Thursday, June 20, 2013, sports history was made. Most people in the Untied States would say, "that's the re-Heat-repeat happened! The Miami Heat won the NBA championship!" They'd be both right and wrong. In about year from now, the NBA will hand out the championship trophy again, but the other historical sports event took a lifetime to achieve, and it will be decades until it happens again. On Thursday, June 20th, Abby Wambach stopping chasing Mia Hamm's international goal scoring title and put daylight behind it.
In a friendly match versus South Korea, Wambach found the back of the twine four times. In front of her parents at Red Bull Arena, she pulled within one goal of Mia Hamm's record of 158 goals. She then tied Mia. Then she passed Mia, and then she added daylight. Abby Wambach scored four goals in the first 45 minutes of play to set the women's international goal scoring record at 160. But Abby's not done yet. She's still lacing up her boots, and that record is going to climb.
It's Wambach's tenacity in the air, her ability to turn under pressure, and the will to win no matter what the cost is what's led to this amazing feat. Her ability to find space, despite being double and often triple-teamed, is unprecedented. Set-piece plays make her a double threat because the amount of attention she draws from the opponent. If Abby can't win the ball in the air off the set-piece play, the entourage she draws opens up room for the other offensive threats on the field, such as Alex Morgan or Sydney Leroux, to find space and make a play.
The USWNT is an offensive juggernaut. With the likes of Morgan, Rapinoe, Cheney, and Leroux serving the balls into the box, you can bet that Wambach's head or foot will be on the end of them, and the goals will continue to fly in for the years to come.
Congratulations Abby for turning #chasingmia into #chasingabby
160...
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