This is a quotes thread. If you see or hear any interesting hyperbole about our favorite Washington Freedom and USA target player, this is the place for it. From the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2003/10/02/wambach_gobbled_up_the_competition/ Susan Bickelhaupt: "Wambach looked like a fast-moving, Pac-Man character as she ran down the left flank, dived after the ball, and headed it in the direction of the goal." and http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2003/10/02/without_norwegians_it_just_wont_be_the_same/ John Powers: "Wambach, who had only eight caps when the year began, was the best player on the field by a mile. She was everywhere, hurling herself at every ball, crashing through the Norwegian underbrush like a moose run amok".
April Heinrichs, quoted from many sources: "Only the foreign players who have played in the league know what's coming. Chances are she has run over them like a Mack truck and left her license plate number on them."
Brandi Chastain, quoted in The New York Times, Oregonian, and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: “She is a mass of woman. You can’t move her very easily and once she gains position it’s almost impossible to get around her.”
Great idea for a thread, TOTC! My contribution: http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1065070233244620.xml Best quotes from the Star-Ledger article: "Abby is obviously a force, somebody they were keying on," U.S. coach April Heinrichs said. "Certainly in the air, she was dangerous all day long, in terms of the goal she scored, the balls she flicked -- but you also could see her willpower, and her fighting presence, and the competitiveness she brought to the game. I said to her after the game, that was the best game of her life. And she did it for 90 minutes." And from Wambach herself: "This is a career game for me," said Wambach, who tied for the scoring lead in the WUSA this season with her Washington Freedom teammate, Mia Hamm. "This just encapsulates that entire last couple years, working to be on this team, working to get a starting position ... to be able to play next to Mia Hamm, who might be the best player in the world, to be able to say I started against Norway, had the winning goal, and to be able to say I did it next to Mia, it doesn't get any better than that." Just remember one thing, Abby. It does get better than that -- when you do it in the semifinals and the finals, too!
From ESPN, last night: ROB STONE: "We had a lot of trouble getting weights for the players; we had to go to the FIFA website. Abby plays a lot bigger than 161, doesn't she?" HEATHER MITTS: "When she was with us at Florida, I think she was about 180, but she's in a lot better shape now."
After watching Abby Wambach plow through the Norwegian defense like a Sherman tank, after watching her crash to the ground time and again and come up with more grass stains than a 5-year-old, after watching her head out of danger a tantalizing Norwegian free kick in the 88th minute of a tight game, and, most important, after watching her smash in the game's only goal with her forehead, I came to a conclusion: I would watch Abby Wambach play any sport, anytime, anywhere. I'd watch her throw her elbows around under the basket. I'd watch her smash a softball over the outfield wall. I'd even watch her try to land a triple lutz. You watch Wambach and you have to smile. She is a magnificent force on the soccer field. She is a one-woman wrecking crew, a linebacker in a soccer jersey http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2003-10-02-brennan_x.htm
"Mother%#^%!@#. That ^!#$@. She is the only &$#@ing player that we cannot stop!!!!!!" Disgruntled Poachin_Goalz eloquantly expressing opinions during FC3. "HA HA HA!!!!!" Poachin_Goalz laughing at other coutries feeling Abby's wrath/sharing P_G's pain.
USA's bulldozer Before Wednesday's quarterfinal match, the Oslo daily Aftenposten was calling Abby the "USA's bulldozer." Stopp USAs bulldozer! Privately one of the players on Norway's National team told me over a year ago that Abby was the player that the Norwegians were the most concerned about.
Watch the women's game irregularly, but Wambach's abilities are both clear and pronounced. What was up , though, with that intentional elbow to the head of the Nigerian player earlier in the tournement? Is she known as a dirty player?
Just aggro. Not the footspeed or velocity of Akers, but very powerful. A rock. The Telefutura crew wondered if it was "mal intention", but seemed to believe that since the Nigerian player did not jump, creating an "immensa differencia physica" between the two players, that it was not a foul. Like in ice hockey, a physical difference between two players is not a reason for calling a foul.
What was up is that she was fouled six times in 20 minutes. When they are coming hard, you put the armor up. Unfortunately, the Nigerian was all over her back readjusting Abby's jersey and sportsbra. Abby's elbow was there, I don't think she threw one, but I don't think she pulled it back either. Fear the Wombat!
"I thought Brennan's column was so good I just sent her a personal complimentary note by email" Okay. But I disagree with her on the timing of the World Cup. It was the perfect time and they could not have changed it to the middle of summer after SARS had hit China. There was too little of time. And playing in China in June and July would have been worse for the players.
The original World Cup was scheduled for the Fall. That's why they didn't change it. They couldn't push it back because it would have interfered with the Olympics. They couldn't push it forward because they didn't have enough time as it was. Imagine how dismal the ratings would have been if the World Cup was still in China during this time. Games being broadcast during the middle of the night. Only loyalists would bother. During the summer would have been better, but they had their reasons.
Maybe that was the problem. The Shermans were no match for the German's Pathers and Tigers. Prehaps Abby should have been an M-10 Tank Destroyer instead. (Please, I am looking for any humor to make me feel better, I am still bumed out 2 days later!)