The U.S. women’s national team’s 3-0 win over Colombia on Saturday turned out to not be that competitive on the field. But was it scrappy? Absolutely. How else would one describe a match in which powerful American forward Abby Wambach was felled by a cheap shot punch to the face?
Abby Wambach Takes A Punch To The Eye, Scores Goal And Swags Out Celebration
If that looks ugly, it should: Wambach told Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl that the punch by Colombia’s Lady Andrade was the first sucker punch she’d ever taken, and she crumpled to the ground and stayed down for almost a minute, with the area around her eye obviously in rough shape. She expressed her displeasure with the play after the match, calling it “dangerous” and asking for a FIFA review.
Andrade, for her part, told Wahl the shot was an “accident,” but the punch — and the lack of even a foul call for it — incensed the American team, and the match was chippy for the rest of the first half as a result.
In the second half, though, Wambach — who said "I was proud of myself for not retaliating" — took a measure of revenge. After scoring her 139th goal in international competition, Wambach, with fellow goal-scorer Megan Rapinoe on her back, made sure to show the world her eye was just fine.
It’s that sort of swaggering response to adversity that has endeared this gutsy iteration of the USWNT to fans the world over. If Wambach can keep getting back up and scoring, she and her squad will surely win more, and probably a gold medal.
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