Teammates, friends express love and admiration for retiring soccer star Abby Wambach

Before US women’s national team star Abby Wambach played her final game as a professional on Wednesday, a 1-0 loss in New Orleans to China, she had some parting words about the men’s national team and head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

“Watch out, Bourbon Street”, she added.

Although Wambach complimented both players, she implied that efforts to recruit such players came at the expense of youth player development inside the U.S.

I think that our society is pushing toward a place where we really start to look to each other as people and not put each other in these boxes.

“I want to leave a legacy where the ball keeps rolling forward”, says Abby Wambach as she bids goodbye to her inspirational soccer career.

However, Wambach has made a very final cut to her career, deleting her social media accounts after tweeting “Make them forget me“.

Wambach played into the 72nd minute, managing two threatening headers and a shot on goal from inside the penalty area before subbing out of a match for the final time.

Earlier, she had met US President Barack Obama, who called her “The Greatest of All Time”.

Asked by Bill Simmons on the B.S. Podcast about Klinsmann, Wambach said she thinks the coach should be fired, then criticized his decision to bring in players from other countries who are eligible to play for the U.S. I mean, Fabian Johnson is as good of a player as there is, maybe in the Bundesliga right now, and I love him and he’s a nice kid. “I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe in it in my heart”.

“There are now players that are better than I am that will take this game into the next decade”, Wambach continued.

It’s a (some might say overly) dramatic approach, which sees the USA soccer legend expressing a simultaneously somber and hopeful sentiment. “She’s been instrumental in the success of this team, certainly while I’ve been on board and certainly prior to that”.

“The way that he has brought in a bunch of these foreign guys is not something I believe in wholeheartedly”, she said. “That’s probably why we didn’t score, because they were so focused on trying to get me a goal”.

The career scoring leader in worldwide play – for men and women, with 184 goals- kicked off her cleats and hugged each teammate on the field before walking to the bench, smiling, to embrace her coaches and remaining teammates as the crowd chanted her name.

When Wambach recounted that story Tuesday, Ellis smiled and interjected that almost “190 goals or whatever later, I’ve been proven wrong”.