Abby Wambach entered Thursday night’s game against South Korea behind Mia Hamm by two goals on the all-time international scoring list, with 156 goals. It took her just 29 minutes to score a hat trick and surpass Mia Hamm’s record, netting her 159th career international goal in 206 appearances with a brilliant header on a corner kick.
Abby Wambach breaks international goal-scoring record
With her 159th international goal, Abby Wambach has broken Mia Hamm’s record for the most goals in international play by any footballer, male or female. She did it in style -- scoring a hat trick in 29 minutes on Thursday.
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The USWNT started targeting Wambach from the beginning, appearing determined to help her break the record and finally get the monkey off her back Coming into the game, Wambach had come into the game with eight goals in 2013, including one over the weekend, also against South Korea.
Wambach achieved the mark quicker than Hamm, who finished her career on 275 international appearances. While Wambach has a decent gap on her nearest competitor for the all-time scoring record, the 33-year-old will have to play a while longer to keep it safe. Canada’s Christine Sinclair, who is 30, has 145 goals in 197 appearances. Neither faces any threat for the record from any men; Ali Daei holds the men’s record with 109 goals and the active player with the most international goals is Didier Drogba, with 60.
