Red Bull Arena hosted a historic night of U.S. Soccer on Thursday evening, as forward Abby Wambach smashed the international scoring record set by Mia Hamm of 158 goals when she tallied four in a 5-0 win over Korea Republic in front of nearly 20,000 fans.
From the beginning of the match, the U.S. Women’s National Team dominated play and Wambach was the focal point. It only took Wambach 19 minutes to tie Hamm’s record with two goals, before scoring her 159th in the 29th minute, heading home a Megan Rapinoe corner kick.
“It’s special, not only because I can tell my teammates were trying to get me those goals in the first half, but my family was here, great crowd, great team performance,” Wambach said. “I can’t say how much I look up to Mia and how amazing the record that she set was. My teammates have put me in all different kinds of positions to score goals, and I can’t say it enough. I really through and through believe it in my heart, I’m only as good as my teammates allow me to be … It’s a special night.”
“Fairy tale night, she couldn’t have done it any better, just fantastic,” said U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni. “She’s a great professional, she’s in great shape and she was really determined tonight to go out there and break that record and she did it in great style.”
Outside of the performances of Wambach and the U.S. side, the atmosphere was festive around Red Bull Arena with fans of all ages in attendance. We have put together a photo gallery from the match to illustrate some of the sights and sounds of the game. Enjoy!
