Abby Wambach Breaks Leg Before Olympics

The chances of the United States women’s soccer team winning a gold medal in the upcoming Beijing Olympics is definitely lower after star forward Abby Wambach suffered a broken left leg in an exhibition against Brazil on Wednesday night.

She is expected to miss the next three months, including all of the Beijing Olympic soccer games. In Wednesday’s exhibition against Brazil, Wambach collided with Brazilian defender Andreia Rosa and went down.

Her left leg was put in a brace, and she was taken off the field on a stretcher. She was taken to a San Diego hospital for X-rays and the broken leg was confirmed.

Wambach is the team's leading scorer, with 99 career goals in 127 matches. She is considered one of the best women soccer players in the world. The loss of Wambach probably ends any chances of the U.S. team beating the soccer odds and winning the gold. They are already without defender Cat Whitehill and midfielder Leslie Osborne.

The United States won 1-0 against Brazil on Wednesday as substitute forward Natasha Kai scored in the 85th minute. The games don’t mean much since they are exhibitions and Brazil was missing their star player Marta.

The United States opens up Beijing Olympic soccer play on August 6th against Norway. They also play Japan and New Zealand in group play. Without Wambach the team will have to play a lot more tightly and win games 1-0.

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"Obviously, it's devastating, but above everything else, I'm only one player, and you can never win a championship with just one player," Wambach said, "I have the utmost confidence in this team bringing home the gold."

The victory was the second straight 1-0 win for the U.S. over Brazil. “So many things happened in this game, and I’ve very happy with the way we ended the game with that great goal, a beautiful goal,” said U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage.

Amy Rodriguez scored the goal for the U.S. in the other 1-0 win and looked good again on Wednesday. She will have to play even better in the Olympics to make up for the loss of Wambach. The U.S. outshot Brazil 12-5 in Wednesday’s exhibition.

The U.S. women’s team is 21-0-1 this year. Following their opening match against Norway in the Olympic soocer games on August 6th they will play Japan on August 9th and New Zealand on August 12th in Group G play.