Devo: Wambach's soccer résumé complete

Judy Wambach wasn't going to take any chances.

So she found a church Sunday morning a half-mile from her hotel and there inside Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver, Abby Wambach's mother lit a couple of candles.

They worked.

Two candles and two goals off two different feet by Carli Lloyd five minutes into Sunday night's match set the tone. Judy Wambach's baby was going to win the World Cup. The United States lit up Japan, riding a remarkable flurry of four goals in the first 16 minutes to a 5-2 win for their first World Cup championship since 1999.

Abby Wambach has stood among the game's greats for more than a decade. All those matches. All those goals. All that hard work by the Pittsford native and Our Lady of Mercy High School graduate, and on Sunday she stood at the top of the podium after a World Cup final with 53,000-plus fans cheering for her and these American women at BC Place in Vancouver.

"Finally!" she yelled during a post-match celebration on the field, running with the American flag draped over her back like a cape.

"I am just so happy that I can't even tell you," she said to Fox Sports a little while later. "Seeing my family in the stands and all of my friends and family at home, this is for them. Finally, I'm a world champion."

At 35 years old, this was it — Abby's last stand.

There have been two Olympic gold medals, worldwide stardom, 249 matches and 183 goals, which are more than any man or woman in international soccer history has ever scored, but the World Cup was elusive. Third-place finishes in 2003 and 2007 and a runner-up showing in 2011.

Only Cup heartbreak for Wambach — until Sunday.

"I swear, I think this is surreal. I don't even think this is real life," the 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year said.

Judy Wambach began crying as we spoke over the phone.

"Oh my God. Can you believe it? It's so exciting. I'm sorry. I'm very emotional right now," she said even before I asked a question. "I'm over-the-moon, overjoyed for her. As a Mom you want your kids to dream, dream big, and when they achieve those dreams, how wonderful is that?

"I'm so happy for our country. The team, I'm thrilled for them."

Yes, the team, 23 players — one championship goal.

"The truth is I wouldn't be here without my teammates," Wambach said in a stirring, seven-minute Fox Sports video in which she asked the crew to leave the studio so she could talk to the camera alone. "I have had the best life, and it's all, in total, because of the friendships I've made. I've literally grown up on this team. The good, the bad, and the ugly, my teammates have helped me through it all.

"The biggest thing I need to express is my gratitude, to be able to have played for so long, to share the field with extraordinary women."

This was a different experience for Wambach, who made her U.S. debut in 2001 and has been the face of the American squad since Mia Hamm retired in 2004 and gave the reins to her understudy. Wambach came off the bench in the last few matches instead of starting because the U.S. looked much sharper with a swifter lineup that didn't include the 5-foot-11 target forward. So Wambach went to the bench and she did so with class and grace, which is something we don't always see from famous athletes or even the next high school kid unhappy with his or her playing time cut.

Wambach was on the field the final 12 minutes or so Sunday. The U.S. led 4-1 at halftime and 5-2 when Wambach entered for what was essentially a victory lap. Fans roared their approval. They knew what this meant to her. They've heard her talk about how badly she wanted this.

"As bad as my body needs air," Abby said in June.

You want to know how much respect teammates have for her? When she entered in the 79th minute, Lloyd, star of this tournament and star of the match with three goals, including that unbelievable 59-yard shot that caught the Japanese goalkeeper by surprise, took off the captain's armband. She handed it to Wambach to wear.

Then Abby did the same when Christie Rampone, 40, the only player remaining from the 1999 squad, came in. They were the two players who were handed the World Cup trophy afterward and thrust it toward the sky.

"I think it was a little bit of a passing of the torch in reverse sort of way. I can leave," Wambach said, making us all wonder if that's a hint that she may retire now that she's won the only trophy she has said she was sticking around to win. "Whether I choose to stay or not doesn't matter, I can (leave) because they've got it."

She means her younger teammates, stars that the world discovered the past few weeks much the same way she came onto the scene by scoring the winning goal in the 2004 Olympics, are prepared to build upon her legacy.

About 20 of Wambach's family members were in Vancouver. Her parents, Judy and Peter, have been all over the world watching her — Greece and England for the Olympics; China, Germany and Canada for World Cups. This may have been the sweetest trip of all.

Now they know that whenever their daughter, youngest of their seven kids, walks away from the game that has given her so much, there won't be any regrets and there is no hole in her massive soccer resume as an all-time great.

Despite the big lead early, there was some short-lived drama in the match. That 4-1 halftime advantage may have stirred bad memories. In Abby's last high school game, Mercy let a 3-0 lead slip away in the final 20 minutes. The Monarchs lost 4-3 in overtime, a setback Wambach has never truly gotten over.

Japan made it 4-2 early in the 52nd minute. Suddenly, it was a game. But two minutes later, Tobin Heath scored off a pass from 22-year-old Morgan Brian and you knew there was no way this American team, this American dream, was going to fall apart.

"I know she's going to be content with herself now, knowing she won this, something she worked hard for and deserved," said former Mercy coach Kathy Boughton, who coached Wambach and her older sisters, too.

Boughton admitted there was an element of "bittersweet" to Sunday because no one knows if it was the last time we see Wambach in a major tournament. So many fans from the Rochester area may feel the same way. They've felt a connection to Abby, the most famous athlete in our city's history, because they've followed her career for 20 years.

In a way, she has taken us all along for the ride. But is it over? Will she retire or stick around for next year's Olympics?

"I'm the luckiest person I feel like on the planet and it's not because of any individual award or even playing on the grandest stage," Wambach said in the Fox video. "It's because I've been able to share it. My philosophy in life is happiness is meant to be shared."

Her family and fans — in Rochester and around the world — are surely grateful.