After much deliberation and talking with my friends, family, teammates and our coaching staff, I've decided to finally bring my soccer career to an end, while we still have more work to do for women's soccer, after bringing the World Cup back to the United States this summer, I'm feeling extremely optimistic about the future of our sport.

Abby Wambach

Categorized in : Sports

You never know if you can actually do something against all odds until you actually do it.

Abby Wambach

against-all-odds odds knows

I've never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.

Abby Wambach

inspirational-soccer goal

You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit

Abby Wambach

quitting never-quit faces

To watch people push themselves further than they think they can, it's a beautiful thing. It's really human.

Abby Wambach

beautiful people thinking

No I or individual is better than the team. I've scored no goals just on my own. Every goal I've ever scored has been because of someone else on my team, their excellence, their bravery. And I'm kind of the end product of a collection of a really good vibe, and feeling, and creativity on the field.

Abby Wambach

creativity team goal

If we can trust each other and leave everything-all our hearts-out on the field, I think we're going to have something to come home to and cheer about.

Abby Wambach

cheer home heart

It's not pressure. It's responsibility We put it on ourselves.

Abby Wambach

responsibility pressure

This might sound masochistic or narcissistic‚ I don't know‚ but when I'm not playing the game‚ the validations I feel about life are always through the hardships. I relate more to sadness‚ in a lot of ways‚ when I'm not playing.

Abby Wambach

validation sadness games

If given a really great chance, I'm going to put it away every single time.

Abby Wambach

really-great given chance

I'm not going to tell people how to live their life and I surely wouldn't tell people my life is the way you should be living. People get to choose what they do want to do with their life and I appreciated that.

Abby Wambach

want people way

I don't care who scores the goals, I'm going to leave my human beingness on the field!

Abby Wambach

care fields goal

You can do as many sprints as you want but there's nothing like playing in a 90-minute soccer game. There's no better way to gain your fitness, in my opinion, than playing in consistent games.

Abby Wambach

games want soccer

Four goals in (16) minutes. Literally I don't even know how that happens especially in a World Cup final.

Abby Wambach

four goal world

It's always really challenging trying to go from player to player/coach. You have a kind of friendship basis of relationship with all of your teammates and now you go to this power position where you have to make decisions that might hurt people's feelings.

Abby Wambach

player hurt people

Today was about execution, period. Every single player, all of us in the dressing room right now, we’re embarrassed because that’s not the way we want to play soccer.

Abby Wambach

player want soccer

Playing on turf affects everything, you know, it affects the way the ball rolls, it affects the way the ball bounces, it affects the way you think about whether or not going into a slide. It's kind of a nightmare.

Abby Wambach

balls way thinking

Having gratitude is a beautiful emotion but it can't just stop there, there was a time and place for it, but we've moved on beyond that as a society and women have to embrace their power.

Abby Wambach

world

I didn't understand it, as I retired I realized I'm a person that is afforded more privilege than 95 % of women footballers worldwide.

Abby Wambach

world

I take full responsibility for my actions. This is all on me.

Abby Wambach

us-news

I want to see Hillary Clinton in the office. She has amazing, amazing stamina. She's smart and she has been basically doing it by herself as a woman alone among all other men for how many years, it's time people. It's time for women to be seen as real equals.

Abby Wambach

politics