Wambach Didn’t Just Break Mia’s Record….She Blew By It

Abby Wambach said she would like to break Mia Hamm’s all-time goalscoring record of 158 on home soil. In time, the record-watch began to appear bigger than the games.

Needing two goals to tie Hamm’s mark going into the second of two international friendlies against South Korea, she scored those two early in the first half of a 5-0 victory.

It happened on home soil at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ.

She added two more before halftime with an offensive effort that almost screamed, “let’s get this thing out of the way.”

The four goals marked the second time she had scored as many as four times in one game in her career. She actually scored five times against Ireland in 2004!

Her new record of 160 were scored in 207 games. Hamm scored her 158 in 275 games.

Now, not only does Wambach hold the American record, but no other player, man or woman, has ever scored that many international goals.

Hamm’s was a record that many felt would never be broken. But Wambach, 33, needed only to look over her shoulder to see Canada’s Christine Sinclair moving up the scoring ladder with 145 goals of her own.

Before the game in New Jersey, Wambach had said that she just wanted to get the record and stop being the center of attention.

On the night Wambach made her national team debut on Sept. 9, 2001, Hamm scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 win over Germany.

It’s surreal,” said Wambach after her record-setting game. “I’m so thankful and my teammates were trying to get me those goals. I can’t thank them enough.

“As a competitor you want to be done with the things that put me at the forefront of conversations. This team is too good to be talking about one person.”

“I’m just so proud of her,” said Hamm, who watched the game from home in California, and spoke with the Associated Press. “Just watching those four goals, that’s what she is all about. She fights for the ball, she’s courageous and she never gives up.

“From being her teammate early in her career, I know all she ever wanted to do was win, and she continues to do that. I’m just glad I got to share 158 with her. It was short, but it was fun.”