BY COLE KELLOGG
The all-time leading goal scorer in international soccer has revealed she has no plans to quit the national team before next summer.
Abby Wambach, while speaking on a morning show in her hometown of Rochester, New York, said that she hopes to be a part of the U.S. Women’s National Team that competes in the 2016 Olympics.
“I’m planning on playing next summer in Rio, but I gotta let my body recover, because that’s the other thing about playing on artificial surface,” Wambach said. “Seven games is a lot of games, and it wasn’t a long period of time we were playing over. So my body took some hits, and I’m trying to recover.
“If I’m asked to play on the team, at that point I’m going to have to make a decision the next couple of months depending on my fitness level and whatnot. I’m getting older, definitely not getting younger, but the reality is, if I’m asked to play for my country it might be difficult to say no. But I haven’t made any definitive decisions yet.”
Wambach spoke of her plans to get away with family and enjoy some time off, saying: “I’m excited to go and vacation, get away from a little bit of the whirlwind I’ve been on, to rest, relax and to be able to make maybe some of those future decisions.”
The striker scored just one goal at the Women’s World Cup this summer and came off of the bench for the final three matches of the tournament.
If Wambach makes the 18-player roster for the Olympics, she would have a chance to win a third goal medal with the USWNT. She was in the U.S. team when it won the competition in 2004 and 2012, but she missed out in 2008 with a broken leg.
The striker will celebrate her 36th birthday just two months before the competition starts next year.
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Do you think Jill Ellis will choose Wambach for the Olympic squad? Would it make more sense for the striker to go out in a blaze of glory after the World Cup victory?
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