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Inspirational Hamm in twilight of stellar career

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The most recognized female soccer player in the world was named by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 1997. She also featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Women. She is the author of “Go for the Goal: A Champions Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life.” In 1999 she started her own foundation to benefit bone marrow research. On May 16, 1999, she reached the milestone of scoring more international goals than any man or women in the international game — 108, to be exact. How famous is she? Nike named its largest building after her at their world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. But she’s only human and she broke down in tears after Germany beat her U.S. 3-0 in the semifinal of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003. After hugging her teammates, Mia Hamm sighed: “I’ve loved every minute of it; I wouldn’t change one minute. Even in defeat, this is one of my favorite teams that I’ve been a part of.”
The announcement signaled that Hamm would play her last tournament for her country at the 2004 Olympics. “It’s the end of an era, a chapter in a book,” said U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry. It’s an era that will be remembered with Hamm at the center of it all.
In the U.S. domination of women’s world soccer from 1997-99, Hamm scored 51 goals in 63 matches. (She added six more goals on top of her all-time scoring record and she is by no means finished.) At that point in time, for the record, she had 93 career assists. She led the U.S. to the 1999 World Cup title scoring the opening goal against Denmark at Giants Stadium. After scoring the game-winning goal against Nigeria she went on to convert her penalty against China in the final. For her goals and her all-round play she was named to the All-Women’s World Cup team. She was the Women’s Sports Foundation Athlete of the Year for 1997 then won the 1998 ESPN Award for Outstanding Female Athlete at the Year. The roots for her international fame began in 1993 when she won the NCAA’s Broderick Award for all female college sports and was a NSCAA All-American from Lake Braddock Secondary School.
At college, she was named to Soccer America’s College Team of the Decade for the 1990s after winning four NCAA championships with the University of North Carolina from 1989-93. A three-time All-American, she completed her collegiate career as the all-time leading scorer, 103 goals and 72 assists. It’s no wonder her UNC jersey was retired.
Freedom has been Hamm’s team in the WUSA league, where she led the team in points scored in the 2001 season. In 2002 she missed Freedom’s first 10 games due to knee surgery. But she wasted no time on her comeback when she scored within seven minutes on the field against Boston Breakers on June 12 at RFK Stadium. Playing most of her return games as a second-half substitute, Hamm scored eight goals in 11 matches and had six assists. What an incredible career it has been and a couple of weekends ago she added a third-place World Cup honor to her illustrious career after beating Canada 3-1.
In the final Germany beat Sweden 2-1 and was crowned champions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003. The Swedes opened the score but were knocked out of their stride within a minute when Maren Meinert equalized. It remained 1-1 as overtime loomed for Sweden. Germany’s sub, Nia Kuenzer, rose to head home the Golden Goal Cup winner eight minutes into OT as the Swedish women fell to the ground.
The German attack of Meinert and Birgit Prinz proved too strong throughout the final and the tournament. Swedish defender Hanna Marklund admitted: “They are just so powerful. We did a better job than most in stopping them, but it’s nearly impossible to keep one of their players from scoring.” That was exactly the case for the United States when they faced the Germans in the semis.
The U.S. started off the better side and it seemed it would be only a matter of time in getting that first and all-important goal. But in the 15th minute, Kerstin Garefrekes latched onto a near-post corner by Renate Lingor. Bang! In the ball flew, stunning the U.S. team and goalkeeper Scurry. The majority of the capacity crowd of 27,623 were shocked into silence as the U.S. took the ball out of their net.
Desperate attacks, one after the other, fell apart as Germany’s goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg began to look unbeatable. Rottenberg admitted, “This is one of the best games of my life.” But for Germany’s goal-scorer Garfrekes it was a different outlook. “Honestly, I was disappointed with the Americans’ effort,” she said. “They didn’t play their offensive game. It was not really organized and they missed many opportunities.”
At 1-0 down, the halftime talk could not come quick enough for U.S. coach April Heinrichs. She needed to calm her women down and put some polish on getting into the box. Final decisions going into Germany’s half were poor and crosses were not reaching targets. Out the U.S. came and signs that something would give in the German back line seemed possible through Hamm. As the game wore on, though, it was Germany who looked more likely to score on the counterattack. It happened. In the 90th minute the U.S. was put out of their misery when the formidable duo of Meinert and Prinz made it 3-0, giving Scurry no chance.
For thousands of supporters, their favorite player is Hamm. Her No. 9 jersey is one of the hottest items sold in women’s sports. “All those girls in the stands, is the legacy,” Hamm insisted. As hard as she tries to take the spotlight off herself Mia Hamm is the backbone for women’s soccer across the U.S.

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