Column: Wambach aims to help U.S. soccer team deliver gold

By Scott Pitoniak

Gannett News Service

THESSALONIKI, Greece - Nike - the jillion-dollar sneaker empire, not the Greek goddess of victory - approached Abby Wambach before the Olympics about wearing gold soccer cleats.

She was all for the idea.

"They came up with the special color in hopes we'd play for a gold medal,'' Wambach said.

The former All-American at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Rochester, N.Y., was asked if Nike also produced bronze and silver ones, you know, just in case.

She smiled.

"It all depends how we do,'' Wambach said, eliciting laughter from reporters following her winning goal in the United States 2-1 victory against the Japanese in the Olympic quarterfinals Friday night.

Five matches into these Games, the woman with the golden shoes continues her emergence as the golden girl of U.S. soccer.

Wambach has a team-leading three goals and 17 in her last 18 international matches. She already is 10th on the United States' women's all-time scoring list.

Yes, these Olympics are a swan song for Mia Hamm and the other members of the Fab Five who put women's soccer on the map.

But there's also another dynamic at work here - the changing of the guard.

Wambach, 24, has positioned herself to receive the torch from Hamm, to become the leader of the next generation, to help the Americans re-establish themselves as the powerhouse of women's soccer.

That spot currently belongs to Germany, which wrested it from the United States at the 2003 World Cup.

The two tangle again in the Olympic semifinals Monday night on the Isle of Crete. If this match is anything like the last one, we could be in for an epic. The Germans beat the United States, 3-0, in the Cup championship game in Carson City, Calif., but the score was misleading. The match was 1-nil until the United States replaced defenders with strikers toward the end and the Germans scored two easy goals.

Revenge clearly is on Wambach's mind. A year later the pain from that loss remains a motivation.

"Every single game I've played in I've made sure I don't forget how I felt when the whistle blew against Germany and we lost,'' she said. "We believe in ourselves right now so much. If we put two halves together each game, I don't think we can be stopped.''

The Germans will be the favorites, and that's fine with Wambach.

"Now we get to go to this and we get to play freely, with no hesitations, no reservations, no worries,'' she said. "The pressure is all on them. They're the defending World Cup champs.''

That's not to say there won't be enormous pressure on the Americans, too. Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett want another championship in the worst way. And the young players want to give them one as a parting gift. But the younger players also want one for themselves. They want to start building their own legacies.

And Wambach is positioning herself to be the leader of the new pack. Should she come up big against Germany, she could be wearing gold around her neck, too.