The Official Site of Abby Wambach

Tue, May 19th 2009, 14:48

Abby's Back from Her 'Break'

If you were in the stadium or watching on TV, it was not a scene you will soon forget. U.S. forward Abby Wambach twisted awkwardly on the turf after a thunderous collision with Brazilian defender Andreia Rosa during the USA’s final Olympic tune-up match on July 16, 2008.

Any Wambach fan knows the U.S. forward has taken more than a tumble or two during her career. When Wambach is playing, bodies always seem to be flying and collisions just seem to gravitate toward her, whether initiated by frustrated defenders or by Wambach herself. But she has always risen to her feet, adjusted her jersey and gotten back to work.

This time it was different. You could sense something was seriously wrong.

A strange hush came over the crowd at Torero Stadium in San Diego. Fans put their heads in their hands. Her teammates were visibly shaken. Medical personnel rushed out to the field.

It soon became clear that everyone’s worst fears had been realized. Wambach had broken the two major bones in her lower left leg. Tibia and fibula, snapped’em both. The leg was immobilized, and she was wheeled off the field and into a waiting ambulance that rushed her to the hospital.

Her Olympics were over.

Strangely, the two people in the stadium who seemed most at ease during those tense moments were the two people who are probably most happy to see Wambach back in a national team jersey.

That would be U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage, and Wambach herself.

Sundhage, sensing the potential psychological blow to a team that had just lost its top scorer and emotional leader to a gruesome injury, knew that her body language would speak volumes. She knew that in order to win a gold medal, the team would have to move on … and fast. While she felt extreme empathy for her fallen star, she realized that in order to have success in China, the U.S. would have to look immediately forward and not be bogged down with the “what ifs” of the past. Sundhage was calm and collected, sending on Angela Hucles for Wambach and later inserting Natasha Kai while urging her team to a 1-0 win on a header with five minutes left from the Flyin’ Hawaiian.

“Pia and I have a special relationship,” said Wambach, just days after surgery to insert a titanium rod in her leg. “Off the field is more important than on the field. I think she felt for me on a personal level, aside from being the head coach of my team, that she was just upset for me. It was so honest and so truthful. [She came to my house] and we sat and talked for a while. She’s a realistic person. She knows that it was an accident that may never be explained. You just have to live with it and deal with it. She is great. She isn’t going to feel sorry for me but she sure feels for me. I appreciate that.”

Now, 10 months after the injury, Sundhage will get her star striker back as the USA faces Canada on May 25 at BMO Field in Toronto. The match will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel at 7 p.m. ET.

“I am very happy to have Abby back. It is wonderful,” said Sundhage. “Abby is a character and a great person to have in a team. On the field, she has a heading presence that is world class and she is a threat from anywhere, with both feet, with her head, inside the penalty area and outside. She will make a difference for our team. She has always been a winner, but the fact that she got injured 55 minutes before the Olympics is a guarantee that she will do her best every day because she wants the gold in the World Cup in two years.”

One of the more remarkable facets of the groundswell of support after Wambach’s injury was the collective amazement at how calm she was on that infamous evening. How she kept a serene look on her face. How she gave a thumbs up sign to the crowd as she was wheeled off the field on a gurney, the worst way for any athlete to leave a field.

“I realized and accepted in that moment that my Olympic dreams were not going to be what I had planned,” said Wambach a few days after the injury. “This was a deep down acceptance of my reality. A lot of the times when you freak out about stuff, it’s when you are more unsure of reality. It was an all-encompassing moment. I wasn’t freaked out.

“A lot has to do with my experience with this team and my competitiveness. I surely didn’t want to affect the competitiveness on the field. I know what it takes to win a gold medal, and I know that one person isn’t going to be the answer. I wanted to set the example for my teammates, for them to see on my face, that whether or not I’m on the field, no matter who we’re playing, that we can win on any given day. I guess I am proud of the way I reacted because it was truly the way I felt. I was only scared because I had never experienced that before or ridden in an ambulance. The most important thing at that moment was winning the game and showing my teammates by example that they have to lean on each other a little bit more to get that gold medal.”

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