9781422275962

BEST USA PLAYERS EVER ABBY WAMBACH After Hamm’s retirement, Abby Wambach was the most dominant player in women’s soccer. Her statistics through a career that ended in 2015 are staggering. For example, Wambach shattered

Hamm’s USWNT career goal record by scoring 184 international goals, which is by far the top total for either men or women. Wambach won two Olympic gold medals and scored the gold- medal-winning goal in the 2004 games. And in 2011, she scored a blazing equalizer in the FIFA Women’s World

Abby Wambach celebrates the USWNT victory in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup at a parade in New York City.

Cup quarterfinal against Brazil. This win not only helped the team advance to the finals, but also returned them to global prominence. In 2015, she finally achieved her lifelong goal of winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup championship. When Wambach retired in 2015, she had scored the seventh-most career goals by way of the header, with seventy-seven goals. Her dynamic flair for the header made her one of its best users. For example, Wambach’s 2004 gold-medal-winning goal was a header, as was her goal against Brazil in the 2011 World Cup. Few players are able to score so often in such a dramatic way.

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