The US Women's National Soccer Team lost to China on Wednesday night 1-0 as Abby Wambach finished her career with the team, playing in her final game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The loss was the first for the United States on home soil in over a decade, but the defeat did not stop the crowd from giving Wambach a nice send-off after a distinguished run with the team.
The 35-year-old has had a great run with the women's national team and that came to an end on Wednesday during the Victory Tour for the team. The women won the World Cup this year and after playing some easier opponents through the tour, the team had China on Wednesday and the team played hard and earned the victory against the United States in front of over 30,000 fans.
The US had not lost at home in 104 matches since back in 2004 when they lost to Denmark and the match against China was a close game, with the only goal coming from Wang Shuang in the 58th minute. China played tough defense and did not allow many scoring chances for the US and the team did not allow Wambach to finish her career with a final goal.
Wambach has had 184 goals in her international career and she now finishes with two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title to her name. Wambach has won the FIFA World Player of the Year award and has been the face of women's soccer and now she will move on and so will the national team. Wambach was able to get some chances before subbing out and she left to an ovation from the crowd in New Orleans.
In the previous game before this, the US won over China in Phoenix 2-0 and that gave Wambach what would be her final victory with the team. Wambach was the captain of the team for the final game and while the long winning streak on US soil ended for the team, Wambach said that it was the right time for her to step away.
Wambach appeared in 255 games for the national team and her 184 goals are a record in international play among men and women. Wambach came out of the game for Christen Press and Wambach called that symbolic and said that she was emotional as she left the field for the final time. Wambach will go down as one of the best athletes in US history and one of the best to play soccer and she now will continue as an ambassador of the game.
"It was very hard for me. I was very emotional after the last game. I wanted to be able to keep it together for this last game,'' said Wambach, according to ESPN.