China spoils soccer legend Abby Wambach’s farewell match at the Superdome

“I just want to hang out with Mom and Dad”, says Wambach.

And Abby appears ready to use her boisterous voice in new ways: as an advocate for gender equality in the sport. That gave the United States several chances but Lina kept her goal clean. “It’s going to be a fun night”. In her time with the United States, she’s won virtually everything a player can win, including two Olympic gold medals and the 2012 FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, an honor that she and Mia Hamm are the only Americans to receive.

But as ESPN reports, her harshest words were for Klinsmann, the German football manager and former player who is now head coach of the US men’s national soccer team.

That is why having a send-off game now, she said, was “not just the right thing for my friends, family and fans, but also for my teammates and myself and the coaches”. Carli Lloyd then went gangbusters as the U.S. defeated Japan 5-2 to win the World Cup, with Wambach a 79th minute substitute long after the game had been decided.

Wambach formally announced her retirement at the end of October of this year. Solo saved one and watched the other from Shuang rattle her net.

She added: “I think this experiment that U.S. Soccer has given Jurgen isn’t one that personally I’m into”.

She questioned whether enough young American players were coming through the US soccer system and whether Jermaine Jones and Fabian Johnson, who were born in Germany, should have been picked to play for the USMNT. Alex Morgan, who was subbed out in the 44th minute, had Wambach’s arm draped on her shoulders as she walked off the field. Since every time the United States attempted to move the ball around the danger area, there were at least five to six defenders to stop the buildup. Klinsmann has been under pressure lately despite a strong U.S. run to the knockout stages at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

And you know what the best part is? “Everybody needs to get that in their head”.

Wambach says that her body just won’t let her play like a champion anymore and that running and playing in the game of soccer is harder than it used to be. “I don’t believe in it”.

“I wouldn’t feel as good about it if we had a team full of players that didn’t really grow up or didn’t really identify as being American”, Donovan said.

She even apologized to US Soccer president Sunil Gulati for remarks on a podcast blasting Klinsmann, the man charged with getting the US men to the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation.

A sports great is calling it quits tonight.

The U.S. threw numbers forward after that, but could not get the equalizer. Teammates made obvious attempts to feed Wambach the ball.

Wambach got her 10th start of the year in her send-off game and also was designated the captain. “Today was about celebrating a long career and nearly the end of an era”.