A final shot at redemption for the Abby family

9 August 2012

Abby Wambach was speaking for herself but she might also have been voicing the thoughts of many in her team when the United States striker considered tonight’s climax of the Olympic women’s football tournament and said: “I’ve been hoping for this from the moment I stepped off the podium in Germany.”

Wambach is still haunted by the World Cup Final in Frankfurt last July, when the USA were beaten in a penalty shoot-out by Japan. Tonight, the two sides collide again in a game that has captured the imagination like no other in Olympic football history.

The quest for revenge is always a draw, and a crowd of at least 83,000 inside Wembley Stadium will smash the previous Games attendance record for a women’s match of 76,489, who watched the final between USA and China at the Sanford Stadium in Georgia in 1996. The record aggregate tournament total of 740,014, which was set in Beijing four years ago, will also be exceeded.

However, gate figures will mean little to Carli Lloyd. The American midfielder said: “This is definitely about redemption. And it’s an opportunity to show the world that we’re the No1 team.”

Indeed, USA are ranked No1 in the world and they are three-times Olympic gold medallists. Reasons for pride, surely, yet that World Cup calamity still hurts. “They snatched our dream,” said Lloyd’s midfield partner, Megan Rapinoe.

Wambach, the second-highest scorer in USA history who has bagged five goals from these Games to take her tally to 143 from 187 games, said: “Last time, Japan got the better of us. This time we hope to change that, we hope to right the ship.

“We know and we respect Japan. But the fact that we lost the World Cup, in the way we did, gives us even more passion to go out and perform. The truth is, this is going to be a great day. A great day for soccer, a great day for women’s sports and a day that we’ll hopefully remember for the rest of our lives.”

The Japanese players will certainly remember it if they become the first women’s team to reign as Olympic and world champions at the same time because they are on the promise of an upgrade for the flight home should they be wearing gold medals at the Heathrow check-in.

Japan Football Association officials were criticised when it emerged that the men’s team had travelled to London in business class while the women were booked back in premium economy. Now the women have been told that they, too, can turn left at the plane door should they do the double.

Redemption is also a theme in the water polo pool. Four years ago, Maggie Steffens watched from the stands in Beijing as her sister, Jessica, and the rest of the USA women’s team were beaten 9-8 by Holland in the gold medal match.

Tonight, Maggie herself will be in the pool as the USA again chase the title, this time against Spain, who are unbeaten at the Games. She has become a star, scoring 16 goals so far, and goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong said: “She’s huge, she’s a stud. She steps it up when she sees that as her role.”

In the final of the men’s beach volleyball, 39-year-old Brazilian Emanuel Rego, a former gold medallist who is competing in his fifth Olympics, partners Alison Cerutti against Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, who are seeking to become the first Europeans to take the title.

Brink said: “Alison and Emanuel are the most dominating team in beach volleyball in the last few years. Emanuel has the most wins ever and has an incredible partner at his side.”

A final shot at redemption for the Abby family

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