ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - For Abby Wambach, defeat in the World Cup final against Japan delivered a silver lining.
“I know there (were) grown men weeping in the streets of Japan because they were so filled with the hope that was lost” in the devastating earthquake and tsunami there in March, the U.S. soccer star said during a joyous homecoming for a women’s league game on Wednesday night.
Three days after the U.S. women’s team came up short of a world championship, close to 15,000 fans were expected to cram into Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester for the Women’s Professional Soccer matchup between Wambach’s magicJack and the Western New York Flash. The first 1,000 fans were scheduled to receive Wambach bobblehead dolls.
The league’s attendance record was 14,832, set in the first game ever, back in 2009 at Los Angeles.
Wambach, 31, who grew up in the Rochester suburb of Pittsford, is nursing tendinitis in her right Achilles’ tendon. She wasn’t sure she’d be able play in the game.
“I hope people understand that me being here is more important than me playing tonight,” Wambach said at a suburban mall where she and U.S. teammates Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan were greeted by legions of fans.
“Not for one second did I think about not coming to Rochester. I know this city was cheering the loudest for me.”
Wambach said she drew pride not only in how the team battled through the tournament but “in the grace in which we lost” during and after a thrilling final decided by penalty kicks.
“I’ve learned that this country isn’t just about winning _ that’s something I didn’t know before,” she said. “We are getting celebrated here in the United States like we won the World Cup.
“Nothing changed my mind about winning. We still want to win. That’s never going to change. But when you do lose, you have to reframe everything. We want to look at this whole thing in a positive light.”
Wambach led Team USA with four goals in Germany, upping her World Cup career total to 13. She is now third on the all-time scoring list.
Rapinoe, a magicJack midfielder, said the team’s World Cup performance could be a boon for women’s soccer and “maybe women’s sports in general.”
“Coming home from Germany where the crowds were amazing and to have this at home is just unbelievable, we couldn’t ask for anything more,” she said. “We just want to ride it out as long as possible and hopefully create more buzz, so that the next time it comes around, it’s a little bigger.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.