In front of 18,695 fans at Red Bull Arena, the U.S. finished their last game of the summer on a high. Abby Wambach surpassed the coveted international goals scored record and helped the home team record a 5-0 win over South Korea.
USA vs South Korea: Final Score 5-0, Fairy tale game for Abby Wambach
A historic night for Abby Wambach as she surpassed Mia Hamm’s international goals scored record in the 31st minute of action. Wambach’s four goals in the first half propelled the U.S. to a 5-0 victory over South Korea.
Al Bello
To say that the U.S. dominated the first half would be an understatement. Abby Wambach entered Thursday’s match with a record hanging over her head, dubbed #chasingMia by U.S. soccer. Wambach was two goals behind Mia Hamm’s 158 international goals but on Thursday night, in under 29 minutes, Wambach met Mia’s record and passed it, eventually scoring four goals in the first half.
Wambach first closed in on Mia Hamm’s 158 goals in the 11th minute of action after getting on the end of a Lauren Cheney cross into the box. Wambach controlled possession of the ball inside the box, holding off the defense to wrap her body around them in order to face the net before firing a low strike into the net.
In true Wambach fashion, the star striker met Hamm’s record with her trademark header in the 20th minute. Once again being fed the ball from Cheney.
The star striker was not through just yet, Wambach would go on to score two more goals before the first half was done in order to break Hamm’s record. Wambach headed in a corner kick service from Megan Rapinoe in the 31st minute to earn a 3-0 lead for the home side that would last 14 minutes until she found her fourth goal of the night in injury time.
Two minutes into injury time it looked as though Alex Morgan might get her name on the scoreboard but she was closed down quickly in the box by the South Korean defense. She still found enough space to slot a pass across the face of goal to Wambach, who was ready with a sliding strike into the net. The U.S. closed the first half with a 4-0 lead.
Tom Sermanni made a few changes to his team early in the second half. Jill Loyden entered for Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux came on for Alex Morgan, Kelley O’Hara replaced Meghan Klingenberg and Becky Sauerbrunn took Christie Rampone’s place. Later in the second half, Wambach was given a curtain call and was replaced by Christen Press.
After supplying two assists for Wambach to close in on, then tie the record, Cheney found a goal of her own. In the 67th minute, O’Hara served a cross into the box to find Cheney, who finished it off with a header inside the six yard box. Cheney scored the final goal of the night to give the U.S. a 5-0 victory.
