Abby Wambach announced on Wednesday that she will not being playing for the Western New York Flash in the 2015 NWSL season. Instead, the 34 year old superstar will be dedicating her time and energy in preparing for the World Cup in Canada which starts in June.
This announcement comes weeks before the start of the club season, and a replacement may be hard to find. While some may say this is a huge loss for her team, the impact may be felt more in the leadership department than on the field. There is no doubt that Wambach is still one of the greatest women in the game, but her on field contributions were limited by injuries in 2014. She only played in ten of the club's twenty four games throughout the season and tallied just six goals.
Wambach has had arguably the best international career of any soccer player. In 2001, at the age of 21, Abby was given her first international appearance. After only six games for the United States, She was added to the 2003 World Cup squad that finished 3rd. In 2004 she won her first Olympic Gold Medal and in 2007 she led the United States to another third place finish at the World Cup. 2011 looked like her year to win the World Cup, but a penalty shootout loss to Japan in the final stalled the run. She won another Olympic Gold in 2012. In May of 2014, Abby broke Mia Hamm's international goal scoring record with a four goal performance. The record sets her at the top of the charts for both men's and women's international scoring leaders.
There is only one thing missing from Wambach's resume though, a World Cup Championship. After a year of battling injuries and playing with a fierce attacking core for the USWNT, a break may be just the thing she needs to finally reach the top. No matter how many achievements a player earns, the World Cup is still at the top of the list.
Conventional wisdom may not be on her side. On the men's side of the game, players want to be getting consistent minutes at the highest possible levels. They even take risks to increase their competition level which can result in poor form and missing the team. By choosing not to play consistently, Wambach could be hindering her training and not be ready for game speeds come June. Her counterpart, Landon Donovan, from the Men's National Team learned the hard way that a break can be disastrous as he was excluded from the World Cup squad before finally retiring from the game altogether.
With only four international friendlies before the World Cup, Wambach will only need to show she can keep up with her teammates to make the squad. With younger stars like Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux already claiming key roles, possibly starting, Abby's playing time has already dropped and she is no longer an every game starter. A substitute role in Canada may have been figured into this decision as well while staying healthy is the primary concern. For all USWNT fans, seeing her in Canada is the number one concern and only she knows the best way to get there.