Benefield: In praise of Abby Wambach

Melanie Mathewson remembers the moment - Abby Wambach elevating above the defender, above the outstretched hands of the Brazilian goalkeeper and rocketing home the game-tying goal that would bring the U.S. back from the brink of elimination in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Women’s World Cup. With her head, of course.

Wambach timed it so beautifully and hit Megan Rapinoe’s perfect cross so hard, the noise it made when it hit the back of net sounded like it might loosen the goalposts from the turf.

The clank heard ’round the world.

“That’s when I started to follow the national team,” said Mathewson, a soccer-playing Santa Rosa High School senior.

Even if you didn’t know who Wambach was before that moment of sublime beauty, you’d never forget her after.

The moment was awesome - because of the timing (the 122nd minute, deep into overtime and on the referee’s watch when she scored), because the U.S. would have been eliminated with a loss, because they’d been playing a man down, because the Brazilians had been flopping around wasting time all game. Phenomenal.

“That magical moment just made everybody go, ‘Ah, that’s a team we want to get behind,’ because it was so remarkable; from Pinoe’s ball to Abby’s finish - it was textbook. It reached the general populace and suddenly they saw, you know, power and finesse and excitement and adrenaline and passion, all kind of encapsulated in that moment,” current head coach Jill Ellis told ESPN W.

True to Ellis’ word, Mathewson and many others, soccer players or not, point to it as their aha women’s-soccer moment. Much like Brandi Chastain’s sports bra celebration in 1999, Wambach’s last-gasp header against Brazil and the team’s ensuing win in penalties sparked a love for the game in the next generation.

And while for many 1999 was about a bra, the 2011 win was about Wambach’s strike. That’s an evolutionary advancement I’ll take. And I thank Wambach for it.

The most prolific goal scorer in international soccer - man or woman - hung up her cleats Wednesday night after the U.S. lost to China in a friendly match in New Orleans.

After 255 appearances in a national team uniform, during which she scored a record-setting 184 goals (77 with her head), and during which she also broke her nose, broke her leg, got her scalp stapled, her eyes blackened and on and on, Wambach is done. Perhaps more than her goals, Wambach’s work ethic, fiery pregame speeches and maniacal will to win will be sorely missed.

“It’s her competitiveness and her desire to win and have the U.S. be the best - I think that will be missed,” said Casa Grande’s girls’ soccer coach Vinnie Cortezzo.

For those of us who still get goosebumps watching that remarkable strike against Brazil, or the fiery way No. 20 played, the loss is real.

“I started actually watching women’s soccer pretty much 100 percent because of Abby Wambach,” said Santa Rosa sophomore Cydney Kaslar. “I just don’t know a single player who will put her head or his head on every single ball like she does.”

The U.S. Women’s National Team will have a hard time replacing Wambach. And, remarkably, not because of her goal scoring. That was clear to all Wednesday night.

Try, try, try as her teammates might, every ball sent to Wambach failed to result in a goal.

Through balls from Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath in the first half would have been run down by every single player sitting on the U.S. bench, but Wambach didn’t have the legs to chase them down. Instead, she turned to face teammates, gave the trademark smile and thumbs up to signal, “Nice ball. Next time.”

But there will be no next time. And Wambach, in her postgame interviews, said that’s OK with her. The fact that she played 72 minutes Wednesday - significantly more than she’s played in a long stretch, and more than she contributed in all but one game in this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup - all without a goal, was all the evidence she needed that baton to be passed.

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

One of the fieriest competitors in the sport went out with a grace that even as a fan I found surprising. I thought irritation over the historic defeat - the U.S. hadn’t lost at home in 104 games - would creep into the post-match interview. Nope. Or crankiness over missed chances, over not getting that storybook finish to a career she has often described that way. Nope.

Just appreciation and humility about her teammates trying to will her to score. The fact that she couldn’t was the reality portion of her storybook career. Her 35-year-old body can’t chase down those balls anymore, can’t leap to the heights it once could.

But man, when it could, it could.

And that one goal - so stunning and so utterly unbelievable that if I ever don’t get chills watching it, check my pulse, because surely I’ll be dead.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”