MONTREAL — Add “prophet” to Abby Wambach’s résumé.
In what she’s said will be her last World Cup, the veteran forward has played various roles, including coming off the bench in the final minutes, being the voice of the halftime huddle, and most recently becoming somewhat of a psychic.
Ahead of the United States-Germany semifinal on Tuesday, Wambach and Julie Johnston were sitting by each other in the locker room when the 35-year-old forward felt compelled to give the young defender some advice.
“For some reason I said to her, ‘No doubt today. No matter what happens, don’t let doubt creep in for one second because you’re a champion. We’re all going to make mistakes, don’t worry about it. We have each other’s backs,'” Wambach said. “I think I’m a seer. Clairvoyant. I can see something happening in the future. She needed to know her teammates would have her back.”
Sure enough, in the 59th minute of the match, Johnston needed a lift when she received a yellow card. Germany’s Alexandra Popp broke free deep in U.S. territory and Johnston put her hand on the midfielder’s shoulder to pull her down in the box. When Germany was awarded a penalty kick, Johnston became emotional and thought she “screwed up” the game for her team. After the match she called that moment a “defender’s worst nightmare.”
Johnston was picked up by her teammates, who all told her everything would be OK. Just as Wambach said earlier.
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Celia Sasic ended up botching the penalty, going wide left, and the U.S. scored six minutes later to take a 1-0 lead.
But Wambach wasn’t finished. While on the bench for most of the game Wambach sat next to Kelley O’Hara because, as Wambach joked, they’re “the most obnoxious bench players.” As they watched intently, Wambach leaned over to O’Hara with another prediction.
“I said to her, ‘I think this result will be determined based on the subs of either their coaching staff or our coaching staff,'” she said. “And not to call myself a prophet again, but I was right. I was right because Kelley came in and made the difference. Her first expletive international goal for this team.”
O’Hara came on for Tobin Heath late in the second half and after nine minutes on the field, she charged the goal and finished off a perfect Carli Lloyd cross to put the U.S. up 2-0.
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This isn’t the first time Wambach has come out in the postgame and divulged her prophecies. After beating Nigeria to clinch the top spot in the Group of Death, she told reporters she had dreams about “red things” the night before. A quick Google search reveals dreaming of red symbolizes activation, physicality, passion and intensity, which resonated with Wambach when she scored the game-winning goal that match.
At halftime of the quarterfinal against China, FOX cameras caught Wambach pumping up her teammates before the second half. With the game tied 0-0, she screamed, “score in the first 10 minutes and we win this [expletive] game!”
Six minutes later, Lloyd scored and the U.S. won.
The U.S. will play England or Japan in the World Cup final on Sunday. There’s still time for Wambach’s next prediction.
