given that use of the head is now banned or restricted for players 13 and under here.

USA won the subsequent penalty shoot-out, and even though Japan defeated them in the final, Rapinoe and others believe this summer’s triumph had its roots in that remarkable comeback against Brazil.

For all the media frenzy every time the women’s team contends at an Olympics or World Cup (which, to be fair, they do every four years), Wambach has spoken of a desire to improve the sport in America. There is work to be done. Some full-time professionals in the National Women’s Soccer League earn less than $7,000 for a six-month season. That this is the third attempt at a distaff competition in just over a decade points up the difficulties in creating a viable entity that also pays properly – the highest earners in these clubs are on $37,800.

If anybody can make a positive impact, it’s Wambach. In 2008, she broke her leg in two places in a friendly against Brazil in San Diego, an injury she knew immediately was going to put her out of the Beijing Olympics. As the ambulance took her from Torero Stadium to the hospital, she found her phone and called Lauren Cheney, a 20-year-old striker who’d earlier been cut from the party set to travel to China.

“I’m hurt,” said Wambach. “We need you to fill my spot.”

Huge contribution

That type of character explains why, though her waning physical powers restricted her to mostly coming off the bench in the last major tournament of her career, she still contributed hugely. What other substitute would be on the field at half-time in the centre of a huddle with the starting XI gathered around her, hanging on her every profane word?

“I want to change the world,” said Wambach the other day.

In many ways, she already has.